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There is no real debate that the 1990s was a great decades for movies. It’s the decade that gave us some of our most iconic and beloved contemporary classics with films like Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump, Toy Story, The Sandlot, and countless others. It was also a particularly great decade for genre film, with sci-fi having a particularly strong showing in the 1990s, so much so that many consider the decade to be a golden age for sci-fi. But when it comes to sci-fi’s sister genre, fantasy, we don’t always think about the 1990s with the same level of esteem. There were certainly plenty of fantasy movies to hit theaters in the decade, but when we talk about great movies of the time, we rarely bring them up.
And that is a real shame. While sci-fi and romcoms thrived in the 1990s, it was also a decade where fantasy thrived as well. There was a wide range of fantasy films that were released during the decade, but what makes 1990s fantasy films of particular interest—and might be why no one really talks about the decade’s fantasy footprint anymore—is that not every fantasy film released in the 1990s looks or feels like traditional fantasy. Many of the films don’t feature dragons or elves; instead, these are stories that expand what it means to tell a fantasy story. Here are five such films that we’ve all but forgotten, but that you should check out if you love fantasy.
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5) Jumanji
Admittedly, a big reason why we don’t really talk about 1995’s Jumanji anymore is actually a simple one: the film has been largely overshadowed by later films in the overall franchise, specifically 2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, and Karen Gillan. The more modern film and its sequel might be better known at this point, but the original film honestly deserves more attention. The 1995 film stars Robin Williams and a young Kirsten Dunst and follows two children who find the magical Jumanji game board, and upon playing the game, release a man who has been trapped in the game for nearly 30 years—as well as a host of jungle-themed threats and hazards.
The whole story of Jumanji is, admittedly, a little weird and isn’t the best element of the film. However, the film has incredible visual effects and Williams absolutely shines in a performance that is both serious and entirely over the top. It’s very much a cornerstone of 1990s fantasy: doesn’t take itself too seriously but is somehow very serious and takes you into a completely different world that you otherwise wouldn’t expect.
4) Edward Scissorhands
People absolutely do still talk about Edward Scissorhands. The 1990 Tim Burton film is an all-time classic and arguably one of the best team ups between Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, who stars. However, people rarely talk about Edward Scissorhands as a fantasy movie, which is exactly what it is. The film tells the story of Edward Scissorhands (Depp), the humanoid creation of an older inventor who died before he was able to give Edward hands. Unfinished, Edward has scissors and blades for scissors instead of hands. When he is taken in by a suburban family, Edward falls in love with their teen daughter, Kim.
Like many Burton films, Edward Scissorhands is certainly unusual, but it is a gorgeous story with themes of self-discovery and isolation and serves a bit as an examination of suburbia and all its natural weirdness. There are also some themes about acceptance and otherness, but at its core, it’s a quirky and deeply moving Gothic fantasy with nothing else quite like it.
3) City of Angels
The 1990s were a strong decade for the romantic fantasy, and one of the most gut-wrenching might just be 1998’s City of Angels. Starring Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan, the film is a very loose remake of the 1987 German film Wings of Desire. The film follows an angel (Cage) who upon falling in love with a mortal woman (Ryan) wants to become human so that he can be with her, thus falling and becoming human.
If you have not seen City of Angels, I am not going to spoil the story for you because the ending of the film is absolutely devastating in the best sort of way. Like many fantasy films of the decade, it is a movie deeply rooted in the human experience—in this case, in a very literal way. It’s also has an incredible soundtrack and is easily one of Cage’s best performances.
2) The Pagemaster
Released in 1994, The Pagemaster is arguably the closest to a “standard” fantasy film on this list and probably the most unique. A live action/animated film, The Pagemaster boasts an absolutely stacked cast of major ‘90s stars: Macaulay Culkin, Christopher Lloyd, Whoopie Goldberg, Patrick Steward, Leonard Nimo, Frank Welker, Ed Begley Jr., and Mel Harris. The story centers around a young boy named Richard (Culkin) who bases his entire life around statistics and is generally scared of everything. When sent by his father to buy supplies at a hardware store, he gets caught in a thunderstorm that prompts him to take refuge in a library. However, once there, he’s given a special book and son finds himself trapped inside where she has to fight his way through various literary classics that have come to life as his only way back home.
The movie did poorly at the box office—so poorly that, along with the poor performance of 1997’s Cats Don’t Dance actually served as a setback for Turner Feature Animation. It also didn’t get the best reviews at the time. However, in retrospect it seems like audiences and critics may have missed part of the message of the film. While most seemed to think it was meant to show that reading and books was an adventure, the film is much more nuanced than that. This is a case of where books and stories can help someone find themselves, much as they do for Richard in the film.
1) Warriors of Virtue
One of the most underrated subgenres of fantasy might just be martial arts fantasy and 1997’s Warriors of Virtue is a solid one that seems to have gone nearly entirely forgotten. Starring Angus Macfadyen, Mario Yedidia, and Marley Shelton, the film follows a young boy named Ryan (Yedidia), who has issues with his leg and doesn’t quite fit in. He ends up stumbling into a mysterious and mystical world based on the Tao Te Ching and, upon meeting the Warriors of Virtue, has to battle an evil warlord with the powers of Tao.
We won’t pretend that Warriors of Virtue is cinema. It’s admittedly a little weird and it bombed both with critics and at the box office. But it’s also one of the most unique and interesting films of the 1990s, with some particularly interesting effects—namely when it comes to the Warriors of Virtue who just so happen to be kangaroos. You can think of this one as sort of a strange what if we smashed together the concept of Power Ranges and the concept of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles—and let’s be honest, there’s nothing more ‘90s than that.
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