# Recommend upbeat sci-fi/fantasy movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 16, 2016, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-upbeat-sci-fi-fantasy-movies/768760 "2016-10-16T19:40:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![thorvitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eb8c5e/32.png) [@thorvitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorvitz)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-upbeat-sci-fi-fantasy-movies/768760/41 "2016-10-18T18:23:52Z")
Ironically this movie (Children) interested me enough to see it in theaters, I walked out though it was so dark and depressing. FE is too out there (I know 90% of sci fi movies are). Galaxy Quest too. > [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > _Children of Men_ may end on an upbeat note, but it’s pretty damned depressing to get through. However, it does have Charlie Hunnam as a street gang thug, and three or four of the best “continuous take” sequences I know of. (Yes, they’re digitally faked, but it’s very difficult to spot the edits and at least two are completely breathtaking. As in, leave you gasping for air because people tend not to breathe until there are breaks in the onscreen action.) > > I’d put _Galaxy Quest_ and _Fifth Element_ at the top of “not depressing sf” list. ---
**Author:** ![thorvitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eb8c5e/32.png) [@thorvitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorvitz)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-upbeat-sci-fi-fantasy-movies/768760/42 "2016-10-18T18:25:42Z")
Oblivion is closest to what I want of this list. The ending is a little like What Dreams May Come - which I love (depressing middle but really nice closing scene, as someone else mentioned). Super 8 too because it felt like an 80s flick (Stand by Me-ish). > [@GuanoLad](#): > > Super 8 > Ladyhawke > Jungle Book > Secret of Kells > How to Train Your Dragon > Curse of the Were-Rabbit > Wreck-It Ralph > Edge of Tomorrow > Oblivion > Prince of Persia > Dragonheart ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-upbeat-sci-fi-fantasy-movies/768760/43 "2016-10-18T18:30:27Z")
> [@Gukumatz](#): > > Listing some perhaps obvious ones: > … > > - Serenity > … I’m not entirely sure I’d call _Serenity_ upbeat. I mean, it’s not slit-your-wrists depressing, but some fairly horrible things happen. Is 2016 too late to suggest \*Star Wars: A New Hope? \* Pretty upbeat, really, in general. ---
**Author:** ![thorvitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eb8c5e/32.png) [@thorvitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorvitz)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-upbeat-sci-fi-fantasy-movies/768760/44 "2016-10-18T18:30:45Z")
Jackpot… 5 days looks fantastic!! Sci Fi (especially pre 2008) series are a little low budget but I don’t care; they’re usually not too dark or violent and have fascinating premises. I’m thinking the Lost Room and Rewind. Primer looks good…but I don’t want anything I have to see multiple times to understand (that’s what has stopped me from Momento). > [@Sitnam](#): > > **5ive Days to Midnight** was more thriller than upbeat but it wasn’t depressing. A modern day physics professor I s at the grave of his departed wife when he discovers an old file, it’s a cold case for a murder, his own. He’ll die in 5 days apparently, but the sick joke gets strange when events in the file begin to happen. > > Primer is cool too. ---
**Author:** ![thorvitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eb8c5e/32.png) [@thorvitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorvitz)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-upbeat-sci-fi-fantasy-movies/768760/45 "2016-10-18T18:51:16Z")
I’ve got About Time on the list. Now You See Me was great. Others too out there/too fantastical. Yes I’m looking for something very niche/specific! > [@GuanoLad](#): > > Ever After > About Time > Ant Man > Enchanted > Explorers > Paddington > Kung Fu Panda > Shaun The Sheep > Now You See Me > Innerspace > The Lone Ranger > John Carter > The Martian > Pirates of the Caribbean ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-upbeat-sci-fi-fantasy-movies/768760/46 "2016-10-18T19:01:07Z")
> [@thorvitz](#): > > I should have been clearer. I want sappy sci fi/fantasy… or at least more emotional and less far fetched. Check out _Secondhand Lions_ then. It certainly has elements of fantasy: a kid [Haley Joel Osment] is foisted upon his great-uncles [Michael Caine & Robert Duvall] and isn’t sure if the stories they tell are tall tales or not until the very end. The end credits feature artwork by Berke Breathed. ---
**Author:** ![thorvitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eb8c5e/32.png) [@thorvitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorvitz)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-upbeat-sci-fi-fantasy-movies/768760/47 "2016-10-18T19:07:37Z")
This looks awesome! Deal sealed by a review on Rotten Tomatoes says “schmaltz fest.” Added to the movie party i am having in December when wife and kid are out of town. 🙂 > [@Skywatcher](#): > > Check out _Secondhand Lions_ then. It certainly has elements of fantasy: a kid [Haley Joel Osment] is foisted upon his great-uncles [Michael Caine & Robert Duvall] and isn’t sure if the stories they tell are tall tales or not until the very end. > > The end credits feature artwork by Berke Breathed. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-upbeat-sci-fi-fantasy-movies/768760/48 "2016-10-18T19:27:35Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **2010** , despite its flaws Agreed, my favourite science-fiction movie, 2001 is certainly more worthy but 2010 is a lot more fun to watch. If I had to describe it in one word it would be ‘humane’. What do you consider to be its flaws, I can see how people might view it as overly preachy and to some extent its of its era _(with the Cold War tensions)_ but I just love it. 🙂 Oh,and the OP specified emotional, there is one line that gets me every time “I’m afraid”…it turns HAL from simply a machine, no matter how clever, merely following its orders, into a person bravely and nobly sacrificing himself to save the others ---
