MTDb › Best of › Fantasy › 1980s
Best Fantasy Movies of the 1980s
#1 My Neighbor Totoro (1988) · ★ 8.1 · 9,112 votes · 1h 26m · fantasy, animation, familyTwo sisters move to the country with their father in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother, and discover the surrounding trees are inhabited by Totoros, magical spirits o…
#2 Castle in the Sky (1986) · ★ 8.0 · 4,826 votes · 2h 5m · action, fantasy, adventureA young boy and a girl with a magic crystal must race against pirates and foreign agents in a search for a legendary floating castle.…
#3 Warriors of the Wind (1984) · ★ 7.9 · 4,221 votes · 1h 35m · fantasy, adventure, animationAfter a global war, the seaside kingdom known as the Valley of the Wind remains one of the last strongholds on Earth untouched by a poisonous jungle and the powerful insects that g…
#4 Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) · ★ 7.8 · 4,760 votes · 1h 43m · fantasy, animation, familyA young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service.…
#5 Wings of Desire (1987) · ★ 7.8 · 1,540 votes · 2h 8m · fantasy, romance, dramaTwo angels, Damiel and Cassiel, glide through the streets of Berlin, observing the bustling population, providing invisible rays of hope to the distressed but never interacting wit…
#6 Vincent (1982) · ★ 7.8 · 946 votes · 0h 6m · fantasy, animationYoung Vincent Malloy dreams of being just like Vincent Price and loses himself in macabre daydreams that annoy his mother.…
#7 Fanny and Alexander (1982) · ★ 7.8 · 918 votes · 3h 8m · fantasy, drama, mysteryAs children in the loving Ekdahl family, Fanny and Alexander enjoy a happy life with their parents, who run a theater company. After their father dies unexpectedly, however, the si…
#8 The Princess Bride (1987) · ★ 7.7 · 5,305 votes · 1h 39m · comedy, fantasy, adventureIn this enchantingly cracked fairy tale, the beautiful Princess Buttercup and the dashing Westley must overcome staggering odds to find happiness amid six-fingered swordsmen, murde…
#9 Nothing Left to Do But Cry (1984) · ★ 7.7 · 1,194 votes · 1h 52m · comedy, fantasyTwo 20th-century friends accidentally stumble into the year 1492, where they meet a charming teen and try to alter history.…
#10 Angel's Egg (1985) · ★ 7.7 · 609 votes · 1h 11m · fantasy, science-fiction, animationIn the ruins of a strange city, a young girl takes care of a large egg she holds carefully in her arms. She bonds with a boy who is searching for a bird he saw in a dream.…
#11 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) · ★ 7.5 · 12,305 votes · 1h 55m · fantasy, adventure, science-fictionAn alien is left behind on Earth and saved by the 10-year-old Elliott who decides to keep him hidden in his home. While a task force hunts for the extra-terrestrial, Elliott, his b…
#12 Ghostbusters (1984) · ★ 7.5 · 10,029 votes · 1h 45m · comedy, fantasyAfter losing their university jobs, three parapsychologists start a ghost-catching business in New York City and uncover a supernatural threat that could destroy the world.…
#13 Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) · ★ 7.5 · 6,365 votes · 1h 44m · comedy, fantasy, animationToon star Roger is worried that his wife Jessica is playing pattycake with someone else, so the studio hires detective Eddie Valiant to snoop on her. But the stakes are quickly rai…
#14 Evil Dead II (1987) · ★ 7.5 · 3,536 votes · 1h 24m · comedy, fantasy, horrorAsh Williams and his girlfriend Linda find a log cabin in the woods with a voice recording from an archeologist who had recorded himself reciting ancient chants from "The Book of t…
#15 Somewhere in Time (1980) · ★ 7.5 · 691 votes · 1h 43m · fantasy, romance, dramaYoung writer Richard Collier is met on the opening night of his first play by an old lady who begs him to "Come back to me". Mystified, he tries to find out about her, and learns t…
#16 Beetlejuice (1988) · ★ 7.4 · 8,706 votes · 1h 32m · comedy, fantasyA newly dead New England couple seeks help from a deranged demon exorcist to scare an affluent New York family out of their home.…
#17 The Little Mermaid (1989) · ★ 7.4 · 8,498 votes · 1h 23m · fantasy, animation, familyThis colorful adventure tells the story of an impetuous mermaid princess named Ariel who falls in love with the very human Prince Eric and puts everything on the line for the chanc…
#18 An American Werewolf in London (1981) · ★ 7.4 · 2,728 votes · 1h 37m · comedy, fantasy, horrorAmerican tourists David and Jack are savagely attacked by an unidentified animal while hiking on the Yorkshire Moors. After retiring to the home of a beautiful nurse to recuperate,…
#19 The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) · ★ 7.4 · 1,180 votes · 1h 22m · comedy, fantasy, romanceCecilia is a waitress in New Jersey, living a dreary life during the Great Depression. Her only escape from her mundane reality is the movie theatre. After losing her job, Cecilia…
#20 The Secret of NIMH (1982) · ★ 7.4 · 981 votes · 1h 23m · fantasy, adventure, dramaA widowed field mouse must move her family -- including an ailing son -- to escape a farmer's plow. Aided by a crow and a pack of superintelligent, escaped lab rats, the brave moth…
