World-building is a vital component of storytelling that may make or break a narrative, particularly a fantastical one. Fantasy films should introduce worlds which might be fully completely different from our personal, every with its personal historical past and guidelines. And so they additionally have to really feel plausible. The very best ones make it seem to be these locations existed lengthy earlier than the story started and can preserve going lengthy after it ends.
On this checklist, we’re breaking down 10 fantasy films that launched a few of the most original and immersive worlds. It is usually necessary to notice that we’ll be leaving out movies like Dune and Blade Runner. These films have undoubtedly unimaginable world-building, however they lean extra towards sci-fi. This checklist is concentrated extra on magic and legendary creatures as a substitute of androids and spaceships.
10
‘Thor’ (2011)
When Thor got here out, it had the tough activity of constructing it plausible that gods and magic and Frost Giants existed in the identical grounded world of Iron Man, and it did an exceptional job. It launched audiences to the golden metropolis of Asgard, with its grandiose structure and glowing skies that instantly felt heavenly. The characters spoke in Shakespearean dialogue, and there was a transparent monarchical authorities. The very first scenes happen on the eve of Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) coronation, which naturally introduces us to the facility construction and key gamers.
Characters reference deep historical past and an current political steadiness, like the traditional struggle between Asgard and Jotunheim and the delicate peace brokered by Odin (Anthony Hopkins). And later, the movie even tries to elucidate the magical parts and the characters’ existence utilizing precise Norse mythology and scientific phrases. For instance, the Bifrost is defined as a managed Einstein-Rosen Bridge that enables for fast journey between the 9 Realms. These little touches make the magic really feel oddly believable. Even Thor’s clueless habits on Earth, like smashing a espresso mug or making an attempt to purchase a horse at a pet retailer, reinforces that Asgard has its personal quirks and traditions.
9
‘Depraved’ (2024)
The primary jiffy of Wicked do a lot of the heavy lifting by reintroducing Oz and displaying us acquainted places. We see the Yellow Brick Highway, Emerald Metropolis, Munchkinland, and the Depraved Witch of the West’s tower. Glinda (Ariana Grande) arrives in a giant bubble and proclaims the witch’s dying by means of track. It picks up proper the place The Wizard of Oz ends, after which instantly pulls us backward into Elphaba’s (Cynthia Erivo) origins. We change into invested as a result of the movie makes it clear there may be extra to this world than we have been informed earlier than.
We perceive Elphaba’s place in Oz by means of how others react to her, particularly their discomfort with her inexperienced pores and skin, which fits towards what the world considers regular. Past Elphaba’s story, the film expands the world by displaying how speaking animals are handled as second-class residents. These animals train, work, and dwell alongside people, but they’re slowly being stripped of their rights. Whereas Elphaba research at Shiz, many animals are pressured into hiding simply to outlive. All of this makes Oz really feel far more difficult and politically layered than the fairy story model we thought we knew.
8
‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ (2006)
Set within the Francoist Spain of 1944, Pan’s Labyrinth facilities round a bookish younger lady who by chance escapes right into a fantasy world. There, she meets a Faun who tells her she’s a princess destined to return to her magical underworld kingdom. However, in an effort to show her royalty and obtain immortality, she should full three harmful duties. On her quest, she meets varied mystical creatures, together with glowing fairies, an enormous toad, and the child-eating Pale Man. The creatures in listed here are pure nightmare gasoline, delivered to life with beautiful sensible results.
And like with any Guillermo Del Toro film, there isn’t any easy good vs. evil right here. Identical to the surface world, the Underground Realms are harmful, and even the magical characters have complicated and morally ambiguous traits, which makes the world really feel far more grounded and actual. And even the little particulars, just like the Faun addressing the lady as “vos”, which is an outdated Spanish time period for royalty, drive residence simply how a lot consideration to element there was.
