Best High Fantasy Movies Focused on Love and Adventure

High fantasy movies are epic stories that take place in a world apart from any known world. Some take influence from real places, like medieval Europe or the Middle East, but the kingdoms are generally fictional. If a high fantasy movie has a romance, it tends to be a subplot, rather than the primary point of the narrative.

That said, there are many fantasy movies where the romance is front and center, directly influencing the A-plot and main characters. Some fantasy romance movies are enduring classics with a star-studded cast. Other fantasy romances are sleeper hits or cult classics — hidden gems that deserve more attention from modern viewers.

Updated on September 18, 2024, by Robert Vaux: Many fantasy movies have some sort of romance aspect to them. However, some have the perfect blend of high fantasy and romance. This article was updated to include more movies and to meet CBR’s editorial and formatting standards.

20 Giselle and Robert Navigate a Modern Fairy Tale in Enchanted

A Journey of Love and Transformation

The story begins in the animated kingdom of Andalasia, where Princess Giselle dreams of her true love. Her wish seems to come true when she meets Prince Edward, but the evil Queen Narissa abruptly interrupts their fairy-tale romance. Threatened by Giselle’s impending marriage to her stepson, Narissa banishes her to modern-day New York City. Giselle encounters Robert, a pragmatic divorce lawyer, in this unfamiliar and non-magical world.

Giselle’s fairy tale optimism clashes with Robert’s realistic outlook on life and love, leading to numerous humorous and heartfelt moments. As Giselle navigates the complexities of the real world, she questions her simplistic view of love and sees relationships’ deeper, more nuanced aspects.

19 A Young Girl Faces Her Fears in Labyrinth

Rescuing Toby and Discovering Unexpected Attraction

The film follows the journey of a teenage girl named Sarah, who must navigate a fantastical labyrinth to rescue her baby brother, Toby, from the clutches of Jareth. Though the romance between Sarah and Jareth is subtle and somewhat dark, it adds a layer of psychological complexity to the narrative.

The Labyrinth is a place of magic and illusion, filled with bizarre creatures, challenging puzzles, and shifting pathways. As Sarah ventures deeper into this otherworldly maze, she encounters various inhabitants, from friendly dwarfs to menacing monsters. Jareth’s presence is constant as an antagonist and a figure of dangerous attraction. His cryptic comments and seductive demeanor create a tension-filled dynamic with Sarah.

18 Ella and Char Overcome Enchantment in Ella Enchanted

A Love Story of Obedience and Freedom

The protagonist, Ella, is cursed with the gift of obedience by a well-meaning but misguided fairy godmother. This curse forces Ella to obey any direct command, making her vulnerable and often placing her in dangerous situations. Determined to break the curse and regain her autonomy, Ella embarks on a perilous journey.

During her quest, Ella meets Prince Char, the kingdom’s charming and noble prince. Their relationship evolves from friendship to love, marked by mutual respect and admiration. Char is drawn to Ella’s spirited nature and her determination to control her destiny, while Ella admires Char’s kindness and sense of justice. Their bond deepens as they face various challenges, from outsmarting ogres to navigating court politics.

17 Gerda Brings Back Her Lost Love in The Snow Queen

Unwavering Love Against Icy Magic

The Snow Queen follows the story of Gerda, a brave young girl who embarks on an epic quest to rescue her childhood friend Kai from the clutches of the Snow Queen. This adaptation stays true to Andersen’s tale while adding cinematic magic and breathtaking visuals that captivate audiences of all ages.

Gerda’s journey takes her through mystical landscapes filled with dangers and allies, from talking animals to enchanted forests. Along the way, she encounters various magical beings, each with their role in her quest. Gerda’s unwavering love for Kai empowers her to face the Snow Queen and her icy magic, demonstrating the strength of her character and the depth of her feelings.

16 Elian and Sorsha Battle for Love in Willow

Sorsha’s Redemption and Heroic Journey

Willow centers on a dwarf farmer named Willow Ufgood who finds himself protecting a prophesied child from an evil sorceress, Queen Bavmorda. This epic fantasy adventure takes viewers through a richly imagined world filled with magic, danger, and heroism.