**Author:** ![thorvitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eb8c5e/32.png) [@thorvitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorvitz)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-upbeat-sci-fi-fantasy-movies/768760/49 "2016-10-18T19:54:04Z")
I’m not answering your question (too long since I saw 2001) but you reminded me of Contact, which is also a beautiful, moving film… and while the ending may have been a copout to some, I think it was the best way to handle it (without being ridiculous). > [@Disposable Hero](#): > > Agreed, my favourite science-fiction movie, 2001 is certainly more worthy but 2010 is a lot more fun to watch. If I had to describe it in one word it would be ‘humane’. What do you consider to be its flaws, I can see how people might view it as overly preachy and to some extent its of its era _(with the Cold War tensions)_ but I just love it. 🙂 > > Oh,and the OP specified emotional, there is one line that gets me every time “I’m afraid”…it turns HAL from simply a machine, no matter how clever, merely following its orders, into a person bravely and nobly sacrificing himself to save the others ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-upbeat-sci-fi-fantasy-movies/768760/50 "2016-10-18T20:06:29Z")
> [@thorvitz](#): > > Yes I’m looking for something very niche/specific! You have weird taste in movies, **thorvitz**. Either that, or you’re on some kinda binge here that feeds a specific need and you’ll be back to your old self when it’s over. > [@thorvitz](#): > > … the movie party i am having in December when wife and kid are out of town. 🙂 Oh, duh. I get it now. It looks like we’re mostly talking about sci-fi (_Star Wars_, _Avatar_, _Aliens_) here rather than what I’d consider “fantasy” (_Conan the Barbarian_, _The Princess Bride_, _Robin Hood_, etc.), although the line is one that is easily blurred; _Nausicaa_ got mentioned upthread! I see _Oblivion_ and [del]_All You Need Is Kill_[/del] _Edge of Tomorrow_ have already been suggested, so how about: [ul][li] **Minority Report** - Washington D.C. police officer John Anderton works for his department’s new “Pre-Crime” division. Using a machine that can analyze the visions of three pre-cognitive diviners, Anderton and his men stop murders before they can happen by arresting those responsible ahead of time. What will happen, though, when the precogs predict that Anderton himself is going to become the next killer?[_] **Summer Wars** - Young genius mathematician Kenji Koiso is temporarily hired away from his job as a software tech at Oz, the global on-line virtual supercommunity, by his classmate Natsuki Shinohara. She (secretly) intends to present him as her fiancé to her grandmother during the latter’s 90th birthday celebration. At the same time, Kenji may have accidentally opened Oz’s security system for takeover by “Love Machine”, an experimental artificial intelligence. Can Kenji and the combined attendees of the birthday celebration defeat Love Machine before it does something really nasty?[_] **Safety Not Guaranteed** - A group of writers from a small Seattle magazine decide to investigate a want ad for someone to go back in time (the ad includes the lines “You’ll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed.”) with its poster, who turns out to be just a local grocery store clerk who thinks secret government agents are stalking him. Is he crazy? Paranoid? Or … is it really time travel?[/ul][/li]Emperor’s Teeth! Is it cliché to end short movie descriptions with stupid questions if you don’t want to spoil anything (and I _don’t!_)? Maybe they’ll seem more exciting if you can imagine them being read by Peter Cullen. ---
**Author:** ![thorvitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eb8c5e/32.png) [@thorvitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorvitz)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-upbeat-sci-fi-fantasy-movies/768760/51 "2016-10-18T21:10:24Z")
Minority Report is good; I saw it. Especially the premise. Safety Not Guaranteed was excellent–saw it during my last binge. What I am looking for is very niche- and is actually 4 separate niche’s! 1. sappy Hallmark movies about love that transcends time (The Last Valentine, Edge of the Garden—yes these are made for TV movies; Somewhere in Time) or about redemption (Another Earth). Many 80s Twilight Zone episodes fit this. 2. feel good, sweet fantasy (Family Man). 3. Twilight zone premises (what if scenarios) involving time travel or alternate realities…preferably with twists (Triangle, Contact, The One I Love). Not traditional sci fi with shooting aliens or dark, desolate futures. I’ll take B movies or obscure sci fi channel series to get interesting. 4. Major Twist movies–this isn’t sci fi–like The Others, The Village, Wild Things, Masquerade (Rob Lowe), and 100s of other B movies. Maybe it’s a temporary binge… I think it’s more I have odd taste in movies. Which is why it takes me 20 hours of searching to find a suitable list. When I was 20 and had all the time in the world to wander video stores and stay up all night watching movies it didn’t matter. 