[4] It stars Jason James Richter as Bastian Balthazar Bux, and Jack Black in an early role as school bully Slip.

In a prologue, the Old Man of Wandering Mountain reads from a large book, begins to record a prophecy of a day when "The Nasty" will arrive in Fantasia, and describes the savior of "Extraordinary Courage".

Bastian Balthazar Bux is now 13 years old, and his father Barney has married a woman named Jane, and moved into her house in a new neighborhood.

Bark Troll arrives at Bastian's house disguised as a garden plant, while the Gnomes are mailed to him in a box.

The reunited group go in search of Nicole, but the Nasties find the Auryn first, whereupon giant crustacean creatures appear in Fantasia to kill the Empress and her advisors.

In February 1993 at the American Film Market, Peter MacDonald was hired by CineVox Entertainment to direct the fantasy adventure The NeverEnding Story III, from a script by Jeff Lieberman, with production scheduled for summer of that year.

[5] Author of the original book Michael Ende had no involvement with the film, with producer Tim Hampton commenting: We own all rights to the title now.

Variety gave a negative review of the film, calling it a "charmless", "desperate" reworking of the franchise, and suggested it be subtitled 'Bastian Goes to High School'.