Along his journey, Willow meets the warrior princess Sorsha, initially an antagonist loyal to her mother, Queen Bavmorda. However, as Sorsha witnesses the courage and kindness of Willow and his companions, she begins to question her loyalty and her mother’s authoritarian rule. Sorsha’s transformation from villain to hero is gradual, marked by internal conflict and moments of revelation.

15 An Evil Lord Separates Two Lovers in Legend

Love in the Face of Darkness

Princess Lili and Jack are two pure-hearted lovers who meet and fall in love in the forest in Legend. Their forest idyll is broken by the Lord of Darkness who wants to cover the world in an eternal night.Legend is a great cult classic fantasy because it remembers the darker parts of older fairy tale versions and doesn’t defer to more sanitized Disney-like versions.

Legend has many classic fantasy tropes, like a unicorn that’s attracted to a maiden and a hero who emerges from obscurity. It also inverts popular fantasy romance plot elements, like the damsel-in-distress. Princess Lili may be in distress, but she has agency as a character and tries to escape from her prison. She’s also complex because she has her own corruption arc. Legend also has a notorious open ending where the viewer can conclude on their own whether it’s a happily ever after, or not.

14 Snow White Fights Her Prince in Mirror, Mirror

A Quirky Twist on a Classic Tale

Mirror, Mirror is a vivid and creative take on the “Snow White” fairy tale. It takes place in a whimsical kingdom usurped by Snow White’s evil queen stepmother. To escape the queen’s assassination attempt, Snow White retreats to the forest where a dangerous dragon dwells and befriends several dwarves who teach her how to swordfight.

Lush designer gowns and fashion with animalistic imagery add to the fantasy backdrop. Snow White’s prince is also clumsy, handsome, and a bit egotistical. Snow White is more than happy to challenge Prince Alcott’s ego, though, and the two fall in love after a lot of bickering and some swordfighting. Mirror Mirror has many high fantasy elements, including a witchy queen, sleep curses, and a cursed dragon. The romance is delightful and quirky, diverging from the more understated original fairy tale romance.

13 Miroslava Has an Unlikely Romance in I Am Dragon

Finding Solace with a Dragon

I Am Dragon is for fantasy romance fans who always wished in the back of their minds that the villain or the monster got the girl in the end. It’s a Russian film that combines several different fairy tale elements. Miroslava, its female lead, is sent to a man-eating dragon as a sacrifice, but instead of a certain death, she finds transformation and true love.

Lucky for Miroslava, not only is the dragon uninterested in her demise, but its true form is that of a handsome man around her age. Mira and the dragon, Arman, are both victims of their circumstances and humanity’s violence, and they find solace in each other. The story takes place in a fictionalized Kievan Rus.

12 Krull Is a Romance-Laden Nostalgia Trip

The Effects-Laden ’80s Fantasy Has a Fun Romance at Its Heart

Peter Yates’ Krull was intended to capitalize on the blend of sci-fi and fantasy that made the Star Wars saga work so well. In this case, it reversed the equation: presenting a planet full of fairy-tale kingdoms invaded by a Lovecraftian horror from outer space called the Beast. It was strange in the extreme, and audiences at the time didn’t buy it. A handsome production and some good performances — including early turns from Liam Neeson and Robbie Coltrane — have earned it a cult following, particularly among ’80s aficionados.

It also happens to be a very romantic film, though the love is definitely of the fairy tale variety. The Beast crashes the Wedding of Destiny between his few remaining foes, kidnapping the bride and sending the groom on a quest to rescue his true love. The plot is thoroughly by the book, but the terrific effects are always fun, and the central couple embraces their romantic destiny with gusto.

11 Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother Grants Her a Chance at Love in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella

Cinderella’s Modern Fairy Tale

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella is a 1997 musical reboot of the 1965 classic, taking place in a vaguely European world. Fairy tale archetypes aside, the main fantasy magical elements are Cinderella’s fairy godmother and her wish-granting magic and transmogrification.

The Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella differs from the Charles Perrault fairy tale “Cinderella” because the hero and the prince, Prince Christopher, meet before their fateful ballroom dance. Prince Christopher is already smitten by Cinderella before she appears to him in a beautiful, fairy-made ballgown. The fairy tale is also adapted more for modern sensibilities, and the Fairy Godmother stresses to Cinderella that she needs to be brave and take charge of her own life.

