The best fantasy movies on a long flight from the 2020s perfect for when you need a good cry. A hand-curated list of fantasy films for Moviepiq.
A long flight is one of the few times you have no choice but to sit still and actually watch a film — no phone calls, no errands, nothing to do but commit. Use it wisely.
Early returns from the 2020s suggest a decade willing to push genre conventions further than ever — these are films made by filmmakers who grew up watching the classics and are now interrogating them.
Great fantasy films don't ask you to suspend disbelief — they build worlds so vivid that disbelief simply evaporates. Below are ten fantasy films that transport you somewhere entirely new while saying something true about the world you already know.
A meek Hobbit from the Shire and eight companions set out on a journey to destroy the powerful One Ring and save Middle-earth from the Dark Lord Sauron.
In post-Civil War Spain, a troubled girl escapes into a fantastical labyrinth, where a mysterious faun reveals that she is a lost princess.
A grandfather reads a story to his sick grandson about a farmhand-turned-pirate who must rescue the woman he loves from a scheming prince.
A sullen ten-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches, and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts.
A mute woman working as a janitor in a secret government laboratory falls in love with a mysterious aquatic creature.
The fantasy films that endure are the ones rooted in genuine emotion. The magic is the vehicle; the story is always about something human.
A son tries to learn more about his dying father by piecing together the stories he told throughout his life.
In a countryside town bordering on a magical kingdom, a young man makes a promise to his beloved to retrieve a fallen star.
A troubled boy dives into a wondrous fantasy world through the pages of a mysterious book.
Sixteen-year-old Sarah is given thirteen hours to solve a labyrinth and rescue her baby brother when her wish for him to be taken away is granted by the Goblin King.
On a journey to find the cure for a Tatarigami's curse, a young warrior encounters a battle between forest gods and humans who consume the forest's resources.
Crying at a film is not weakness. It's the sign of a story that got close enough to something real to matter. These films are worth the tissues.
A great fantasy film leaves you with that rare ache — a longing to return to a world that never existed.