How did I manage to squeeze The NeverEnding Story, A 1980's cult classic fantasy/horror, Harry Potter, and Star Wars all in one post? Keep reading to find out!

     Ok, so this entry was supposed to be posted earlier, but I didn't have half the things in my cupboard that I thought I did so I had to get really creative with dinner!  A couple of weeks ago I had introduced The NeverEnding Story to my little man (having been in love with the movie myself as a kid) and had planned on writing about my experience re-watching it as an adult (boobies on the Oracles people, I had completely forgotten about that).  Well, little did I know that preparing to write this review of sorts would take me in a whole different direction.

     I was researching actors, maybe for a possible 'Where are they now' sort of section.  While looking at Noah Hathaway's (Atreyu) other work in films (which wasn't much of a list) I came across a 1986 cult classic called Troll. If you were to ask people who had seen the movie it might be described as little more than an obscurity in a movie buff's collection.  It's about a tall, skinny, dark haired boy who discovers a secret world of magic, but here's the kicker; here is where I abandoned my initial review idea; Noah Hathaway's name in the film was Harry Potter Jr.(GASP!)

   I had to find out more about this movie, had my beloved Harry Potter been ripped off of a poorly received movie from the 80's?  Yes let me make this clear before we move forward, I am a big fan and plan on introducing the books and movies to my son when he is old enough to understand.  I was shattered, there was a secret magic world, witches and wizards, and Harry Potter Jr. even has to stop a powerful wizard with an evil plan.

    I dove deeper, finding that the makers of Troll had scheduled a re-make in 2012, possibly to to make it known in some way that they had come up with Harry Potter first.  I also found a number of lawsuits that had been taken against J.K. Rowling.  Accusations of her stealing the term "Muggle" and robbing several other stories of their original idea.  The only problem was, although I had all of this information about lawsuits and accusations, I didn't have any information on weather or not any of these ended in her favor.

    I was relieved to find that the courts had actually ruled in her favor in all of these cases.  Depending on who you ask, the case could be that these accusations really couldn't stand up in court, or that J.K. Rowling's billion dollar Harry Potter was just too strong of an opponent. In my opinion, I know that the idea of Harry Potter "fell into her head" in 1990, four years after the release of Troll and the similarities are interesting(it also needs to be mentioned that there are far more differences than similarities in the two works), but I do not believe J.K. Rowling plagiarized  Troll or any other creative work.  Could she have possibly taken influence, even unknowingly?  Definitely, it is entirely possible that she took influence from other works, it is almost impossible to come up with a completely new idea in the present day considering the rich history of literature this world has.

    I want to wrap this up by leaving you with an example of another successful storyteller who took influence from more movies than you can shake a stick at!  I don't think anyone can say it better than my favorite internet nerd, so for more information on George Lucas's long list of theatrical influence please visit the link below.  I believe you will really enjoy this short video, however you must be warned to get the kiddies out of the room first ;)

James Rolf's (AVGN) Star Wars Episodes 4,5,6 review part 1

    If you have any questions about the subject (or just want to elaborate on it) feel free to comment and I will do my best to reply in a timely manner.