Her ended on a fairly upbeat note, considering the subject matter.
You will love Stardust. It’s a fun movie.
Another vote for Moon. (Very excited that Duncan Jones is now filming the sort-of-sequel, Mute.)
I also really like Mr. Nobody.
Children of Men (one of my favorites) is very bleak through most of it but has an optimistic ending.
Didn’t Clive whasisname end up dead in a rowboat?
The Last Starfighter, wasn’t great, but it was upbeat.
Paul, the visiting alien trying to escape Earth with the help of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.
Shaun of the Dead, if you count it as sci-fi parody and not horror movie parody.
Rapture Palooza, a parody of the Apocalypse.
Evolution, geeks & jocks vs mutants and the army.
The miniseries The 10[sup]th[/sup] Kingdom.
Would Secondhand Lions count as contemporary fantasy?
I GUESS “Somewhere in Time” is upbeat but the journey there for both leads is crushing.
Yeah, or maybe he just passed out. But there will be children again!
One, on a boat. I would not want to be that ONE kid.
I don’t know; most of Miyazaki’s works seem to have a strong streak of darkness running through them, and that darkness usually isn’t actually resolved.
Since the vote isn’t in on Miyazaki’s work, I’ll nominate Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Laputa: Castle in the Sky. Also, Time Bandits, but it’s been a while since I saw it, so it may not qualify.
Another one with an original downer ending cheered up for the movies. But I agree it is a fun film :).
It has a very ambiguous ending - which I happen to imagine in my own mind as being very, very dark ;). Based on nothing whatsoever as the faintly menacing feel to the boat as it comes looming out of the mist, I am convinced that the folks on that vessel are the original cause of the birth failure. There will be NO more children.
:dubious:
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.
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.
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
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.
Listing some perhaps obvious ones:
- Wall-E
- The Martian
- Serenity
- Edge of Tomorrow
- The Man From Earth
- Big Hero 6
- Zomebieland
Seen these… love all of them, especially GD and Eternal!
I should have been clearer. I want sappy sci fi/fantasy… or at least more emotional and less far fetched.
Another Earth was based on theme of redemption - with moving (twist) at the end. Somewhere in Time, like Another Earth, is just over the edge of reality (not too wild of an idea) and (obviously) a very touching story.