Defining a science fantasy movie is pretty straightforward. Such a film is a mash-up of two genres: science fiction and fantasy, much like how there also exist romantic comedies, action/adventure films, and horror/thriller movies. Perhaps unlike those examples, though, it might not seem, on the surface, like sci-fi and fantasy would go together all that well, since stereotypical fantasy (think The Chronicles of Narnia) feels far removed from stereotypical science fiction (think 2001: A Space Odyssey).
But then again, both genres tend to depict ideas that are removed from real life, as it’s currently understood, or might well even take place on different worlds entirely (be they fantastical or located somewhere in space). And the following movies will hopefully demonstrate the ways in which you can make something quite great overall while taking bits and pieces from these two genres, plus some others, in some of these cases. It’s also worth noting that some examples lean more toward sci-fi, and others lean more heavily on fantasy tropes/conventions.
10
‘Time Bandits’ (1981)
Terry Gilliam is a big fan of fantasy, and even when he makes a science fiction movie, it tends to get trippy enough to sometimes feel fantastical (see Brazil, which is admittedly still more sci-fi than fantasy). Time Bandits strikes a balance between the two genres well, since it’s got an adventure-heavy plot and much of it’s set in the past, but then time travel is also involved, and is the way those fantastical things are inevitably experienced.
It’s also a pretty funny time travel movie, albeit with a strange sense of humor and a fairly confounding ending, which is all to say that this is, by no means, hard science fiction. The sci-fi side of Time Bandits feels like an excuse to dive into lots of the fantasy stuff, which is where Gilliam’s heart seems to be, more often than not, but the approach does, nonetheless, work here.
9
‘Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust’ (2000)
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is a pretty wild blend of genres, since it’s an animated dark fantasy, post-apocalyptic, horror, and action/adventure film, all at once. That being said, aside from the futuristic and post-apocalyptic setting, this one’s fairly light on sci-fi elements, so it leans more toward fantasy than science fiction, albeit all in a way where it’s hard to feel disappointed or let down by the lack of such stuff.
There’s too much other stuff, generally speaking, in Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. It’s also got a fun premise that involves various people trying to track down a woman who’s gone missing, with the main character being a dhampir, honestly giving fellow-dhampir Blade a run for his money in terms of which half-human/half-vampire character popular around the turn of the century was the coolest.
8
‘Thor: Ragnarok’ (2017)
When the Marvel Cinematic Universe began, it was more about science fiction than fantasy, but it didn’t take long for Thor to be introduced, and with him came a whole fantasy side injected into the MCU. Lots of the big crossover/event movies ultimately end up being science fantasy, since the more science fiction characters interact with the more fantastical ones, all existing in one pretty wild cinematic universe, when you try to take a step back and look at the whole picture.
Of the non-Avengers movies, Thor: Ragnarok feels like it does the best job at juggling both genres at once, and it’s also one of the funniest movies in the MCU, so it’s overall a good deal of fun, and broadly appealing. The less said about the Thor movie that followed it, though, the better.
7
‘The City of Lost Children’ (1995)
One of the directors of The City of Lost Children, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, is probably best known for Amelie, which is very much a feel-good movie and more of a comedy than anything else, albeit with some fantastical moments. The City of Lost Children, though, very intentionally doesn’t feel very good, and proves unsettling both with how it looks and regarding what it’s about: a scientist kidnapping children so he can harvest their dreams, all in pursuit of a way to not age.
Yes, it’s all strange and dreamlike with its logic, which is where the fantasy elements come in, and the surrealism of it all helps, too. There is also some out-there science involved, what with the villain being a scientist, and The City of Lost Children also has something of a steampunk aesthetic throughout, with these things going some way in putting some sci-fi in the term “science fantasy,” regarding this film.
6
‘Mad God’ (2021)
So long as you’re open to watching something a bit strange and more than a little plotless, as far as works of animation go, then Mad God should satisfy. The whole thing feels like a trip, and a trippy trip, or like an unintentionally feel-bad experience without much by way of story, since it follows a lone figure making his way through a hostile and increasingly bizarre post-apocalyptic environment.
