[.ca] The Princess Bride [UMD Mini for PSP]

Amazon.com Essential Video:
Screenwriter William Goldman's novel The Princess Bride earned its own loyal audience on the strength of its narrative voice and its gently satirical, hyperbolic spin on swashbuckled adventure that seemed almost purely literary. For all its derring-do and vivid over-the-top characters, the book's joy was dictated as much by the deadpan tone of its narrator and a winking acknowledgement of the clichés being sent up. Miraculously, director Rob Reiner and Goldman himself managed to visualize this romantic fable while keeping that external voice largely intact: using a storytelling framework, avuncular Grandpa (Peter Falk) gradually seduces his skeptical grandson (Fred Savage) into the absurd, irresistible melodrama of the title story. And what a story: a lowly stable boy, Westley (Cary Elwes), pledges his love to the beautiful Buttercup (Robin Wright), only to be abducted and reportedly killed by pirates while Buttercup is betrothed to the evil Prince Humperdinck. Even as Buttercup herself is kidnapped by a giant, a scheming criminal mastermind, and a master Spanish swordsman, a mysterious masked pirate (could it be Westley?) follows in pursuit. As they sail toward the Cliffs of Insanity... The wild and woolly arcs of the story, the sudden twists of fate, and, above all, the cartoon-scaled characters all work because of Goldman's very funny script, Reiner's confident direction, and a terrific cast. Elwes and Wright, both sporting their best English accents, juggle romantic fervor and physical slapstick effortlessly, while supporting roles boast Mandy Patinkin (the swordsman Inigo Montoya), Wallace Shawn (the incredulous schemer Vizzini), and Christopher Guest (evil Count Rugen) with brief but funny cameos from Billy Crystal, Carol Kane, and Peter Cook. --Sam Sutherland

Romance and High adventure:
It is inconceivable how they could make such a good movie. This is one of those movies that the story is being told and periodically you are drawn back to the reader and listener to see what they think of the story. The reader is a grandfather played by Peter Falk and the grandson that is listening to the bedtime story is Fred Savage. Watch the expressions on Prince Humperdinck's (Chris Sarandon) face as he gets foiled again. Exceptional good story and actors. Lots of mush and unexpected trials. See Peter Falk again with Cyndi Lauper in "Vibes" (1988).

What a marvelous movie... I waited too....:
long to buy this movie -- my boys loved it the first time they watched it. It is timeless, a great comedy, wonderful lines..... A great addition to our movie selection!

Think this happens every day?:
Every now and then, someone makes one of those rare movies that crosses the lines of romance, action, fantasy, fairy tale, and a story for all ages. And isn't annoying either. With snappy dialogue and lovable characters, "The Princess Bride" is a classic tale of high adventure, danger, true love, screaming eels, and Sicilians who talk too much. And yes, there's kissing. A bored little boy (Fred Savage) is sick in bed, is told a story by his quirky grandfather (Peter Falk). In it, young lovers Buttercup (Robin Wright) and Westley (Carey Elwes) are separated when Westley is apparently killed. A few years later, the heartbroken Buttercup is unwillingly affianced to the slimy Prince Humperdinck. As if that weren't enough, she's kidnapped by a trio of mercenaries. But things go wrong for the mercenaries -- a mysterious masked man is following them, and he defeats each of the mercenaries with his swordplay, strength and wits. He also knows quite a bit about Westley's fate -- and Buttercup soon finds that he IS Westley after all. But Buttercup is only a cog in Humperdinck's evil plot, and now it's up to Westley, gentle giant Fezzik (Andre) and vengeance-seeking Spaniard Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) to save her. If "Princess Bride" had been done in a halfway serious manner, it wouldn't have been even remotely interesting. It would have been just another kids' film. But with William Goldman's tongue-in-cheek script and entertaining characters (Miracle Max, anyone?), it becomes something a lot sweeter and funnier. Rob Reiner has a deft, wry touch that matches Goldman's story, and he does a superb job of keeping the grim moments lighter than they would have been otherwise ("We'll never make it through!" "Nonsense, you're only saying that because no one ever has"). With scenes like the torture machine, Miracle Max and Westley's three duels, Reiner keeps it deadpan rather than openly comic. But there are also scenes of touching romance and reconciliation, and some very good swordfights for Inigo. And the dialogue (penned by Goldman) is full of quotables -- lines like "Inconceivable!" "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die," "I'm not left-handed!" and "As you wish" are more or less immortalized. At the worst of times it's solid; at the middling times, it's memorably quirky; at the best of times, it's hilarious. Yes, the title is about Buttercup. But she's a pretty pallid character compared to Westley, Fezzik and Patinkan. Elwes always seems to be winking at both the characters and audience, while Andre is lovable as the sportsmanlike, superstrong giant, and Patinkan as the discouraged Spaniard searching for a six-fingered man. His clash with the casually evil Rugen is a wonderful action-packed climax. And Billy Crystal makes a brief but insanely good appearance as the Miracle Man, an embittered medieval healer with a very peeved wife (Carol Kane, who steals the scene with her shrieks of "Liar!"). Crammed with adventure, true love, swordfights, pirates, casual villains, and a clergyman with a speech impediment, "The Princess Bride" is an adorable comic classic. A must-see.

