10 Worst Fantasy Movies Of The 2010s

Summary

• The worst fantasy movies of the past decade often demonstrate overconfidence in popular properties, ruined by poor execution.
• Execution of exposition is crucial in fantasy movies; a lack of well-written scripts can make them cringe-worthy.
• The rise in fantasy and sci-fi movies and TV shows has led to an increase in bad movies due to more productions in general.

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Fantasy fans look back and cringe at the thought of the worst fantasy movies of the previous decade. In many ways, fantasy and sci-fi movies have been on the rise in the past 20 years with the inception of certain genre-defining franchises. A similar trend in TV shows has also played a role in the genre’s expansion. However, more fantasy movies being produced, mathematically speaking, does mean that more bad fantasy movies are being produced.

Some of the worst fantasy movies in the last 10 years demonstrate overconfidence in the basic concept on the filmmakers’ part: They believed that a certain IP, source material, character, or sequel was too popular to fail. Some directors and producers may have wanted to try their hand at fantasy as it became more popular when it was not their strength. Ultimately, execution is just as if not more important when it comes to fantasy. Necessitating some exposition of how the world works, it is easy for fantasy movies to be very tacky if they are not well-written.

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10 The Nutcracker And The Four Realms (2018)

Directed By Joe Johnston

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The live-action The Nutcracker movie was another attempt at making use of easy IP, with the basic story having long entered the public domain. The Nutcracker doesn’t have much of a plot to begin with, but Disney probably thought it would be easy to construct a serviceable magical otherworld story about a girl becoming that world’s heroine. Some of the production design is stunning and the inclusion of the music from the ballet and Misty Copeland’s cameo are nice touches, but that is about all The Nutcracker and the Four Realms has going for it.

Movie	See more : Who are Gabriel Magalhaes Parents? Meet Marcelo Magalhaes Rotten Tomatoes score	Metacritic score	Audience score
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms	32%	39%	35%

Four Realms relies upon a force-fed moral of appreciating family and a villain twist that is just as poorly executed. Keira Knightley’s talents are reduced to a shrill sugar-sweet voice and a caricature with no development. In the end, Four Realms turned out to be just as bad as the worst Disney live-action remakes.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
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The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is a 2018 fantasy film starring Mackenzie Foy as a young girl who is transported to a magical realm filled with a mice army and gingerbread soldiers. The film is based on E.T.A. Hoffmann’s The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, as well as the 1892 ballet The Nutcracker.

Director Joe Johnston , Lasse Hallström Release Date November 2, 2018 Cast Mackenzie Foy , Morgan Freeman , Eugenio Derbez , Miranda Hart , Helen Mirren , Richard E. Grant , Misty Copeland , Matthew Macfadyen , Keira Knightley , Ellie Bamber , Jack Whitehall Runtime 99 Minutes

9 Alice Through The Looking Glass (2016)

Directed By James Bobin

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Disney’s first live-action Alice in Wonderland movie was popular and a decent interpretation of Lewis Carroll’s classic novel. One of the biggest problems with its sequel is that it is completely redundant after the first installment. Alice Through the Looking Glass repeats the first movie’s plot: Alice is dealing with the patriarchy in the real world, is summoned to Underland, goes on an adventure where she becomes reassured of her power, and returns home with no real plan to get what she wants but achieves it anyway by simply telling the men how it’s going to be.

Movie	See more : Who are Gabriel Magalhaes Parents? Meet Marcelo Magalhaes Rotten Tomatoes score	Metacritic score	Audience score
Alice Through the Looking Glass	29%	34%	48%

Additionally, the actors’ performances and character dynamics become worse with repetition. While accoladed actors like Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, and Helena Bonham Carter playing the wacky personas of Wonderland worked before, by the time of the second movie, watching was like eating too much candy. Alice Through the Looking Glass also undermines some of the darker parts of the first movie with easy family reconciliations, captured in a meaningless sequel.

Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016)

Alice Through the Looking Glass is a fantasy adventure film directed by James Bobin and produced by Tim Burton. Released in 2016, it is a sequel to the 2010 film Alice in Wonderland. The film stars Mia Wasikowska as Alice, who returns to the whimsical world of Underland and travels back in time to save her friend, the Mad Hatter, played by Johnny Depp.

Director James Bobin Release Date May 25, 2016 Cast Mia Wasikowska , Johnny Depp , Anne Hathaway , Helena Bonham Carter , Alan Rickman Runtime 113 Minutes

8 Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)

Directed By Joachim Rønning & Espen Sandberg

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Bad acting (from generally good actors) and forced emotional subplots are far off from the heights of the best Pirates of the Caribbean movie, exemplifying how far the franchise has fallen.

