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Best Fantasy Movies of the 1980s, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB
99 fantasy films from the 1980s are in our catalog; the 50 best are ranked below. Top of the list is My Neighbor Totoro (1988), at 8.1 on IMDb. The average IMDb score across this list is 7.4. Biggest split between audiences and critics: Highlander, 7.0 on IMDb against 24 on Metacritic.
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| # | Movie | Genre | IMDb | Tomato | Meta | TMDB | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | My Neighbor Totoro '1988 | Fantasy / Animation | 8.1 | 94% | 87 | 8.1 | Hayao Miyazaki |
| 2 | The Princess Bride '1987 | Fantasy / Comedy / Romance | 8.0 | 93% | 78 | 7.7 | Rob Reiner |
| 3 | Warriors of the Wind '1984 | Animation / Fantasy | 8.0 | 87% | 86 | 7.9 | Hayao Miyazaki |
| 4 | Castle in the Sky '1986 | Fantasy / Animation / Action | 8.0 | 97% | 78 | 8.0 | Hayao Miyazaki |
| 5 | Fanny and Alexander '1982 | Fantasy / Drama / Mystery | 8.1 | 100% | 100 | 7.8 | Ingmar Bergman |
| 6 | Ghostbusters '1984 | Comedy / Fantasy | 7.8 | 95% | 71 | 7.5 | Ivan Reitman |
| 7 | Who Framed Roger Rabbit '1988 | Fantasy / Animation / Comedy / Crime | 7.7 | 96% | 83 | 7.5 | Robert Zemeckis |
| 8 | Kiki's Delivery Service '1989 | Animation / Fantasy | 7.8 | - | 85 | 7.8 | Hayao Miyazaki |
| 9 | Wings of Desire '1987 | Drama / Fantasy / Romance | 7.9 | 95% | 79 | 7.8 | Wim Wenders |
| 10 | Vincent '1982 | Animation / Fantasy | 8.3 | - | - | 7.8 | Tim Burton |
| 11 | The Little Mermaid '1989 | Animation / Fantasy | 7.6 | 92% | 88 | 7.4 | John Musker |
| 12 | Evil Dead II '1987 | Horror / Comedy / Fantasy | 7.6 | 89% | 72 | 7.5 | Sam Raimi |
| 13 | Time of the Gypsies '1988 | Drama / Crime / Fantasy / Romance | 8.1 | 100% | - | 7.6 | Emir Kusturica |
| 14 | Batman '1989 | Fantasy / Action / Crime | 7.5 | 77% | 69 | 7.2 | Tim Burton |
| 15 | The Snowman '1982 | Animation / Fantasy | 8.2 | 80% | - | 7.6 | Dianne Jackson |
| 16 | Beetlejuice '1988 | Fantasy / Comedy | 7.4 | 83% | 71 | 7.4 | Tim Burton |
| 17 | Field of Dreams '1989 | Drama / Fantasy | 7.5 | 88% | 57 | 7.1 | Phil Alden Robinson |
| 18 | The Secret of NIMH '1982 | Animation / Fantasy / Mystery / Sci-Fi | 7.5 | 93% | 76 | 7.4 | Don Bluth |
| 19 | Gremlins '1984 | Fantasy / Horror / Comedy | 7.3 | 86% | 70 | 7.1 | Joe Dante |
| 20 | The Purple Rose of Cairo '1985 | Fantasy / Comedy / Romance | 7.6 | 93% | 75 | 7.4 | Woody Allen |
| 21 | Big '1988 | Fantasy / Drama / Comedy | 7.3 | 98% | 73 | 7.2 | Penny Marshall |
| 22 | The NeverEnding Story '1984 | Fantasy | 7.3 | 84% | 49 | 7.2 | Wolfgang Petersen |
| 23 | Labyrinth '1986 | Fantasy | 7.3 | 63% | 50 | 7.3 | Jim Henson |
| 24 | Excalibur '1981 | Fantasy | 7.3 | 73% | 56 | 7.0 | John Boorman |
| 25 | A Christmas Carol '1984 | Drama / Fantasy | 7.8 | - | - | 7.5 | Clive Donner |
| 26 | Big Trouble in Little China '1986 | Action / Comedy / Fantasy | 7.2 | 65% | 53 | 7.2 | John Carpenter |
| 27 | Quest for Fire '1981 | Drama / Fantasy | 7.3 | 88% | 79 | 7.0 | Jean-Jacques Annaud |
