Classic Review - Princess Bride

By popular demand, today's review is of another classic movie, The Princess Bride.

Directed by Rob Reiner, and written by William Goldman, adapted from his novel of the same name, The Princess Bride is a twist on the token fairy tale. The main narrative of the movie is actually presented as a story within a story. Bookending the tale, and interspersed throughout, is a grandfather (the great Peter Falk) reading the book to his young grandson (Fred Savage) who is recovering from a particularly bad bout of pnemonia. The boy is disinterested at first, but as the story goes on, he finds it more and more fascinating.

The story itself begins with simple farm boy Westley (the always underused Carey Elwes) who finds himself hopelessly in love with Buttercup, the girl whom he serves (pre-Penn Robin Wright). Eventually, she discovers that she loves him as well. Westley sets off to make the fortune that will allow him and Buttercup to marry and live happily ever after. Unfortunately, Buttercup soon receives word that the ship on which Westley was traveling was besieged by The Dread Pirate Roberts, a viscious and merciless buccaneer who is known for leaving no prisoners.

Heartbroken, Buttercup accepts a marriage proposal (more like demand) from Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon), next in line for the throne of Florin. Before the wedding, she finds herself kidnapped by three mercenaries, intent on starting a war between Florin and the neighboring Guilder. Unexpectedly, they find themselves being pursued by a mysterious man in black who, after defeating each of the men in their strongest element (one by sword, one by strength, and one by trickery), reveals himself to be non other than Roberts himself.

I don't want to go any further into the plot, for fear of revealing some of the it's most intriguing twists, but all the loose ends are tied up by the time the movie is finished. Clocking in at a brisk 98 minutes, the movie manages to pack in action, romance, intrigue, espionage, and quite a few laugh out loud moments, thanks mostly to the superb comedic timing of Elwes and Mandy Patinkin as the world's (second) greatest swordsman Inigo Montoya. Also notable in the cast is Christopher Guest as the sadistic Count Rugen and the ever-comical Wallace Shawn as the mercenary leader Vizzini.

If you couldn't tell by the ridiculous names, Goldman intended the story to be one told to children, as evidenced by the "real world" story featuring Falk and Savage. However, there is enough humor to keep adults more than entertained throughout. Despite some lackluster effects and an overly synthesized score by Dire Straits' Mark Knopfler, this is a strong movie that breaks many of the standard fairy tale conventions while still managing to have a happy ending. The movie's strongest message is simply "love conquers all," including death, a lesson we learn at least twice throughout the course of this fantastic yarn. Oh, and never cross a Spanish sword-maker's son. That's also very important.

All in all, this is one of the few movies with gags that will still make me laugh as hard on my 200th viewing as they did on my first. This is the kind of movie I hope to one day share with my children, both as entertainment and as a shining example of the artwork that is film-making.
Grade: 9
(All movies are graded on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being cinematic perfection, and 1 being Mystery Science Theater-worthy.)