All the things that had been getting increasingly worse about Pirates of the Caribbean came to a head in the fifth installment. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales showcases the worst of how Jack Sparrow has become a bumbling slapstick character, the action is lazier than ever, and too many supernatural elements have been piled on top of each other in a convoluted plot. The new versions of certain character archetypes don’t live up to the people they are replacing, and the dialogue is nauseating.

Movie	See more : Who are Gabriel Magalhaes Parents? Meet Marcelo Magalhaes Rotten Tomatoes score	Metacritic score	Audience score
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales	30%	39%	60%

The franchise has tried to reboot itself multiple times, with a Pirates of the Caribbean sequel and spinoff now both in development. However, Dead Men Tell No Tales’ failure to fully commit to being a reboot is also one of its weaknesses. Bad acting (from generally good actors) and forced emotional subplots are far off from the heights of the original and best Pirates of the Caribbean movie, exemplifying how far the franchise has fallen.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
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The fifth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Dead Men Tell No Tales follows young Henry Turner as he enlists Captain Jack Sparrow to release his father, Will Turner, from the curse binding him to the Flying Dutchman. Their quest puts them in the path of ghostly pirate-hunter Captain Salazar, with whom Sparrow has a storied past. To save his old friend, Sparrow must confront his own past to reunite Will with his long-lost son.

Director Joachim Rønning Release Date May 26, 2017 Cast Johnny Depp , Geoffrey Rush , Orlando Bloom Runtime 2h 9m

7 Clash Of The Titans (2010)

Directed By Louis Leterrier

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The original Clash of the Titans isn’t even that well-reviewed (64% on Rotten Tomatoes and 59% on Metacritic) but gets points for being a classic adventure flick. This on its own spelled doom for the remake. Sam Worthington is an awkward action star who had a lot of success with Avatar but not much else, with movies like Clash of the Titans and Terminator Salvation bringing criticism upon him as an actor. Other performances in Clash of the Titans were just as bad.

Movie	See more : Who are Gabriel Magalhaes Parents? Meet Marcelo Magalhaes Rotten Tomatoes score	Metacritic score	Audience score
Clash of the Titans	27%	39%	40%

It tries to translate what is an inherently cheesy story into gritty action and high stakes, but the action is completely generic. This somehow still led to the sequel Wrath of the Titans, also starring Worthington and Liam Neeson, which received just as scathing reviews. It is symptomatic of how studios think a remake of a legendary story is an easy way to profit, but they bungled it along the way if the premise would ever have worked.

Clash of the Titans
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Clash of the Titans is the 2010 remake of the eponymous 1981 fantasy movie. It is based on the Greek myth of Perseus, a demigod who fights the dark forces of the Underworld, and it stars Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Gemma Arterton, Alexa Davalos, and Jason Flemyng as Perseus, Zeus, Hades, Io, Andromeda, and Calibos, respectively.

Director Louis Leterrier Release Date April 2, 2010 Cast Sam Worthington , Liam Neeson , Ralph Fiennes , Mads Mikkelsen , Gemma Arterton Runtime 1h 46m

6 Red Riding Hood (2011)

Directed By Catherine Hardwicke

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Red Riding Hood attempted to translate a lot of tropes popular in a modern context into a medievalist setting — star-crossed lovers, familial betrayals, and dirty dancing — and the result was a mess. These narrative elements (except for the dancing) are universal and can work in any setting, but Red Riding Hood maligned them with bad dialogue and acting. Some of the actors, such as Amanda Seyfried, Billy Burke, and Gary Oldman are good, demonstrating how the problem was more with the contrived story.

Movie	See more : Who are Gabriel Magalhaes Parents? Meet Marcelo Magalhaes Rotten Tomatoes score	Metacritic score	Audience score
Red Riding Hood	10%	29%	39%

Red Riding Hood’s romantic relationships are supposed to be the core of the story but are completely superficial, while its plot twist has momentary shock value before becoming completely lackluster. Coming out the same year as Alice in Wonderland and following the first Twilight movies, one can see the vision of an enticing, sexy Little Red Riding Hood story. It ended up being an altogether embarrassing movie for Seyfried (and the rest of the cast) before she went on to much better opportunities.

red riding hood

The 2011 fantasy movie Red Riding Hood is a live-action adaptation of the eponymous fairy tale. Amanda Seyfried stars as Valerie, who falls in love with woodcutter Peter (Shiloh Fernandez) and receives help from Father Solomon (Gary Oldman) to hunt down a deadly werewolf.

