Welcome to a journey through a romantic but often underrated movie genre, fantasy romance.
Love stories intertwine with imagination in a fascinating and engaging blend in this world of irrepressible passions, fantastical creatures, and dangerous adventures.
These films take us to distant and magical worlds where desire and passion meet with the allure of the fantastic, creating unforgettable stories.
Although many fantasy romance films have enchanted audiences around the world, many hidden gems deserve to be discovered.
Our article takes you on a journey to discover some fantasy romance movies that have yet to have the success they deserve but deserve your full attention.
Each film on the list offers a unique combination of romance, adventure, and danger in a fantasy setting, creating exciting and engaging love stories.
Be enraptured by the emotions of these romantic films, which will take you to worlds of imagination where love can overcome any obstacle.
Experience the magic of adventure with unforgettable characters who challenge each other and the fantasy world they live in to win happiness.
Please choose one of the films on our list and let it take you to a world of dreams and fantasies, where passion and desire meet to create unforgettable stories.
Table of contents
Penelope (2006)
Let’s open the dances with this fantasy romance movie from 2008, whose story, as the title suggests, revolves around Penelope, a young girl of noble origins afflicted by a troublesome curse: she was born with a pig nose.
To break the spell on her family, she must find true love in one of her peers, namely a boy of aristocratic extraction.
For years, her parents arrange meetings with young men of their class in the hope of breaking the curse, but no one can bear Penelope’s appearance, and the situation seems hopeless.
Against this backdrop, a young and nosy reporter, Max, makes his entrance, approaching Penelope with the sole intention of writing a sensationalist article, only to be rudely chased out of the house.
Meanwhile, the vibrant and determined Annie also enters the scene, becoming the girl’s friend and confidante, not caring about her piggy nose.
Annie helps Penelope gain courage and face the outside world, teaching her to accept herself simply for who she is.
However, her parents’ machinations to break the curse are not yet over, just as young Max also harbors a few secrets no one could imagine.
Penelope is a delightful romantic comedy where what makes the difference is not Mark Palansky‘s direction, quite ordinary in the genre that would later improve significantly in the following fantasy thriller Rememory.
The real strength lies in the outstanding performances by Christina Ricci and James McAvoy, above them all, as well as later by the usually splendid and sunny Reese Witherspoon.
There may not actually be much new in this story, still, its delicate metaphor about acceptance by others and the dignity and awareness of self-acceptance is very moving and well-told.
Stardust (2007)
The second movie on the list is an enchanting 2007 fairy tale that combines adventure and romance within a fun fantasy world.
It all begins when Tristan, a naive young dreamer, attempts to win the heart of Victoria, the most beautiful (but also vain) girl in the quiet village of Wall.
Promising to retrieve a falling star for her, he must embark on a perilous journey over the wall at the border between the real world and the fantastic realm of Stormhold.
Once on the other side, Tristan discovers that the falling star is actually poor Yvaine, hunted by three evil witches led by the cruel Lamia, who want to capture and eat her heart to obtain her power and eternal youth.
As if that were not enough, the throne of Stormhold also hangs in the balance as the crown prince’s brothers relentlessly fight each other for absolute rule.
Fortunately, Tristan and Yvaine come across a charming and mysterious pirate named Captain Shakespeare, helping them escape the clutches of rival witches and princes. However, the inevitable confrontation will only be postponed.
At the helm of this fantasy gem, we have Matthew Vaughn, famous for his hilarious (and ferocious) superhero action such as Kick-Ass or the great Kingsman saga, a stylish mockery of the famous James Bond.
In this case, the director was still in his infancy, yet he stylishly brought the pages of Neil Gaiman‘s novel of the same name to the screen.
Charlie Cox and Claire Danes are excellent lovers, pursued mercilessly by the awesome witch Michelle Pfeiffer, albeit with the help of a spectacular Robert De Niro, a pirate with a gentler soul than he wants to show.
So get comfortable even with your children; this fairy tale will make your whole family happy.
Midnight in Paris (2011)
Where better to go than to magical Paris, the most romantic city in the world, to experience a magical fantasy romance like this 2011 Woody Allen movie?
In this story, we follow the complicated affairs of Gil Pender, a Hollywood screenwriter, on vacation with his girlfriend Inez in the famous French capital.
