Everyone has felt their own personal version of "The Nothing" -- a malevolent force destroying the childhood things we hold dear -- grow strong as they've aged. So while kids are mesmerized by flying dogs, adults see the deeper meaning: That our own personal worlds, threatened by cynicism, can, like Fantasia, be saved.

The Neverending Story, Noah Hathaway, Sydney Bromley, 1984. © Warner Bros. Photo courtesy of the Everett Collection.