Director Catherine Hardwicke Release Date March 11, 2011 Cast Amanda Seyfried , Shiloh Fernandez , Gary Oldman Runtime 102minutes

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5 Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (2019)

Directed By J.J. Abrams

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Objectively speaking, the last installment in the Star Wars sequel trilogy is not as bad as some of the worst sci-fi and fantasy movies of the decade. However, it is still notorious within the fandom and cinematic history because of how it maligned a beloved property and proved to be a disappointing conclusion, nothing like what the Skywalker Saga deserved. It is demonstrative of all the problems with the sequel trilogy, namely too much fan service and no coherent overall plan.

Movie	See more : Who are Gabriel Magalhaes Parents? Meet Marcelo Magalhaes Rotten Tomatoes score	Metacritic score	Audience score
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker	51%	53%	86%

The plot twist of Rey being Palpatine’s granddaughter could not feel like more of a retcon if it tried. Luke is a movie character completely ruined by the sequel, which only gets worse when the third movie makes his arc in the second redundant. Finn and Poe aren’t given their due, while the appearances by Harrison Ford and Billy Dee Williams are a last-ditch attempt to make the movie enjoyable for die-hard fans.

Star Wars: Episode IX- The Rise of Skywalker
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This is the third installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy and serves as the culmination of the Skywalker saga. The film sees Rey (Daisy Ridley), Poe (Oscar Isaac), and Finn (John Boyega) team up to put an end to the First Order after Palpatine mysteriously returns. Jurassic World helmsman Colin Trevorrow was originally named director back in 2015 when the film first entered development, but he parted ways with Lucasfilm due to creative differences over the script. In September 2017, Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams signed on to finish what he started.

Director J.J. Abrams Release Date December 20, 2019 Cast Carrie Fisher , Oscar Isaac , Anthony Daniels , Joonas Suotamo , Mark Hamill , Adam Driver , Ian McDiarmid , Kelly Marie Tran , Billie Lourd , Keri Russell , Richard E. Grant , Daisy Ridley , Lupita Nyong’o , Dominic Monaghan , John Boyega , Domhnall Gleeson , Billy Dee Williams , Naomi Ackie Runtime 142 minutes

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4 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1 (2011)

Directed By Bill Condon

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The consistently bad reviews for Twilight show that all the movies comprising the franchise aren’t that good, with profitability stemming from a dedicated fanbase. The whole story is characterized by unhealthy relationships and bad performances, but there is still an argument that the first Breaking Dawn is the worst Twilight movie. The finale at least has the wild spectacle of the fake-out battle and a great extended cast, with the introduction of vampires from all over the world who come to the Cullens’ aid.

Movie	See more : Who are Gabriel Magalhaes Parents? Meet Marcelo Magalhaes Rotten Tomatoes score	Metacritic score	Audience score
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1	25%	45%	60%

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On the other hand, all the creepiness of how possessive Edward and Jacob both are of Bella is at the forefront of Breaking Dawn Part 1, as well as the problematic imprinting storyline. The story is very slow when the conflict with the Volturi is put on hold because the narrative is occupied with Bella’s life-threatening pregnancy. Like most of the Twilight series, it operates on aesthetics and the idea of romantic love rather than a strong story, with the wedding scene admittedly being beautiful.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1
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The fourth film in the Twilight film franchise, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, sets up the finale for the adaptation of the popular book series. Following the wedding of Edward and Bella, the two are soon with child, but its unnatural rate of growth begins to threaten Bella’s life, as well as strike fear into the hearts of the wolves. However, a greater threat marches ever closer for the residents of Forks.

Director Bill Condon Release Date November 18, 2011 Cast Kristen Stewart , Robert Pattinson , Taylor Lautner , Billy Burke , Peter Facinelli , Elizabeth Reaser , Kellan Lutz , Nikki Reed , Jackson Rathbone , Ashley Greene Runtime 117 Minutes

3 Cats (2019)

Directed By Tom Hooper

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Besides the disturbing results of the CGI cast onto actors undeserving of it, Cats’ story does not provide a strong enough foundation for a movie.

The concept of Cats as a live-action movie was always a disaster, and the CGI humanoid cat characters will forever live in infamy. Emboldened by the success of Les Miserables, Tom Hooper decided to helm another adaptation of a classic Broadway musical, possibly seeing the risk involved with Cats as one that could eventually equate to reward. However, besides the disturbing results of the CGI cast onto actors undeserving of it, Cats’ story does not provide a strong enough foundation for a movie.