10 Ariel Trades Her Voice to a Sea-Witch to Find Her Prince in The Little Mermaid

Ariel’s Romantic Adventure

The 2023 Disney The Little Mermaid has two fantastical settings. First introduced is the underwater merpeople kingdom, Atlantica, and second is a seaside kingdom off the coast of a fictionalized Caribbean. Disney famously changed the ending of its retelling, giving the romantic couple a happily ever after (the nameless mermaid protagonist dies and becomes an air sylph in the original story).

Mermaid Princess Ariel’s world is steeped in magic, and she is a magical creature, herself. The main magic practitioners are her father, the King of Atlantica, and her father’s sister, the sea witch, Ursula. Ursula manipulates Ariel’s transformation spell into a curse to try to keep Ariel and her human lover, Prince Eric, apart. Thankfully, the couple ends up working together to get their happily ever after.

9 Misunderstanding Separates Two Lovers in The Secret of Moonacre

Reunited Lovers and Magical Pearls

Two love stories are unfolding in the 2008 fantasy The Secret of Moonacre, which takes place in a fictional world inspired by the English countryside. Benjamin Merryweather and Loveday are star-crossed lovers who get a second-chance romance. Their story is echoed again with the childhood friends’ romance between their descendants, Maria Merryweather and Robin De Noir.

Maria and Robin have a “Romeo and Juliet” style romance as they come from two feuding families. The feud comes from the De Noirs stealing a gift from nature: enchanted pearls from a Moon Princess. The pearls unleashed a curse on the fictional Moonacre Valley, which only united lovers can solve.

8 An Evil Clergyman Curses Two Lovers in Ladyhawke

A Tale of Transformation and Revenge

Ladyhawke is set in a fictionalized French kingdom, Aquila, and has many medieval Italian influences, like Italian court dances. Lady Isabeau is known for her beauty, and an evil Bishop covets her. When she resists his coercion, the Bishop of Aquilla curses her and her lover, Captain Etienne Navarre.

The exiled Captain becomes a black knight with a grudge who thinks he will solve their curse by killing the Bishop. Ladyhawke isn’t directly inspired by any one fairy tale; it’s an original fairy tale with classic tropes and ’80s twists (especially with the haircuts and synth musical score). The magic system is far more esoteric and subtle than most other high fantasy movies.

7 Tangled Turns Rapunzel into a Screwball Comedy

The Disney Princess Movie Wins Big by Mixing Laughs with Love

Walt Disney Pictures struggled for decades to turn the fairy tale of Rapunzel into one of its big-screen adaptations. Animator Glen Keane pitched the idea in 1996 when the studio was riding high with the likes of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King fueling its Renaissance era. It took another 14 years, but the results were well worth it: shaking up audience expectations for princess movies in just the right places and creating another modern classic as a result.

The secret is playing it all for laughs, as Rapunzel and her paramour Flynn Rider bicker their way to true love while foiling the machinations of her extremely wicked adoptive mother. That gives the screenplay some pep that helps the film hold up well to multiple viewings, along with another cast of charming supporting characters. With one of the most endearing couples in recent Disney memory as the centerpiece, Tangled is perfect for viewers who like their lovers with a lot of laughs.

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6 Dragonslayer Turns Traditional Fantasy Romance on Its Head

The ’80s Classic Finds True Love Amid Its Revisionist Fairy Tale

Dragonslayer remains an underrated gem of fantasy cinema, owing to its unorthodox plot that brings a bracing dose of reality to traditional fairy tale tropes. An English kingdom strikes a deal with a dragon: offering it a virgin sacrifice twice a year in exchange for leaving its fields and villages untouched. A powerful wizard is tasked to kill the dragon, but he’s murdered en route, leaving his untested apprentice Galen to complete the seemingly impossible task.

Like the rest of the film, the love story has a way of sneaking up on viewers, as Galen strikes up a friendship with the local blacksmith’s son, who turns out to be a daughter. The odds are against them from the start, but they are the only two in the kingdom who won’t accept the status quo, and their shared struggle gives the film a quietly affecting heart. Their love isn’t the stuff of legends, but rather two people who discover they can’t live without each other in the face of a much larger task.

