No middle ground?

[witchwolf]

Is it just me of do fantasy moves seem to be either awesome and epic or naff and badly acted (regardless of budget!)I wonder why that is?

[TriOmegaZero]

Why do you think fantasy movies are the only ones that do this? Have you looked at the bargain bins?

[witchwolf]

agreed it is not the only genre to have such a swing in quality, but is just seems every time I find a fantasy film they fit into either camp with nothing really in-between.

Of course I'd be happy to be shown any mid-range fantasy films to prove me wrong :D

[Sissyl]

Fantasy suffers from something that most genres do not: Exposition. When you start with a fantasy movie, you have to quickly get the world across to the viewers. This is not easy to do, since it by definition is a WHOLE WORLD. Usually, this means you show the fantasy world through the eyes of a familiar traveler instead, something that means the protagonists have to travel there from our world. The alternative is to make the fantasy world very bland and cliché, so people know what to expect. I am sure there will be people who think this is wrong.

[FuelDrop]

it's unfortunate, but in my experience you are correct. there are some epic fantasy movies out there, and some absolute rubbish... not much in between.
so in answer to your question: no, it's not just you.