Movie	See more : Who are Gabriel Magalhaes Parents? Meet Marcelo Magalhaes Rotten Tomatoes score	Metacritic score	Audience score
Cats	19%	32%	53%

Cats’ success as a Broadway production is more due to vibes than an actual story; what the cats all want is pretty vague, used as a weak but decent vehicle for the landmark musical numbers and stunning costumes. The costumes are in fact beautiful when they are more cat-themed masquerade attire than uncanny valley CGI. The movie Cats was ultimately just a bad idea and its backlash is not that surprising.

Cats

An adaptation of the stage musical by the same name, Cats boasts a star-studded cast playing the Jellicles, a tribe of street cats who make a choice once a year about which one of them will ascend to what they call the Heavenside Layer and be reborn to a new life. The original musical is itself based on a book by famous poet T.S. Eliot, and remains one of the longest-running Broadway shows. 

Director Tom Hooper Release Date December 20, 2019 Cast Rebel Wilson , Jennifer Hudson , Robbie Fairchild , Idris Elba , Taylor Swift , Laurie Davidson , Zizi Strallen , Ray Winstone , Ian McKellen , Jason DeRulo , judi dench , James Corden , Mette Towley Runtime 110 minutes

2 The Dark Tower (2017)

Directed By Nikolaj Arcel

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The Dark Tower is sadly a movie that should have worked out, at least where what the actors and the fandom were owed is considered. As one of Stephen King’s most famous fantasy novels, it deserved a good adaptation. People generally agree that everything went wrong for The Dark Tower movie because it was too short to capture such a complex story. Even if the first book in the nine-book series could have been effectively related in a movie, it needed more than an hour and a half runtime.

Movie	See more : Who are Gabriel Magalhaes Parents? Meet Marcelo Magalhaes Rotten Tomatoes score	Metacritic score	Audience score
The Dark Tower	15%	34%	44%

It is surprising that they didn’t grant themselves a longer runtime when The Dark Tower is the book that links all of King’s works within one literary universe. As a result, the movie didn’t have enough time to properly develop the characters or the story. Not even Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey were able to save this movie, and any plans for a sequel were promptly abandoned.

The Dark Tower
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Idris Elba, Tom Taylor, Claudia Kim, and Matthew McConaughey star in The Dark Tower, a Western Sci-Fi film directed by Nikolaj Arcel. Released in 2017, The Dark Tower follows a young boy with visions of an apocalyptic future in which a powerful man, dubbed The Man in Black, lays waste to the universe. The film is based on the Stephen King book series.

Director Nikolaj Arcel Release Date August 4, 2017 Cast Matthew McConaughey , Tom Taylor , Idris Elba , Jackie Earle Haley , Abbey Lee , Katheryn Winnick , michael barbieri , Fran Kranz Runtime 95 Minutes

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1 The Last Airbender (2010)

Directed By M. Night Shyamalan

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The 2010s kicked things off with one of the most notorious fantasy movies of all time. The live-action movie adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender has whitewashed characters, terrible acting (except for Dev Patel as Zuko), and a rushed story that shows no understanding of what the saga of the Avatar is supposed to be. Bad technical and choreography choices also contributed to this movie being a disaster.

Movie	See more : Who are Gabriel Magalhaes Parents? Meet Marcelo Magalhaes Rotten Tomatoes score	Metacritic score	Audience score
The Last Airbender	5%	20%	30%

The movie sets up a sequel, which is laughable evidence of how confident the makers were in its success. Unsurprisingly, when everyone hated the movie, the idea was abandoned until the show was rebooted a decade later by Netflix, which has been much better received. This is why, when thinking of the worst action movies of the 2010s, The Last Airbender is doubtlessly one of the first titles that comes to mind.

The Last Airbender (2010)
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The Last Airbender is a fantasy adventure film directed by M. Night Shyamalan, based on the animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender. The story follows Aang, the last of his kind, who must defeat the Fire Nation to bring peace to a world divided by elemental nations. Starring Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, and Dev Patel, the film explores themes of destiny, balance, and the struggle for harmony.

Director M. Night Shyamalan Release Date June 30, 2010 Cast Noah Ringer , Dev Patel , Nicola Peltz Beckham , Jackson Rathbone , Shaun Toub Runtime 103 Minutes

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Category: Entertainment