| 28 | Willow '1988 | Fantasy / Action | 7.2 | 53% | 47 | 7.0 | Ron Howard |
| 29 | The Last Unicorn '1982 | Fantasy / Animation | 7.3 | 75% | 70 | 7.3 | Jules Bass |
| 30 | Somewhere in Time '1980 | Drama / Fantasy / Romance | 7.2 | 54% | 29 | 7.5 | Jeannot Szwarc |
| 31 | The Dark Crystal '1982 | Fantasy | 7.1 | 78% | 66 | 7.2 | Jim Henson |
| 32 | The King and the Mockingbird '1980 | Animation / Fantasy | 7.7 | 100% | 87 | 7.8 | Paul Grimault |
| 33 | Highlander '1986 | Action / Fantasy | 7.0 | 70% | 24 | 6.9 | Russell Mulcahy |
| 34 | The Adventures of Baron Munchausen '1988 | Fantasy / Comedy | 7.1 | 90% | 69 | 7.0 | Terry Gilliam |
| 35 | The Brave Little Toaster '1987 | Animation / Fantasy | 7.2 | 79% | - | 7.0 | Jerry Rees |
| 36 | Clash of the Titans '1981 | Fantasy / Action | 6.9 | 65% | 59 | 6.9 | Desmond Davis |
| 37 | Nothing Left to Do But Cry '1984 | Comedy / Fantasy | 7.6 | - | - | 7.7 | Roberto Benigni |
| 38 | Time Bandits '1981 | Fantasy / Sci-Fi / Comedy | 6.9 | 92% | 79 | 6.6 | Terry Gilliam |
| 39 | Alice '1988 | Animation / Fantasy | 7.4 | 95% | - | 7.4 | Jan Švankmajer |
| 40 | Conan the Barbarian '1982 | Fantasy / Action | 6.9 | 68% | 43 | 6.8 | John Milius |
| 41 | A Chinese Ghost Story '1987 | Fantasy / Action | 7.3 | 70% | - | 7.3 | Tony Ching Siu-tung |
| 42 | City of Women '1980 | Comedy / Fantasy | 6.9 | 68% | - | 7.0 | Federico Fellini |
| 43 | Scrooged '1988 | Fantasy / Comedy / Drama | 6.9 | 72% | 38 | 6.8 | Richard Donner |
| 44 | Angel's Egg '1985 | Animation / Fantasy / Mystery / Sci-Fi | 7.7 | - | - | 7.7 | Mamoru Oshii |
| 45 | The Monster Squad '1987 | Comedy / Action / Fantasy | 6.9 | 53% | 61 | 6.7 | Fred Dekker |
| 46 | Dragonslayer '1981 | Fantasy | 6.6 | 84% | 68 | 6.6 | Matthew Robbins |
| 47 | Ladyhawke '1985 | Comedy / Fantasy | 6.9 | 68% | 64 | 7.0 | Richard Donner |
| 48 | Vampire Hunter D '1985 | Animation / Fantasy / Horror | 7.0 | 82% | - | 6.6 | Toyoo Ashida |
| 49 | Heavy Metal '1981 | Animation / Sci-Fi / Fantasy / Musical | 6.6 | 66% | 51 | 6.5 | Gerald Potterton |
| 50 | All of Me '1984 | Comedy / Fantasy / Romance | 6.7 | 85% | 68 | 6.5 | Carl Reiner |
Our catalog covers roughly the 8,800 most-rated films on TMDB, so lesser-known titles may be missing. Order uses a confidence-weighted IMDb score so a perfect score from a handful of votes does not beat a well-established classic; the scores shown are the raw ones.
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Other genres in the 1980s
Action of the 1980s Animation of the 1980s Comedy of the 1980s Crime of the 1980s Drama of the 1980s Horror of the 1980s Mystery of the 1980s Romance of the 1980s Sci-Fi of the 1980s Thriller of the 1980s War of the 1980s
Directors on this list
Hayao Miyazaki Rob Reiner Ingmar Bergman Ivan Reitman Robert Zemeckis Wim Wenders Tim Burton Sam Raimi Emir Kusturica Don Bluth Joe Dante Woody Allen
Actors on this list
Cary Elwes Robin Wright Mayumi Tanaka Bill Murray Dan Aykroyd Bob Hoskins Christopher Lloyd Vincent Price Michael Keaton Jack Nicholson Alec Baldwin Geena Davis