🙂 Now I get one break a year since we have a 1 1/2 yr old. For more perspective my all-time favorite TV shows (besides the 80s TZ) are Early Edition and Quantum Leap. > [@psiekier](#): > > You have weird taste in movies, **thorvitz**. Either that, or you’re on some kinda binge here that feeds a specific need and you’ll be back to your old self when it’s over. > Oh, duh. I get it now. > > It looks like we’re mostly talking about sci-fi (_Star Wars_, _Avatar_, _Aliens_) here rather than what I’d consider “fantasy” (_Conan the Barbarian_, _The Princess Bride_, _Robin Hood_, etc.), although the line is one that is easily blurred; _Nausicaa_ got mentioned upthread! I see _Oblivion_ and [del]_All You Need Is Kill_[/del] _Edge of Tomorrow_ have already been suggested, so how about: > > [ul][li] **Minority Report** - Washington D.C. police officer John Anderton works for his department’s new “Pre-Crime” division. Using a machine that can analyze the visions of three pre-cognitive diviners, Anderton and his men stop murders before they can happen by arresting those responsible ahead of time. What will happen, though, when the precogs predict that Anderton himself is going to become the next killer?[_] **Summer Wars** - Young genius mathematician Kenji Koiso is temporarily hired away from his job as a software tech at Oz, the global on-line virtual supercommunity, by his classmate Natsuki Shinohara. She (secretly) intends to present him as her fiancé to her grandmother during the latter’s 90th birthday celebration. At the same time, Kenji may have accidentally opened Oz’s security system for takeover by “Love Machine”, an experimental artificial intelligence. Can Kenji and the combined attendees of the birthday celebration defeat Love Machine before it does something really nasty?[_] **Safety Not Guaranteed** - A group of writers from a small Seattle magazine decide to investigate a want ad for someone to go back in time (the ad includes the lines “You’ll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed.”) with its poster, who turns out to be just a local grocery store clerk who thinks secret government agents are stalking him. Is he crazy? Paranoid? Or … is it really time travel?[/ul][/li]Emperor’s Teeth! Is it cliché to end short movie descriptions with stupid questions if you don’t want to spoil anything (and I _don’t!_)? Maybe they’ll seem more exciting if you can imagine them being read by Peter Cullen. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-upbeat-sci-fi-fantasy-movies/768760/52 "2016-10-18T22:34:10Z")
_The Abyss_? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-upbeat-sci-fi-fantasy-movies/768760/53 "2016-10-18T22:40:45Z")
_The Hunt for Red October_ is rooted in sci-fi, namely The Red October and her propulsion system. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-upbeat-sci-fi-fantasy-movies/768760/54 "2016-10-18T22:45:46Z")
_The Time Traveler’s Wife_ _Batteries Not Included_ _Cocoon_ ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-upbeat-sci-fi-fantasy-movies/768760/55 "2016-10-18T22:48:57Z")
Sorry. My specialty is the exact opposite. ---
**Author:** ![thorvitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eb8c5e/32.png) [@thorvitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorvitz)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-upbeat-sci-fi-fantasy-movies/768760/56 "2016-10-18T23:16:19Z")
All 3 are fantastic! Seen the last 2 4-5x each. > [@Cartoonacy](#): > > _The Time Traveler’s Wife_ > _Batteries Not Included_ > _Cocoon_ ---
**Author:** ![thorvitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eb8c5e/32.png) [@thorvitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorvitz)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-upbeat-sci-fi-fantasy-movies/768760/57 "2016-10-18T23:17:52Z")
All good, most people don’t dig this kind of stuff. Even Richard Matheson admitted as much when he wrote What Dreams May Come & Somewhere in Time. > [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Sorry. My specialty is the exact opposite. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-upbeat-sci-fi-fantasy-movies/768760/58 "2016-10-18T23:25:45Z")
> [@thorvitz](#): > > All good, most people don’t dig this kind of stuff. Even Richard Matheson admitted as much when he wrote What Dreams May Come & Somewhere in Time. Ah!! The mention of Matheson jogged my memory! The Incredible Shrinking Man. Edit: The end is upbeat that is. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-upbeat-sci-fi-fantasy-movies/768760/59 "2016-10-19T00:08:05Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Ranchoth** : > > Okay, I’ll bite. Define “darkness” and “resolved.” > > I mean, even “Peanuts” movies tend to have an undercurrent of melancholy, heartbreak, loss, and hopelessness. Or just an overcurrent. OK, take _Princess Mononoke_, for instance. The fundamental conflict in that one is the developing city versus the natural wilds. And it’s never resolved at all. They’re not quite at each others’ throats any more at the end, but the reason they were at each others’ throats is still there. Or _Spirited Away_: The river-spirit is dying because there’s so much pollution. By the end, the human characters are aware of the problem, but there’s still too much pollution. Or _Howl’s Moving Castle_: We’re talking about literal deals with demons, here. And while “demon” has a different meaning in Japanese culture than in ours, the fire-spirit at the heart of the castle certainly seems to be at best amoral. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-upbeat-sci-fi-fantasy-movies/768760/61 "2016-10-20T15:20:45Z")
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