20 Greatest Fantasy Movie Masterpieces of All Time, Ranked

There's no way around it: There is no fantasy masterpiece bigger or better than the momentous conclusion of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Return of the King. It's one of the most ambitious movies of all time, and if its record as the biggest Oscar winner in history is any indication (a total of 11, tied with Ben-Hur and Titanic), every single one of those ambitions paid off beautifully.

The movie's tremendously exciting, emotionally stirring, and consistently jaw-dropping throughout its entire runtime. Everything that's been built up across the first two films—from the character arcs to every single story beat—comes to a flawless conclusion here, with the perfect balance between surprises and satisfaction. It's about as close to flawlessness as the genre comes, and that's enough to make it the greatest fantasy movie masterpiece of all time.

Frank Capra was always a filmmaker far ahead of his time, one of the most noteworthy directors in Golden-Age Hollywood who constantly found ways to playfully dance around the Hays Code. Whether It's a Wonderful Life is or isn't transgressive of the Code is irrelevant: This groundbreaking study of family, Christmas magic, and men's mental health is as complex of a treatment of such themes as has ever been made.

It's one of the best family movies of all time, led by Jimmy Stewart at the top of his game and directed by Capra with a meditative mindset clearly reflective of the post-WWII period. There's humor and romance here, and the ending is one of the most uplifting in the history of American cinema, but it's when it treats its protagonist's complicated psyche with solemnity that the film is at its most memorable and impactful.

One could very reasonably make the argument that there isn't a single fantasy film more iconic than The Wizard of Oz, one of the most magical, colorful, and lively movies of Hollywood's Golden Age. Starring a never-better Judy Garland and built on the basis of some of the most gorgeously saturated and vibrant three-strip Technicolor in movie history, it's a masterpiece that everyone in the world should watch at least once in their lives.

The movie is beautifully directed and just as well-written, full of memorable song-and-dance numbers and scenes of wondrous fantasy in equal measure. A childhood fan favorite, a historied cult classic, and one of the most studied movies of its era, it's groundbreaking fantasy cinema at its most enjoyable. There's at least one thing here that anyone and everyone should be able to enjoy.

Some fans of arthouse cinema may argue that its five-hour-long television miniseries version is superior, but the theatrical cut of Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander is still one of the greatest films of all time, so does it really matter? One of the best international fantasy movies ever, this classic is about the power of childlike imagination in coping with a world that can be downright horrifying sometimes.

But though it's as artful and slow-burning as one might expect from any Bergman film, this is also a fantasy flick through and through, one whose use of subtle supernatural elements and magical realism any fan of the genre should be able to cherish. It's complex, it's visually gorgeous, it's perfectly long, and it's as worthy of thought and analysis as it is of profound emotional reactions.

It's almost unbelievable that a fantasy movie as perfect and brilliant as Being John Malkovich was the debut of both its director, Spike Jonze, and its screenwriter, Charlie Kaufman, both men legends in their own right. But this is no traditional fantasy film. After all, what other creative duo could have possibly come up with the idea for an absurdist comedy about a man who discovers a portal into John Malkovich's mind and exploits it for profit?

Being John Malkovich may sound ridiculous, but it's downright genius more often than not. Its exploration of themes of celebrity, identity, and the nature of consciousness is smarter than it may look on the surface, complemented by the cast's wonderful performances and Kaufman's sharp script. It's funny, it's incredibly imaginative, and it's an undeniable masterpiece.

Though it's perhaps easier to think of Star Wars franchise as a sci-fi one, and Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back as one of the most perfect and timeless sci-fi movies ever, it's worth remembering that George Lucas' brain child is as much of a fantasy tale as it is science fiction. And what a fantasy film this one is, packed with more than enough character development, action, excitement, and twists to satisfy any fan of the genre.

The Empire Strikes Back single-handedly serves as a crucial pillar of modern pop culture, and for good reason. There are incredible amounts of imagination and inventiveness in this exquisite space opera, and enough Force powers and Hero's Journey elements to show fantasy movie fans why they, like sci-fi geeks, should embrace this as one of their favorite genre's greatest outings.

