I am shocked and appalled, but it appears that THE NEVERENDING STORY has joined my very short list of movies that outdid the books. 
 The book covers two linked but different plots: Atreyu's quest to find Bastian to give the Empress a new name, and Bastian's quest to rebuild Fantasia then find his way home. Unfortunately, Atreyu doesn't do much besides wander around, get into trouble, and get rescued; specific incidents are much less dramatic in the book than in the movie. Bastian, while he acts much more than Atreyu does, makes himself a nonsympathetic character so quickly and for so long that by the time he's redeemed at the end of the book, I didn't think he deserved it. 
 I truly hope that most of the trouble is with the translation and not with the writing.