Best Pick-me-up ever!:
Since the summaries above will tell you about the movie itself, I'll skip over that and just put in my opinion; this movie cheers me up like few other things can. Whenever I'm upset, or angry, or any negitive emotion, really, I can turn on this movie, and it will instantly bring a smile to my face. Inigo Montoya is the best character, in my opinion, hands down. I always cry with his bit at the end (don't want to spoil it). It's special effects and music are pretty dated, but that's half the fun of it. Definately one of my favourite movies of all time.

A family comedy funnier than this? Inconceivable!:
For millions of television viewers who grew up during All in the Family's groundbreaking run (before it became stale in the post-1977 seasons), Rob Reiner will always be remembered as the Meathead, a.k.a. Archie Bunker's ultra-liberal, atheistic, and argumentative son-in-law, Mike Stivic. But Reiner, whose father Carl is one of America's best comedic writer-actor-directors (The Dick Van Dyke Show, Your Show of Shows, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid), is far more than just a good actor with one famous role, for after he left Norman Lear's flagship comedy series after six seasons, Reiner the Younger followed in his father's footsteps to become a well-known and well-regarded actor, writer, producer, and director. One of Reiner's best films is 1987's The Princess Bride, a witty-yet-sweet comedy/fantasy written by two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter William Goldman, who adapted his own novel about the beautiful maiden Buttercup (Robin Wright), whose true love, a young farmboy named Westley (Cary Elwes), goes off to sea to seek his fortune, telling Buttercup that he would come back for her. But when Buttercup learns that Westley's ship has been attacked by the Dread Pirate Roberts she swears she will never love anyone again, an oath she keeps even when she accepts a marriage proposal from Florin's Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon), a handsome yet somewhat shady fellow who probably could give Machiavelli some lessons in, well, Machiavellian diplomacy. His plan is simple: take over as King of Florin as soon as his father passes away, get bethroded to a beautiful engaging commoner, then stage her kidnapping and demise to incriminate the neighboring rival kingdom Guilder and start a war. Aided by the equally heinous Count Rugen (Christopher Guest), Humperdinck hires a trio led by the too-clever-for-his-own-good schemer Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), the revenge-obsessed Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin), and Fezzik (Andre the Giant), a brawny hulk with a heart of gold and a fondness for rhymes. The three manage to kidnap Princess Buttercup, but before they reach the Guilder-Florin border they run into an unforeseen obstacle: a dashing swordsman dressed in black. Goldman's clever way of grabbing the audience's heart and funny bone is to present this fairy tale with a framing story of a 1980s grandfather (Peter Falk) who visits his sick grandson (a pre-Wonder Years Fred Savage) and reads the tale of The Princess Bride to him, following a long family tradition. Reiner gets wonderful performances not only from the major cast members, but also from Billy Crystal and Carol Kane, who play Miracle Max and his wife Valerie in a short but hilarious scene. He approaches the fractured fairy tale as a comedy/romance/swashbuckling adventure, poking gentle fun at the conventions of all the fantasy/medieval adventure films of the 1930s and '40s without being obnoxious or too sardonic. The result: a film that overcame box-office failure (it had a brief and unprofitable theatrical run in the summer of 1987) by becoming a home video success. (This is not unique to The Princess Bride, either. 1939's The Wizard of Oz was no box office champ when it premiered; only when it became an annual TV staple in the mid-1950s did Oz become a family classic.) The 2001 MGM Special Edition DVD presents The Princess Bride in its original widescreen format, and features a director's commentary track by Reiner, a writer's commentary by Goldman, English and Spanish audio tracks, a new documentary on the making of the film ("As You Wish"), plus theatrical trailers and two original featurettes. As Vizzini might have added, to try and find a funnier family film is absolutely inconceivable.