7
‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ (2005)
This movie establishes a way of realism by grounding the true world first. The opening sequences in Forties London are stuffed with tactile, period-accurate particulars: heavy wool coats, steam trains, and outdated parchment. However as Lucy (Georgie Henley) steps into the wardrobe and enters a forest lined in snow, you immediately notice this can be a world very completely different from our personal. The movie populates Narnia with creatures that characterize completely different social roles. There are Centaurs, who’re the stoic army, and the half-breed Fauns and Satyrs, who’re the creative, whimsical residents.
You study that magic in Narnia is ruled by strict legal guidelines from the daybreak of time. And also you see it in motion by means of the Stone Desk, the enchanted Turkish Delight, and the presents the youngsters obtain from Father Christmas (James Cosmo). The movie additionally introduces audiences to the White Witch’s (Tilda Swinton) oppressive rule and the prophecy of how Aslan’s arrival will finish the everlasting winter and produce spring. Her palace is stuffed with frozen statues of Narnian residents, every trapped in a state of terror. This tells the historical past of her 100-year reign with out a single line of dialogue.
6
‘The Darkish Crystal’ (1982)
This movie takes place in a realm referred to as Thra, and it feels distinctive in each method. For The Dark Crystal, Jim Henson wished to maneuver away from the lovable puppets of The Muppets and Sesame Street to construct a darker, extra grounded fantasy world. And so, Thra was created from the bottom up as one thing really different. There aren’t any people right here in any respect. It’s a completely new ecosystem populated by races like Gelflings, Podlings, Mystics, and Skeksis.
The movie follows a Gelfling named Jen, who’s been raised by the noble race referred to as the Mystics, and has been informed his complete life that he’s the final survivor of his personal race. He learns concerning the Darkish Crystal, a strong gem that when saved the world in steadiness. When the Crystal was shattered, that steadiness was damaged, and the evil Skeksis used sinister means to realize management. Each 1000 years, a Nice Conjunction happens when the Three Suns align, which empowers the Crystal. Jen believes that he can restore the Darkish Crystal earlier than the following Nice Conjunction and produce peace again to the world, and so he units out on a quest to search out the remaining shard.
5
‘Spirited Away’ (2001)
Spirited Away follows a ten-year-old lady who, whereas transferring to a brand new city, wanders together with her dad and mom into the magical Spirit Realm. This world is stuffed with gods, sorcerers, sprites, beasts, spirits, and, in fact, the long-lasting No-Face, a creature that absorbs the traits and voices of these it consumes. In contrast to many fantasy worlds the place magic fixes all the pieces, this one is unusually industrial. Everybody will need to have a job to justify their existence, and identification is handled as a tangible, stealable foreign money.
Among the best examples of world-building is the Stink Spirit scene. When the lady pulls what appears to be like like a thorn out of the spirit, it seems to be a bicycle deal with, adopted by piles of human trash. This subtly explains the connection between the 2 worlds: the human world’s air pollution straight impacts the well being of the spirits. The practice experience to Swamp Backside is one other improbable worldbuilding scene. It reveals that the bathhouse within the film is only one small a part of a a lot bigger, melancholic world. The shadow-like passengers board and depart, and it drives residence the scope of the world; each spirit has its personal life and vacation spot.
4
‘The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring’
That is the primary film in what’s broadly thought of the best fantasy trilogy of all time. It follows Frodo (Elijah Wood), a hobbit from the peaceable Shire, whose quiet life is shattered when Gandalf (Ian McKellen) pulls him into the bigger struggle towards Sauron. Frodo is tasked with carrying the One Ring, the very object Sauron is desperately making an attempt to reclaim. His journey takes him from the protection of his residence to Rivendell, the place elves, dwarves, people, and hobbits ultimately type a fellowship to destroy the ring within the fires of Mount Doom.