The late Rob Reiner made a myriad of wonderful pictures over the course of his career, and The Princess Bride may just be his most wonderful. It's one of the most perfect family movies of all time, a delightfully layered and romantic fairy tale with elements of a swashbuckler, a family comedy, and an entirely postmodern damsel-in-distress story.

The framing device of a grandfather telling his bedridden son a fantasy tale works wonderfully, and it's only one of the elements that make this masterpiece unique. The performances are great, the humor adds a ton of vibrancy to the romance and emotion, and the visuals are amazing. Few family fantasy films have this much heart.

Based on Roald Dahl's beloved children's book, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is one of the most magical family films of the '70s, the kind that ages so well over time that one can keep enjoying it thoroughly regardless of one's age. Bolstered by Gene Wilder delivering one of the most memorable acting performances ever seen in a fantasy movie, it truly is a world of pure imagination.

The titular chocolatier is one of the best fantasy movie characters of the last 100 years (largely thanks to Wilder), but that's not all that this classic has going for it. It can be funny, it can be whimsical, it can be surprisingly macabre for a family film, but there's one thing it never fails to be, and that's a wonderful and absolutely unforgettable time.

Dark fantasy has few directors more noteworthy than Guillermo del Toro, whose Pan's Labyrinth is arguably his masterpiece. This Spanish-Mexican co-production is one of the best R-rated fantasy movie masterpieces of all time, simultaneously a deeply moving coming-of-age and a hugely effective anti-war film about the effects of authoritarianism and violence on childhood innocence.

The visuals, music, and sound design are all next level, but it's not just technically that Pan's Labyrinth is a nearly unparalleled masterpiece. As thematically sharp as any del Toro film and as imaginative as any old-school fairy tale, this gem manages to be both scary and emotionally stirring in equal measure. It's a dazzling, magical achievement the likes of which Hollywood rarely produces.

There's a king of anime cinema, and his name is Hayao Miyazaki. The auteur could even be called one of the greatest Japanese filmmakers, but every great filmmaker has a magnum opus, and Miyazaki's is undoubtedly Spirited Away. Magical, colorful, and profoundly atmospheric, some might even call it the greatest animated film ever made.

The movie works on virtually every level. It works as a coming-of-age about identity and personal growth; it works as a deliberately-paced fantasy film set in an enrapturing world; and it works as a study of themes of tradition, consumerism, and environmentalism. It's one of the best animated masterpieces of all time, and a visually striking example of the unparalleled heights that the medium can reach when done with enough passion.

Magical by nature, Japanese cinema is also full of fantasy masterpieces that have defined and re-defined the genre over the years. Ugetsu is right up there as one of the highest-rated fantasy movies on Letterboxd, a thought-provoking period piece about the destructive potential of unchecked ambition, greed, and ravaging war.

Critic Donald Richie called it "one of the most perfect movies in the history of Japanese cinema," and it's hard to disagree with him. Ugetsu is richly atmospheric, powerfully poignant, and beautifully profound, an amazing artistic achievement with some of the most memorable images from the era. It's difficult to find fault with this engrossing ghost story.

Mexican cinema is filled to the brim with underrated gems, and during its Golden Age (which roughly coincided with Hollywood's, between the early '30s and late '50s), it produced several of the greatest films of the era. This includes fantasy pictures, and there's no better Mexican fantasy picture from the 20th century than Macario.

This beautiful supernatural drama was the first Mexican film to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and deservedly so. Imaginative, class-conscious, and with a deeply humanist heart that's impossible to resist, it's an all-Mexican fable that every fan of fantasy cinema—regardless of where they're from—should be able to enjoy.

Sweden has never put out a greater or more important filmmaker than Ingmar Bergman, who made some of the best—and most depressing—movies in history over the course of his illustrious career. Of these many masterpieces, however, there's perhaps none as iconic as The Seventh Seal, one of the most philosophically complex dramas ever made.

This is arthouse fantasy at its very best, and easily one of Bergman's greatest movies. Whether it's Max Von Sydow's career-best lead performance, the deeply humanist story, or Bengt Ekerot playing one of the best portrayals of Death in movie history, there's nothing not to love about The Seventh Seal if you love classic artful fantasy.

Angel's Egg isn't the only surrealist fantasy film in town. For that, one needn't look much further than the magnum opus of one of the most important and groundbreaking surrealist filmmakers in history: Alejandro Jodorowsky, whose legendary The Holy Mountain is one of the best surreal masterpieces of all time.