#21 Labyrinth (1986) · ★ 7.3 · 2,867 votes · 1h 41m · fantasy, adventure, familyFrustrated with babysitting on yet another weekend night, Sarah, a teenager with an active imagination, summons the Goblins to take her baby stepbrother away. When little Toby actu…
#22 The Last Unicorn (1982) · ★ 7.3 · 621 votes · 1h 33m · fantasy, adventure, animationA unicorn learns from a riddle-speaking butterfly that she is supposedly the last of her kind, all the others having been herded away by the monstrous Red Bull. The unicorn sets ou…
#23 Batman (1989) · ★ 7.2 · 8,818 votes · 2h 6m · action, fantasy, crimeHaving witnessed his parents' brutal murder as a child, millionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne fights crime in Gotham City disguised as Batman, a costumed hero who strikes fear int…
#24 The NeverEnding Story (1984) · ★ 7.2 · 4,524 votes · 1h 41m · fantasy, adventure, dramaWhile hiding from bullies in his school's attic, a young boy discovers the extraordinary land of Fantasia, through a magical book called The Neverending Story. The book tells the t…
#25 Big (1988) · ★ 7.2 · 4,191 votes · 1h 44m · comedy, fantasy, romanceWhen a young boy makes a wish at a carnival machine to be big, he wakes up the following morning to find that it has been granted and his body has grown older overnight, but he is…
#26 Big Trouble in Little China (1986) · ★ 7.2 · 3,396 votes · 1h 40m · action, comedy, fantasyTruck driver Jack Burton gets embroiled in a supernatural battle when his best friend Wang Chi's green-eyed fiancée is kidnapped by henchmen of the sorcerer Lo Pan, who must marry…
#27 The Dark Crystal (1982) · ★ 7.2 · 1,317 votes · 1h 33m · fantasy, adventure, animationOn another planet in the distant past, a Gelfling embarks on a quest to find the missing shard of a magical crystal and restore order to his world, before the grotesque race of Ske…
#28 Santa Sangre (1989) · ★ 7.2 · 521 votes · 2h 2m · fantasy, thriller, dramaA former circus artist escapes from a mental hospital to rejoin his armless, cult leader mother, and is forced to enact brutal murders in her name.…
#29 Gremlins (1984) · ★ 7.1 · 7,158 votes · 1h 46m · comedy, fantasy, horrorAfter receiving an exotic small animal as a Christmas gift, a young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet, which unleashes a horde of malevolently m…
#30 Field of Dreams (1989) · ★ 7.1 · 1,762 votes · 1h 45m · fantasy, dramaRay Kinsella is an Iowa farmer who hears a mysterious voice telling him to turn his cornfield into a baseball diamond. He does, but the voice's directions don't stop -- even after…
#31 Moonwalker (1988) · ★ 7.1 · 691 votes · 1h 33m · fantasy, musicThis fantastical movie inspired by the music of Michael Jackson features imaginative interpretations of hit tracks from the iconic 1987 album “Bad”.…
#32 Willow (1988) · ★ 7.0 · 2,265 votes · 2h 6m · action, fantasy, adventureThe evil Queen Bavmorda hunts the newborn princess Elora Danan, a child prophesied to bring about her downfall. When the royal infant is found by Willow, a timid farmer and aspirin…
#33 Ladyhawke (1985) · ★ 7.0 · 1,302 votes · 2h 1m · comedy, fantasy, adventureCaptain Etienne Navarre is a man on whose shoulders lies a cruel curse. Punished for loving each other, Navarre must become a wolf by night whilst his lover, Lady Isabeau, takes th…
#34 Excalibur (1981) · ★ 7.0 · 1,203 votes · 2h 21m · fantasy, adventureArthur fulfills his fate by bringing together the Knights of the Round Table at Camelot and unifying the country. However, this flawed monarch faces greater tests ahead in pursuit…
#35 The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) · ★ 7.0 · 1,038 votes · 2h 6m · comedy, fantasy, adventureAn account of Baron Munchausen's supposed travels and fantastical experiences with his band of misfits.…
#36 Quest for Fire (1981) · ★ 7.0 · 582 votes · 1h 40m · fantasy, adventure, dramaIn the prehistoric world, a Cro-Magnon tribe depends on an ever-burning source of fire, which eventually extinguishes. Lacking the knowledge to start a new fire, the tribe sends th…
#37 Highlander (1986) · ★ 6.9 · 3,031 votes · 1h 56m · action, fantasy, adventureHe fought his first battle on the Scottish Highlands in 1536. He will fight his greatest battle on the streets of New York City in 1986. His name is Connor MacLeod. He is immortal.…
#38 Hellraiser (1987) · ★ 6.9 · 3,002 votes · 1h 33m · fantasy, thriller, horrorA hedonistic man finds a mysterious puzzle box that summons a group of gruesome beings known as the Cenobites. These otherworldly entities open the doors to a dominion where pain a…
#39 Starman (1984) · ★ 6.9 · 1,057 votes · 1h 55m · fantasy, romance, dramaWhen an alien takes the form of a young widow's husband and asks her to drive him from Wisconsin to Arizona, the government tries to stop them.…
#40 Clash of the Titans (1981) · ★ 6.9 · 895 votes · 1h 58m · action, fantasy, adventureTo win the right to marry his love, the beautiful princess Andromeda, and fulfil his destiny, half-God-half-mortal Perseus must complete various tasks including taming Pegasus, cap…