What makes Center-earth really feel so actual is the insane consideration to element. The Hobbiton set was constructed practically a yr earlier than filming started. This allowed actual gardens to develop, weeds to sprout naturally, and the hedges to fill in, in order that when the cameras lastly rolled, the Shire appeared like a village that had been inhabited for hundreds of years quite than a newly constructed set. Every race has its personal design language. In Hobbiton, you see small tables, mini ladders, and tiny clotheslines with hobbit-sized laundry. In Rivendell, each pillar, chandelier, and desk leg options natural, flowing curves that mirror their 3,000-year-old connection to the forest. All of this makes this fantasy world really really feel lived in.
3
‘Alice in Wonderland’ (2010)
Alice in Wonderland options a few of the most stunning aesthetics ever put in a fantasy film. It pulls you within the second Alice (Mia Wasikowska) follows a rabbit down a rabbit gap. She retains falling till she lands the wrong way up on a ceiling, after which gravity abruptly flips, and she or he drops to the ground. She is greeted by a hallway of locked doorways, a bottle labeled “DRINK ME” that makes her shrink, and a cake labeled “EAT ME” that turns her into an enormous. Inside minutes, the film establishes that the legal guidelines of physics don’t work the identical method right here, and magic is baked into the material of Underland.
From there, Tim Burton introduces a lineup of unforgettable characters just like the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), Absolem the Caterpillar, the villainous Purple Queen (Helena Bonham Carter), and her sister, the White Queen (Anne Hathaway). And the CGI/live-action hybrid actually drives residence the fantastical nature of those characters. Underland additionally has a wealthy historical past that existed lengthy earlier than the movie began. The Orcaulum explains that the Purple Queen usurped the throne, and the complete world had been caught in a state of ready for Alice’s return for The Frabjous Day, the prophesied day of battle that’s meant to revive steadiness.
2
‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ (2001)
The Wizarding World is a kind of fictional universes that everybody is aware of, and that’s as a result of the primary Harry Potter movie did an exceptional job of constructing it from the bottom up. On his eleventh birthday, Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) tells Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) that he’s a wizard and explains the reality about his dad and mom. He then brings Harry into this hidden world by means of the secret entrance to the Hogwarts Categorical, tucked away behind Muggle-repelling charms. We study concerning the Ministry of Magic, which tells us there may be a full authorities in place to regulate magic and preserve it hidden from regular individuals.
As soon as Harry arrives at Hogwarts, there are staircases that transfer and alter course. Portraits of well-known individuals who discuss and transfer round. College students undergo the Sorting Ceremony, the place they’re divided into 4 homes, every with its personal identification and historical past. Each pupil has a wand, flies on broomsticks, and attends courses like Potions, Charms, and Transfiguration. Even tiny moments, like Hermione (Emma Watson) correcting Ron’s (Rupert Grint) spell pronunciation with “It’s LeviOsa, not LevioSA,” reinforce that magic follows clear guidelines and makes Hogwarts really feel like an precise functioning college.
1
‘Avatar’ (2009)
With Avatar, James Cameron launched the sprawling alien world of Pandora, a lush and vibrant moon orbiting the gasoline big Polyphemus within the Alpha Centauri system. Each element of this world is formed by its bodily circumstances. As a result of Pandora has decrease gravity than Earth, its crops and animals develop to huge sizes. And because it experiences lengthy durations of darkness as a moon, practically all life on the planet developed to be bioluminescent.
Pandora is inhabited by six-limbed beast-like creatures and the four-limbed Na’vi individuals. They stand practically 10 toes tall, once more as a result of the decrease gravity permits that form of evolution. Their biology and tradition are additionally deeply tied to the planet. They’ve their very own language, greeting, and faith. All organisms on Pandora even have a neural queue that enables them to bond with each other. The Na’vi use it to experience animals, talk with the Tree of Souls, and so they can even join with one another as a part of their mating ritual. All this consideration to tradition, custom, and biology makes Pandora really feel like an actual civilization that developed naturally proper alongside humanity.
