The 25 best fantasy movies for when life just gets too much

Someti🌌mes you just want to escape reality. You want to leave work, school, and the mundane madness behind, and wrap yourself up in a blanket of rich fantasy. Films have been servicing this need for decades, bringing bizarre, and charming ‘other worlds’ to our screens. And sure, you could read a good fantasy book, b🎶ut that takes ages. And you're busy. So, we've rounded up the 25 best fantasy films of all time, and tethered them together with magic rope (or 'a feature', as it's known in this realm). Why not lose yourself in one of these amazing movies?

25. Ladyhawke (1985)

Fire up this sword-and-sorcery epic and you're immediately greeted by a soundtrack choice that will make your very ಞsoul cringe. Push past that and you're thrown into a medieval world that's home to a well-crafted fantasy. 

There's plenty to love here in Richard Donner's first post-Goonies movie. It offers up some awe-inspiring adventure that stands apart from other '80s fantasy flicks - its characters don't really know that their world contains magic. We soon find that out, following Matthew Broderick's young thief fresh out of prison. Almost immediately he's caught up with Rutger Hauer's Captain and Michelle Pfeiffer's Lady and their, ahem, unique relat🌃ionship. From Broderick's accomplished comedy timing to the thrilling swordplay, it's worth checking out. 

24. Enchanted (2007)

Who knew Disney could 🏅be so irreverent? Taking their big box of fantasy cliches and giving them a good shake, the Mo꧙use House writes both a love letter to its past triumphs and gives itself a dressing down. 

The result? A sprightly fantasy with a neve🅘r-better Amy Adams as Giselle, a Princess cast out of her kingdom by Susan Sarandon's evil queen. Banished to the mystical and strange land known as New York City, she's left to figure out how to find her happy-ever-after in the real world. It heralded a new age for Disney in the fairytale stakes.

Gem Seddon is GamesRadar+'s west coast Entertainment News Reporter, working to keep all of you updated on all of the latest and greatest movies and shows on streaming platforms like Netflix and Amꦡazon Prime. Outside of entertainment journalism, Gem can frequently be found writing about the alternative health and wellness industry, and obsessing over all tꦍhings Aliens and Terminator on Twitter.