The avant-garde masterpiece of this notorious Chilean-French auteur is one of the greatest Mexican films ever made, with some of the most profound symbolism and most provocative imagery of any surrealist film ever made. Its exploration of themes of spirituality, religion, and power is incredibly layered and complex, and it makes for a deeply fascinating experience that demands several rewatches in order to be fully appreciated.

There are several anime movies that can be considered perfect, but even though perfection is something that you can't really quantify, it's hard not to be tempted to refer to Angel's Egg as one of the most perfect anime movies ever. Mamoru Oshii's surrealistic masterpiece proves that it's not all Ghibli in the world of anime film, delivering a hard-hitting tale of parenthood, femininity, and religion.

Angel's Egg is packed with thought-provoking symbolism and allegories, making re-watches pretty much obligatory. Its breezy 71-minute runtime certainly helps in that endeavor. The animation is some of the most gorgeous in the history of the medium, the sound design is some of the most engrossing of any animated film, and though the story may not be the easiest to get a grasp of, it's nevertheless fascinating.

While every fantasy fan enjoys a serious epic or a hard-hitting drama that shows the full dramatic extent of the genre, they all get a craving to wind down with a comedy every now and then as well. And as far as fantasy comedies go, it has rarely ever gotten any better than Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the British comedy troupe's best and most iconic cinematic outing.

The film is absolutely hysterical, packed with not just one, but several of the funniest and most memorable scenes of any '70s comedy movie. It's incredibly creative, full of the group's signature timeless sense of humor, and even occasionally brilliantly surreal, making for a comedic masterpiece that's still the gold standard for laugh-out-loud fantasy.

Ever-so-slightly above its predecessor lies The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, yet another one of the greatest works of art ever committed to celluloid. It's not just the Battle of Helm's Deep, which makes for one of the most thrilling third acts in cinema's history: The Two Towers is a "complete package" kind of fantasy flick, a three-hour-long epic without equal.

Gripping character arcs? Check. Jaw-dropping action sequences aplenty? Check. Romance, excitement, humor, and magic? All check. There's something here for every category of fantasy movie fan, and that's precisely why The Two Towers is one of the biggest masterpieces in the history of genre filmmaking in general, let alone fantasy.

J.R.R. Tolkien achieved something so unparalleled with his Legendarium—his Lord of the Rings trilogy in particular—that, for a long time, it was believed to be impossible to do the author's enrapturing Middle-earth justice on the big screen. Even with said doubts, Peter Jackson achieved something so equally unparalleled with his Lord of the Rings trilogy that it virtually needs no introduction.

The Fellowship of the Ring may arguably be the weakest of the trilogy, but it's still one of the greatest films ever made; which, if anything, speaks volumes about the quality of this film series. The world-building is wonderful, the character work sets a perfect basis for what the two sequels will do, and the number of unforgettable scenes of emotion, excitement, and magical wonder is too large to count. There's a reason this is remembered as one of the most perfect and timeless fantasy movies ever.

About Time is one of the most underappreciated fantasy films of the 2010s, the kind of genre film that works on multiple different levels equally well. It works as a hilarious rom-com, it works as a beautiful drama about a boy and his dad, and it works as a wonderfully fresh and inventive time travel flick that does all sorts of fun things with the subgenre's usual tropes.

All of this makes About Time one of the most rewatchable romance movies of all time, also thanks to the marvelous performances offered by Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, and Bill Nighy. It's a deeply moving and sweepingly romantic dramedy, one full of memorable emotional scenes and irresistible moments of laughter in equal measure.

Stephen King is best known for his horror stories, but he has stepped out of that comfort zone on quite a few noteworthy occasions—one of the most magical being The Green Mile, which Frank Darabont turned into one of the most enchanting low fantasy films of the '90s. It's one of the most unforgettable drama movies of all time, led by Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan at the top of their games.

This is what low fantasy is all about: using magic to elevate beautiful stories that make important comments on the real world. Green Mile's profound themes of justice and compassion make for a story that's as gorgeous as it is bittersweet, one whose 3+-hour runtime flies right by thanks to the phenomenal writing and wonderful performances.