The sights here are consistently dark and violent, and the whole thing feels more and more like a bad dream as it goes along. Mad God uses stop-motion animation in a distressingly effective way, to make all the horror feel more intense. Just calling it a science fantasy film and simultaneously a horror movie is sort of underselling it, since it’s very much its own thing, but those are the recognizable genres it comes the closest to belonging within, if that makes sense.
5
‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ (2022)
In his ongoing quest to make absolute crowd-pleasers (something done quite effectively from Titanic onwards), James Cameron has juggled both science fiction and fantasy with the Avatar movies. Truth be told, they’re also lots of other things, since they’re adventure films, they’ve all got a good deal of action, and the first movie’s romance-heavy before that romance leads to the next two being family dramas, in a way, but still… science fantasy.
Oh, and if animation’s a genre, like, if you want to call it that, then Avatar: The Way of Water and Avatar: Fire and Ash are almost animated movies, because almost all characters are, to some extent, brought to life with special effects (with 2009’s Avatar, there were a few more human/fully live-action performances). Avatar: The Way of Water is singled out here, though, for doing a bit more to expand the spiritual/fantasy side of Pandora, or at least shedding a bit more light on that kind of thing while further downplaying the (already not exactly hard) sci-fi elements of the first movie.
4
‘Dune’ (2021)
If any movie’s inclusion here is going to cause pushback, it’s probably Dune, but that’s why the introduction mentioned that not all of these movies do, like, a 50-50 split between fantasy and sci-fi. Dune (2021) is more science fiction for sure, but it’s got that space opera feel like another big franchise that rides the line between sci-fi and fantasy, which will be mentioned in a bit.
There are fantastical and mythological elements here, what with prophecies, borderline-magical things, and massive creatures, and then even though it’s set in the future, some things, technologically speaking, feel regressed, compared to our present. And that’s all by design, and in line with the Dune series beyond just this 2021 film (which is being picked here to stand in for the franchise as a whole, truth be told).
3
‘Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack’ (2001)
While the Godzilla series is usually focused on being science fiction, the extent to which sci-fi stuff is central does differ from movie to movie, and so you do get a few that have fantastical elements, as well as sci-fi ones. This often happens when Mothra’s featured, since her whole mythology and backstory usually leans more toward fantasy than sci-fi, and that’s especially so with Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack.
It’s strange, and more mystical than most Godzilla movies, but Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack works surprisingly well.
Yes, Mothra’s here, but so is King Ghidorah, both of them being mythological/legendary creatures that stand a chance at defeating Godzilla, who is possessed by numerous dead spirits of people who died in World War II and want to lash out at those who are still alive. Uh, kind of. It’s strange, and more mystical than most Godzilla movies (Ghidorah is usually a creature from space and stuff), but Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack works surprisingly well, and is an overall highlight of the entire series.
2
‘Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind’ (1984)
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was Hayao Miyazaki’s second feature film, and it says something about how good his later ones were that this movie, though great, arguably isn’t even one of his very best. Still, it’s very recognizably Miyazaki with his distinct style of fantasy and world-building and all that, but there’s a post-apocalyptic setting here, and with it, a little by way of science fiction alongside the fantasy.
That’s the main thing that makes Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind feel distinctive, because it’s the most striking way Miyazaki has made a science fantasy movie, and really, he only did so once more, in 1986, with Castle in the Sky. That one’s worthy of an honorable mention, for present purposes, but there’s just a feel and look to Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind that makes it feel more in line with that whole science fantasy thing/style.
1
‘Star Wars’ (1977)
Truth be told, half this ranking could’ve been made up of Star Wars movies, and it would’ve been a good deal more boring, but it would’ve been fair and probably more objective/authoritative. Star Wars is the quintessential space opera series, after all, and the whole space opera sub-genre is one that really merges sci-fi and fantasy in the clearest of ways (fantasy conventions, but in space, to put it simply).
And Star Wars almost always has a strong fantastical element, meaning you have to venture out to Andor or something if you want live-action Star Wars pretty much devoid of fantasy elements (that one’s a heavy drama series with strong sci-fi elements, and almost nothing by way of Force powers or mystical concepts). Star Wars (1977) is standing in for the whole franchise here, a bit like Dune (2021) did before, and in any event, maybe it’s the original film here that feels like the most well-balanced blend of science fiction and fantasy.