5 Excalibur Delivers a Tragic Romance for The Ages

John Boorman’s ambition knew no bounds when he attempted to cover the entire legend of King Arthur — from his conception to his death — in a single film, Excalibur. The results move too quickly to really embrace the story, and there’s a good deal of narrative packed into too short a running time. But there’s no denying the film’s visual power, nor its commitment to its task.

The fact that it succeeds in conveying an Arthurian fantasy world without the help of CGI is impressive enough. At the heart of it lies a heartbreaking interpretation of the classic love triangle, as Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot are tempted to break their vows to Arthur out of love for each other. Strictly for the grown-ups and without an ounce of self-effacement, it conveys their passion and tragedy in memorable terms.

4 The Shape of Water Is an Oscar-Winning Fantasy

Guillermo del Toro Struck Oscar Gold in His Love Letter to Monsters Everywhere

Director Guillermo del Toro famously made The Shape of Water as a variation on The Creature from the Black Lagoon, in which the Gill-man and Julie Adams’ Kay Lawrence fall in love. In this case, it’s reimagined as a dark romance, in which Sally Hawkins’ mute cleaning lady discovers a sentient fish man held prisoner in the government facility where she works. The film won a slew of Academy Awards (including Best Picture and Best Director for del Toro) cementing the filmmaker’s status as one of the most important cinematic voices of his generation.

The film succeeds at the incredibly challenging task of making its central couple touching and beautiful instead of just strange. That stems largely from Hawkins and the incomparable Doug Jones in the spotlight, as well as strong supporting performances from Richard Jenkins, Michael Shannon, and Octavia Spencer among others. Del Toro handles the story with a deft touch and creates a convincing fairy-tale universe out of JFK’s America.

3 Westley & Buttercup Share True Love’s Kiss in The Princess Bride

A Tale of True Love and Heroism

Westley and Buttercup have a love that spans oceans and kingdoms in The Princess Bride. The story takes place in the fictional kingdom, Florin, which is ruled by a pugnacious prince named Humperdink (though there are characters who come from real-world places like Sicily and Spain). The Princess Bride is a genre-bending romantic comedy that’s a tongue-in-cheek love letter to fairy tale archetypes.

Westley seeks his fortune to provide for Buttercup when they confess their love to each other and returns to her many years later as the Dread Pirate Roberts. By then, Buttercup’s been coerced into an engagement with Prince Humperdink. The magical elements in the film are a bit more subtle, but there are some fantasy creatures like Rodents of Unusual Size and a near-death revival potion crafted by a forest wizard.

2 Belle Travels to a Beast’s Enchanted Castle in La Belle et la Bête

Breaking the Beast’s Curse

La Belle et la Bête is a classic black-and-white French film that still stands up today for its unique fantasy elements and its sweeping romance. There weren’t many ways to depict magical transformations and moving, sentient objects in the mid-’40s. Film production relied on clever practical effects, and clever makeup and costuming.

La Belle et la Bête takes place in a vaguely French kingdom, ruled by a cursed prince. Finding true love is the key to breaking the beast prince’s curse, and while he hopes for Belle’s love, he never pushes her and only shows her kindness. Belle can’t help but fall in love with the gentle Beast as he protects her, supports her family, and selflessly gives her everything she could wish for.

1 Tristan Steals a Fallen Star for His Lady Love in Stardust

Love Confessions and Epic Quests

Everything in Stardust revolves around obtaining the heart of a star. Witches seek a fallen star’s heart because they want to eat it to restore their youth and powers. Bloodthirsty princes seek the star because of a stone she carries around her neck. Tristan Thorne seeks the star because he wants to bring it back to gain a local beauty’s fickle favor.

Neil Gaiman wrote Stardust as a love letter to 1970s epic fantasy novels. It takes place in a fictional, European-inspired human village called Wall, and in the magical kingdom called Stormhold. Magical beings like unicorns, witches, and star beings litter Stormhold. Curses imprison lost heirs, candles help people travel great distances, and enchanted ships fly through the air to harvest lightning straight from the clouds. But nothing in Stardust is more magical or powerful than the true love between two pure hearts.