5 Fantasy Movies So Good You Don’t Have to Be a Fantasy Fan to Love Them

While fantasy is a genre many people absolutely love, you might not be into it or just avoid it since it can seem complicated and exhausting. Depending on the movie, there are several elements and details that, if you’re just looking for something simpler, you can easily end up disappointed. However, fantasy doesn’t require a story to have a huge universe, rules, or layers of complexity; in fact, it’s a pretty broad genre, featuring plenty of films that know exactly how to develop their stories, making sure the fantastical elements aren’t necessarily the only reason to keep watching. In this list, you’ll find some great examples of how that can happen.

Maybe for a long time you’ve thought fantasy just wasn’t for you, or maybe you just wanted a good experience without all the over-the-top worldbuilding — well, maybe the real problem was that you just hadn’t found the right movie yet.

5) Pan’s Labyrinth

If you usually turn your nose up at fantasy or want something that doesn’t feel like the genre in the typical sense, Pan’s Labyrinth is probably one of the best options, and it might even surprise you with its message, since the idea here is not to be comforting or escapist. The story follows Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), a girl who moves in with her mother and stepfather, the cruel Captain Vidal (Sergi López), in a part of Spain consumed by the violence of the post-Civil War period, until she discovers a labyrinth where a faun tells her that she’s a lost princess and must complete three tasks. It’s a Guillermo del Toro production, won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, and is such a unique piece of filmmaking that everyone should watch at least once.

If you already know Del Toro, you probably have an idea of the filmmaker’s style, but for those who don’t (and even for people who enjoy dark fantasy), the story begins to shift between the fantastical world and Ofelia’s much more brutal reality — that’s the film’s greatest strength. You don’t need to be even remotely interested in fauns, princesses, or creatures to get invested, because what keeps your attention is the contrast between a child’s imagination and an adult world that is more frightening than a monster, since it’s real. In fact, the fantasy isn’t the reason to watch Pan’s Labyrinth; it’s just a smart way of making a story about violence, childhood, and survival hit even harder. It’s a work of art.

4) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Yes, it might seem contradictory to put The Lord of the Rings on this list, given it’s basically the peak of fantasy cinema; after all, we’re talking about a movie with Hobbits, Elves, Orcs, a wizard, a magical ring, and a story that immediately assumes you’re willing to spend hours getting to know the world of Middle-earth. However, it’s worth pointing out that the whole thing is built in a very clever way: it’s an epic, but the plot is very easy to understand. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is the beginning of the trilogy, putting Frodo (Elijah Wood) in charge of taking the One Ring to Mordor to destroy it, eventually bringing a Fellowship together with Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), Gandalf (Ian McKellen), Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), and, of course, Sam (Sean Astin).

And it’s true that, considering it’s an adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien, it can be intimidating, but you don’t need to memorize the history of every kingdom or know who every creature is to get why Frodo is scared, why Sam refuses to leave him, or even why the whole group needs to reach their destination. It’s an adventure about friendship, courage, and sacrifice that just happens to take place in one of the most elaborate fantasy universes. And to be honest, it’s really hard not to enjoy The Lord of the Rings when it has such a huge sense of adventure that the amount of fantastical elements never feels like a barrier.

3) Stardust

Of all the movies on this list, Stardust might be the one most likely to make someone who has never cared about fantasy realize they actually like the genre. It tends to be pretty underrated, but anyone who watches it seems to recommend it, since it’s genuinely a great movie to follow. The story revolves around Tristan (Charlie Cox), a young man who promises to cross the border of his village to find a fallen star for the girl he loves, only to find out that the star is actually a woman named Yvaine (Claire Danes), who is also being pursued by witches and princes with their own agendas. It’s creative, but the film doesn’t stop at that idea, as if it wants to spend the entire runtime exploring some huge magical kingdom.

Stardust has magic, pirates, and a healthy dose of absurdity, sure, but overall, it’s a really fun adventure with romance and humor at its core. At the end of the day, its biggest strength is that it never requires you to fully buy into the fantasy in order to enjoy the story, because you can follow the protagonist’s growth, root for the romance, laugh at the characters, or simply enjoy the adventure without caring about all the elements surrounding it — they’re just there to make everything more engaging, like an extra layer. The whole movie is accessible, light, truly intriguing, and the story keeps moving without requiring you to understand any complicated rules of the genre.

2) Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Pirates of the Caribbean doesn’t really seem like a fantasy, but watch any of the movies from beginning to end, and you’ll get that it’s more than just a pure adventure with hints of comedy. It’s even hard to find someone who hasn’t become a fan of this saga, whether because of the pirates, the battle scenes, the soundtrack, or Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow. Starting with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, the story puts blacksmith Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) alongside Jack to rescue Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), who has been kidnapped by Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and his crew. But there’s just one small problem: Barbossa and his men are trapped under a curse that turns them into skeletons under the moonlight.

The film isn’t even classified as straight-up fantasy, because that’s not what the story revolves around and was never really the point. If you take the supernatural element out, you still have an incredibly fun pirate adventure; the curse simply adds another layer to the plot, while also being responsible for some of the most iconic scenes in the entire franchise. It’s pretty much the same thing that happens with Stardust, except The Curse of the Black Pearl is probably even easier to get into since it’s a famous saga that manages to appeal to practically anyone. It was one of Disney’s best bets.

1) The Princess Bride

The classic never disappoints, right? These days, you come across so many ambitious fantasy films with absurd world-building, trying to be epic, packed with every possible genre element and names that are impossible to pronounce. On the other hand, The Princess Bride goes completely against that as it keeps things simple and still manages to teach everyone else how it’s done. The fantasy is basically just an excuse to do several other things that work perfectly well on their own. Here, we meet Buttercup (Robin Wright) and Westley (Cary Elwes), a couple separated after Westley is presumed dead, until she becomes involved with a prince and a series of events that put pirates, duels, kidnappings, and other adventures in the pair’s path. However, the movie doesn’t want you to take its world too seriously.

The whole idea behind it is to play around with fairy-tale clichés while still giving you a romance you really want to see work out, a well-built plot, and characters like Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) and Fezzik (André the Giant) who steal the show every single time. The Princess Bride has this kind of balance in pretty much every aspect, and that’s also why the movie has aged so well. You start watching it for the romance, the comedy, or the fight scenes, but before you know it, you’re totally caught up in it because nothing ever feels out of place. It’s kind of a trap: at first, it feels like a sort of fairy-tale parody, but then it hits you that it’s fantasy anyway, and that’s when you realize you might actually become a fan after all.