Jumanji (1995)

Young Alan Parrish lives in the prosperous town of Brantford with his father. Their home was once a quiet forest, but rapid development has swallowed up part of the nature preserve, which holds its own secrets. One day, while on a walk, the hero discovers an old chest, buried about a century ago. The treasure turns out to be a Jumanji board game, which immediately attracts the boy with its mystery. After a fight with his father that same evening, the schoolboy invites his friend Sarah over to escape his daily worries and uncover the secrets of his new find. However, with the first roll of the dice, Jumanji sucks Alan into its world, leaving no chance for people from reality to find him. A quarter of a century later, the ill-fated artifact is discovered by other children – Judy and Peter, whose family has purchased the abandoned Parrish mansion. They also read the rules inattentively, summoning wondrous creatures and dangerous phenomena to their attic with each move. Suddenly, the boys summon Alan, who has disappeared into the depths of a fantastical jungle, and they need help finishing the game so he can return home forever.

“The King and the Jester. Forever” (2026)

A new film about the punk universe of the legendary band, which hits theaters on February 19th. According to the plot, Gorshok settles into the magical world of his songs, performing in a large tavern and enjoying life among the unusual inhabitants of fairy tales. However, his idyll is suddenly threatened by danger: the evil Necromancer breaks free from years of imprisonment and gathers an army of the dead to exact revenge on his enemies from the past and destroy everything around him. To prevent chaos and discord, Gorshok decides to reunite with his old friend and lures the Prince out of reality and into a magical land. Their journey is punctuated by classic squabbles and petty squabbles, which only strengthen the bond between the old comrades, who have become the closest to each other. To a vibrant soundtrack in the spirit of the band’s famous works, the musical duo sets out to decisively fight back against evil, enlisting the help of unusual allies and trying to free loved ones who have already fallen under the influence of a cunning antagonist.

Inkheart (2007)

Mortimer Folhart is a real bookworm, earning his living by binding and restoring new volumes. His 12-year-old daughter, Maggie, has inherited the same passion for written stories. But their passion is not limited to just reading: the Folharts possess an amazing ability that allows them to bring to life the characters in stories, who must be replaced on the pages by a person from the real world. One day, the duo encounters a man named Dustyhand, who claims Mortimer summoned him to the real universe nine years ago. Everything would be fine, except that his replacement on the pages is young Maggie’s mother. Together with their new acquaintance, the family bands together to return everyone to their proper place, but the book’s villains also try to thwart them: the menacing Capricorn and his accomplice Bastu, who have built a large castle filled with fantastical creatures from old stories. With a combined effort, the antagonists capture Aunt Elinor and intend to use the Folharts’ invaluable powers for their own wicked purposes.

“Outland” (2006)

Roy Walker’s fate is hard to envy: the Hollywood stuntman was seriously injured while performing one of his stunts and is now forced to lie in the hospital, confined to a sterile bed. For a man whose whole life consisted of movement and adrenaline, such a fate seems like a death sentence. To keep from going crazy from boredom and idleness, Roy begins to invent a fairy tale for a girl named Alexandria, who is lying in the same institution with a broken arm. His magical world literally comes to life on screen: the man tells the story of Charles Darwin, the Black Bandit, the escaped slave Otta Beng, the Indian, and the revolutionary Luigi, all exiled to a remote island by the treacherous tyrant Odius. Over time, the tale begins to influence the author himself, subjecting his characters to mental and physical torment while simultaneously experiencing his own personal dramas. To prevent the dark thoughts of her new acquaintance from killing her beloved characters, little Alexandria tries to soften Walker and influence his mood, which is destroying both the real and fantasy worlds with a veil of depression.

“Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006)

The three-time Oscar-winning film became a triumph for director Guillermo del Toro and established his place in the professional film arena. The plot tells the story of Spain in 1944, where partisans are waging a stubborn struggle against the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. Little Ofelia becomes the adopted daughter of Vidal, the head of the state punitive battalions, who cannot bear a child and wants only a son from his wife. One day, the girl runs away to the local mill, where she discovers a magical stone labyrinth, into which a fairy leads her. There, an ancient faun informs the heroine that she must pass three trials to return to her loving father, the king of a fantasy world. Thus, Ofelia begins to live in two realities: in her ordinary life, she helps her sick mother, who fell ill during the war, and in the magical universe, she rescues magical plants, encounters wondrous creatures, and tries to avoid the faun’s wrath. Many critics compare the plot of the film to Alice in Wonderland, but del Toro’s work is distinguished by its particular gloom and is an iconic representative of the dark fantasy genre.

Stardust (2007)

The English village of Walled City has long been famous for its unusual neighborhood: the borders of the settlement are surrounded by a stone wall that separates it from the magical parallel universe of Stormhold. Dunstan Thorn decides to travel to the mysterious world, overcoming the fence, and in the magical city meets Una, a girl whose fate lies in the bony hands of a witch. The heroes quickly fall in love with each other, and soon they have a son, Tristan. The young man grows up, and, like his father, he himself is drawn beyond the wall. The boy promises the most beautiful girl in his neighborhood to retrieve a star that fell on the other side of their village. Soon, Tristan learns the truth about his origins from his father: it turns out his mother was the missing princess, so the Thorn family now carries the blood of Stormhold’s royal line. From then on, the young adventurer has another reason to journey to this wondrous land: more than anything, he wants to find his mother and meet her in her homeland. There, the wanderer finds himself in the midst of a coup d’état: the king is dead, and his four offspring are waging a fierce struggle for the magic ruby that transfers the right to the throne.