NeverEnding Story II is almost unwatchable, but it brought back an important Hollywood tradition The end of the 1984 fantasy film The NeverEnding Story is truly triumphant. After the young boy Bastian (Barret Oliver) spends the entire movie reading a book about the brave child warrior Atreyu (Noah Hathaway) and the dozens of whimsical creatures that populate the land of Fantasia, he is literally absorbed into the book and told by the childlike empress (Tami Stronach) that, despite Fantasia’s recent destruction by the mysterious “Nothing,” he can restore everything with the power of his imagination. All he has to do is wish Fantasia back into existence. When he asks how many wishes he gets