Top 10 Film Creatures Used as Transportation

Trains, planes, automobiles, horses and the occasional camel or elephant are the typical modes of transportation for the heroes and heroines of most Hollywood Blockbuster movies. But in the last few years as fantasy and sci-fi have become more widely embraced, the modes of transportation for characters have changed dramatically.

Especially in the last few months, I’ve found myself in the movie theaters turning to the person next to me and jealously exclaiming – I want to ride “insert awesome creature here.” Here are my top 10 personal favorite creatures used as transportation in film.

10. TaunTaun – a kangaroo, llama like creature from Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back. Native to the ice cold planet Hoth. They may smell bad, but they’ll keep you warm and cozy when you use their guts for a sleeping bag. And while you may not be able to ride one in real life, you can actually buy a TaunTaun sleeping bag, and be the envy of your friends at all the nerd parties.

9. The Great Eagles – the second coolest creatures in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. They appear a few different times – once to rescue Gandalf from the Orthanc Tower in Isengaard and next to rally during the climactic battle for Middle Earth, fighting off the Nazgul. They also fly into Mordor to pick up the fatigued Frodo and Sam as Mt. Doom explodes all around them.

8. lorek Byrnison – the talking polar “ice” bear from The Golden Compass movie. He acts as a guardian and protector of the main character Lyra, but also his own back-story, which yields some wicked cool bear-on-bear fight action. As opposed to bear-on-man action, which is what would happen if you attempted to ride a bear in real life.

7. Buckbeak the Hippogriff – appears in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The creature itself is a bit of a bitch to manage, but if the end result is a fun flight around Hogwarts, and a rescue later on in the film, than HP is willing to risk it. Buckbeak also has a warm spot in my heart as he was nearly the victim of a beheading.

6. Fell Beast – evil dragon creatures from the Lord of the Rings that are controlled by the Nazguls.  They look bad-ass with their giant wing-span and have a cool scream to inspire fear in the hearts of weaker men. Unfortunately, that seems to be their favorite snack, so they would probably make you the neighborhood pariah when folks started going missing.