During his time there, Gil is fascinated by tales from the 1920s until one evening, he remains alone on the streets of Paris and stumbles upon a vintage car that takes him back in time.
Through this unpredictable event, he meets his literary idols, such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and Gertrude Stein.
Even better, he meets the fascinating and mysterious Adriana, the muse of painters such as Pablo Picasso and Amedeo Modigliani.
Immediately attracted by her, Gil thus begins a double life: by day, he is a tourist strolling with his fiancée and her insufferable parents, while at night, he falls between parties and quarrels of the famous so-called Parisian Lost Generation artists.
This double life brings out his real vocation as a writer, realizing he is unhappy with Inez, although, in the end, he also understands it is impossible living in that now-ended era and must face reality.
Woody Allen places us in the middle of this orgy of literary, pictorial, and musical quotations and references, introducing us one by one to his favorite genius artists.
Owen Wilson has the right, naive, dreamy face for the protagonist, just as Rachel McAdams is as beautiful and unbearable as the spoiled rich girlfriend.
However, love comes in the gorgeous guise of Marion Cotillard, an actress who alone is a romantic fantasy daydream.
What else to say about a simply perfect story written and directed by one of the most brilliant comedians of the last 60 years?
Beautiful Creatures (2013)
Now back to a more teenage love in this fantasy romance released in 2013 and lost in the mess of numerous Twilight clones, whose fifth and final chapter of the saga came out just the year before.
This pleasant and entertaining tale begins with the arrival of the strange Lena Duchannes in the small, conservative town of Gatlin, South Carolina.
Although she is a mysterious and charming girl, everyone, except her young peer Ethan Wate, seems intimidated by her open and aggressive attitude.
The boy falls in love with her at first sight, wooing her relentlessly, but soon discovers that Lena comes from a family of wizards and witches called Casters.
He also discovers her 16th birthday will mark a pivotal moment in her life where she will understand whether she will become a witch of light or darkness.
The whole family flocks to witness the moment, although they are split by centuries between good and evil because they all sense Lena’s enormous power and want to have her on their side.
Richard LaGravenese creates a superb gothic and cheerful atmosphere with directorial flair in the style of Tim Burton for what unfortunately remained the only chapter of a supposed trilogy.
Indeed, audiences and critics did not particularly appreciate the recipe from Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl‘s eponymous novel, decreeing the death and burial of the whole project without question.
Such a shame for a tastefully mischievous and original story, wonderfully acted by young Alden Ehrenreich and Alice Englert, with a phenomenal supporting cast in the elderly wizards and witches led, respectively, by Jeremy Irons and Emma Thompson.
However, looking back in hindsight, perhaps it was better to keep dialogue minimal and focus on two-dimensional characters like Twilight; at least success would have been guaranteed.
The Shape of Water (2017)
The last movie on the list is undoubtedly familiar, having racked up awards and honors in every corner of the world, eventually winning at least four Oscars.
However, it seems that as quickly as it rose to notoriety, it just as fast sank into oblivion only a few years later.
The story begins in the least romantic of historical places and times, in a secret U.S. government base amid the Cold War.
Here works the sweet and lonely Elisa, a mute young woman cleaning on the night shift who one day discovers with horror an aquatic creature in one of the labs, relentlessly subjected to brutal experiments by the cruel Colonel Strickland.
Elisa establishes a deep bond with the creature, understanding its true intelligence and sensitivity, so she decides to help it escape and hide him in her apartment.
Meanwhile, Strickland gives them a relentless hunt as they develop a romantic relationship, and even an undercover agent in the laboratory tries to find them on behalf of the Soviet Union.
Guillermo del Toro masterfully creates a dreamlike, fairy-tale atmosphere, mixing fantasy and thriller cinema elements with romantic drama and a series of crazy musical scenes.
Immersed in shades of green and blue as the underwater world and the magical dimension of this story, it brings the famous character of Abe from the Hellboy saga turning him into the tragic Creature from the Black Lagoon of the old 1950s horror movies.
Simply extraordinary is the performance of Sally Hawkins, who, together with the masked Doug Jones, experiences the most wonderful of romantic adventures, despite both being without the use of speech.
Equally phenomenal then is Michael Shannon as the villain, a heartless, soulless soldier who will discover he has challenged the wrong creature at his own expense.
