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fantasy, re-telling the story of Perseus, featuring a cast of amazing fantasy creatures such as Pegasus the winged horse and Medusa, the snake haired Gorgon. Produced by Ray Harryhausen, doyen of stop motion monster special effects, Titans is a magical experience.

8. Splash (1984)
Ron Howard's enjoyable fish out of water story is a funny, romantic fantasy about a boy who falls in love with a mermaid.

9. Time Bandits (1981)
King of the fantastical, Terry Gilliam, makes films that inspire wonder. Time Bandits zips about in history, taking us along for a ramshackle ride with the bandits as they stumble across famous people such as Napoleon and Robin Hood on their quest to get rich quick. Abstract magic.

10. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Steven Spielberg's profoundly poignant film about the little visitor from out of space who accidentally gets left behind is simply beautiful. Bringing magic into the lives of Elliott and his siblings, E.T. contains some of the most memorable scenes ever committed to celluloid.

With such an expansive amount of great eighties films to choose from, personal favorites inevitably influence any list of classics. Many much loved and greatly admired films had to be cut in order to produce an overview that didn't spiral ever onwards out of control. In the interests of hating to waste research, here are some of the films that nearly made the grade:- Batman, Poltergeist, Gremlins, The Witches of Eastwick, Wings of Desire, The Goonies, Labyrinth, Dragonslayer, Highlander and that lovable early Tom Hanks fun-fest Big. Hopefully your own personal favorites can be spotted somewhere amongst all these rather brilliant classic eighties films.

Sources: IMDb was used to verify film release dates.

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