A young person goes through a portal into a mysterious fantasy world. They have some adventures, they save the world, they fall in love, and then it is time to go home.
It is sometimes very difficult for some of these heroes to go home after their experiences. To return to death, taxes, and public transit! To never swing a sword again, or never experience indoor plumbing, Reeses Pieces, or whatever wonder is not to be found in your own home! To be torn between obligations! To be or not to be in this alternate universe, t’is the question!
Here’s five movies about people with varying degrees of reluctance about going home.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)
After having spent decades as the rulers of Narnia following the events of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the Pevensies (William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skander Keynes, and Georgie Henley) are none too thrilled to be stuck in WWII-Britain amongst their comparatively immature peers. So, they would be glad to return to Narnia to solve a succession crisis a millennia after their apparent departure, after everyone they knew has died, right? Right?
See, when you’re in Narnia, no time passes in the “real” world. But in the “real” world, any amount of time can pass in Narnia. And the nightmare of having half your world lost like that really taints the wholesomeness that Prince Caspian tries to evoke. Evil despot of an uncle? Dwarves? Who cares? EVERYONE THEY LOVE IS DEADDDDDD!
If you can ignore that, well Prince Caspian’s (Ben Barnes) whole rise to power is only a backdrop to the issue of Aslan. Is your tolerance of CS Lewis’s Christian allegory higher than average? Or do questions of faith-as-Lion-voiced-by-Liam-Neeson bore you?
For the record, I am fond of both The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian. The layers of complexity added by irregular temporal flow between alternate universes and Jesus metaphors were welcome – otherwise the struggles of Prince Caspian would have been dreadfully straightforward and far too cheerful.
Timeline (2003)
A team of archaeologists (Frances O’Connor, Ethan Embry, Rossif Sutherland, and Gerard Butler) is excavating a village in France that was destroyed during the Hundred Years War. Their employer is ITC Corporation, which dabbles in time travel and fatality cover-ups. However, their dig unveils a plea for help from their absentee head archaeologist (Billy Connolly) written on a 600-year-old piece of parchment. Thus, the archeologists travel back in time to try and rescue him without changing the course of history.
This movie hits a lot of my buttons. I like temporal paradoxen, revenge conducted by disgruntled employees, and the idea that your DNA disintegrates if you time travel too much. I also like movies set before the 1700s that aren’t about famous historical figures; so as long as filmmakers retain an Ameri-centric view on history, then there isn’t much to choose from. Thus, I was able to ignore and embrace minor plot conundrums like “This is not a sustainable business strategy” and “Sending seven people to rescue one old dude is a decision made with poor risk assessment” and “Welp! Of course they have to fall in love.”
Stardust (2007)
Poor Tristan Thorne (Charlie Cox) of the village of Wall is besotted by a spoiled local girl (Sienna Miller) who demands that he bring him a fallen star in return for her hand in marriage. But when he treks to the crater, he finds that star takes the form of a woman, Yvaine (Claire Danes). Tristan is undeterred, chains Yvaine, and they begin walking back to Wall. It’s not that easy, due to the Stormhold succession crisis, and witch (Michelle Pfeiffer) hunting Yvaine so she can eat her heart and regain eternal youth. In the words of the late great Roger Ebert, “Tristan’s quest to win Victoria’s heart is upstaged by everybody else’s quest to eat Yvaine’s.”
Stardust is so frickin sweet and quirky. It reminds me of The Princess Bride – in some ways better, in some ways worse. Stardust has more distinct entities with competing motivations, but is also less burdened by traditional plot sequences, or its own cleverness. Yvaine is not a useless maiden like Princess Buttercup. But The Princess Bride has more memorable characters (except that wet blanket of a princess). The Princess Bride is less dependent on deus ex machine. Perhaps the internet is to blame here, but I think I prefer Stardust because it feels so much fresher – not only the content, but the atmosphere. When watching this movie I felt like I was walking through a dewy moonlit forest.
I also want to run my fingers through Tristan Thorne’s luscious hair, but that’s irrelevant.
Enchanted (2007)
Giselle (Amy Adams) is a princess of the animated land of Andalasia. As befits her rank, she sings, she dances, and she frolics through meadows with her talking animal friends while awaiting her marriage to Prince Edward (James Marsden). Narissa (Susan Sarandon), her future mother in law, is a murderous queen who would like her son’s attention all to herself, so she tricks Giselle into falling down a portal into the streets of live-action New York, selected by Narissa as she deems it to be the place farthest from the boundless joy and laughter of Andalasia. Her optimism is very much out of place in the Big Apple, but it is infectious. I think this movie might be a parody but it’s hard to tell because of how much it cares about obtaining happy endings for the deserving characters.
Any enjoyment of this movie must begin with whole-hearted acceptance of the charms of Amy Adams. It’s not hard because she’s delightful in the ways that she warps reality with her light-up smile. You’d have to be more cold-hearted than a New York divorce lawyer not to smile just a little at her search for home and true love.
E.T. (1982)
E.T., the extraterrestrial, crash is stranded on Earth when his brethren flee the Men in Black. Despite his frightening, football-shaped head and wrinkly appearance, he befriends a local boy named Elliott (Henry Thomas), and implores his assistance in building a device to “phone home” using a Speak & Spell. But the meddling adults keep hunting the homesick alien and E.T.’s health declines, making it clear that E.T. needs to go home.
Oh, Mr. Spielberg. Other directors use things like Amy Adams, fancy wigs, or teenage lurve triangles to win our hearts and make us cry. But to do it with a scary looking puppet and a potentially annoying child actor? Good job. To make us empathize with alien and child alike, through Halloween, the experience adult oversight, and poor driving skills? And to tell the entire story through the eyes of aforementioned alien and child? Genius. Awarding you the U.N. Peace Medal for that might have been overkill, though.
Leave a Reply