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The Princess Bride

The Princess Bride

List Price: $19.98
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Inconceivable!!
Review: One of my favorite movies of all time. The little guy is the best.

Great movie for the whole family.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: ENCHANTING!
Review: How many times have you said "Loved the book, hated the movie?" Well, you can shove that painful cliche aside. Rob Reiner & William Goldman have transferred Goldman's fabulous novel to the screen with with tons of charm and oodles of style. It moves, it guffaws, it touches, it swashbuckles and finally it sweeps you off your feet. You'll be quoting lines from this masterpiece for years. So close to perfection, it's "inconceivable" that it came out of Hollywood.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Nostalgia-a bit worn
Review: I and just about everyone I know absolutely adored this flick growing up, and while many still think it's great, I seem to have found some of it, well, not as entertaining as it used to be. It is still pretty good, and if you've got kids, it is a must buy, they will love it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Enjoyable every time I watch it
Review: Buying this movie would not so much be a purchase of a DVD as an investment in long term entertainment. Whenever and wherever this movie is on I end up watching it the whole way through. I have lost track of the number of times I have seen this film. The plot...the plot...the plot seemed basic enough until I just tried to write a summary and after five failed attempts I have to admit that the plot is pretty clever. Let's just say that it is a fairly basic fairytale. True love and swashbuckling and all that. But the real treasures in this movie are the dialogue and the characters. There is not a single line in here that isn't wonderfully witty or hilariously skewed. And the cast of characters that we get to spend time with is priceless, there's the giant with no brains, the swordsman dying for revenge, the genius with an inferiority complex and of course the man in black. You will laugh, you will cheer and you will watch this movie again and again. This comes highly recommended, I doubt any other film will give you so much mileage for one purchase.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Twue Wuv
Review: While the DVD version doesn't add much more to the VHS release than a theatrical trailer or two, the movie is priceless in its appeal to a large audience. If you haven't seen the movie yet, it is clearly Rob Reiner's greatest work. The characters are wonderfully quotable, and the acting is sufficiently campy on purpose, making it a romantic/comedic/adventurefest that kids and adults would like. The sound that DVD provides the movie is a notable improvement over the VHS release, but this movie isn't somehow miraculously "better" in DVD format than VHS. Its a good movie, a solid, good movie favorite of a whole lot of people, and that makes it worth purchasing.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of my favorites
Review: This movie has been a favorite of mine since I was young. I think it's great that I can still enjoy it as an adult. There aren't too many movies that you can make that claim to.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Conventional romantic adventure done unconventionally
Review: William Goldman's 1973 book is fast becoming a classic, and the movie version has done much to popularize it. Goldman takes the conventional tale of romantic adventure featuring a kidnapped princess who is rescued by a gallant knight. However, Goldman departs from the stereotypical mould of the romantic adventure by exaggerating the conventional roles to the point where the story evolves from a serious tale of adventure into a farcical spoof. It is not so much a contemporary version of the Sir Walter Scott type adventure as it is an exaggerated version. The delicious and distorted blend of the lofty and the mundane that Goldman serves up results in a comical buffoonery. After all, who ever heard of a princess called "Buttercup", a prince called "Humperdinck" and a hero (appropriately just a farm boy) called "Westley"? And who ever heard of countries that go by the names of currencies like "Florin" and "Guilder"? And who ever heard of pirates who retire?

Goldman heightens the farcical effect by writing under the guise of an editor who is merely abridging the supposed longer work by the early 20th century writer S. Morgenstern (an approach similar to that later used by Michael Crichton in "Eaters of the Dead"). Of course Morgenstern is entirely a figment of Goldman's imagination and a fictional creation, as is evident from the numerous contemporary jokes found throughout which clearly originate from Goldman, and not an older Morgenstern. This is in fact an ingenious literary device that successfully enables Goldman to get outside the story and give his own pithy commentary about the action. The fact that it has fooled some readers to unsuccessfully endeavour to discover more about the mysterious Morgenstern can only serve as a tribute to the effectiveness of this literary device!

The story itself features an evil villain (Humperdinck), a beautiful princess (Buttercup), and the humble hero (Westley). Westley needs to overcome the legendary Cliffs of Insanity and the dreaded Fire Swamp with its renowned R.O.U.S.s (Rodents of Unusual Size). In what appears to be a farcical version of the three musketeers, he must also master the hired hands of his adversary, the infamous "Sicilian Crowd", composed of the Turk Fezzik (a huge idiot whose contribution is his strength), the Spaniard Inigo (a tall athlete whose contribution is his sword), and the Sicilian Vizzini (a thin leader whose contribution is his brains). Just so you can picture this farcical trio accurately, imagine Fezzik as a bulk who started shaving in Grade 1, Inigo as a madman who has devoted only 72,000 hours to prepare for a single fencing battle with his father's murderer, and Vizzini as a criminal mastermind who defies anything that doesn't fit with his logic as "inconceivable."

Of course the mixture of strength, sword and brains doesn't faze our hero, and after he successfully overcomes the skill tests of strength, swordmanship, and brains, some of the Sicilian Crowd become his personal allies in the quest against Humperdinck. Ultimately, they are the ones who rescue him from death by forcing a resurrection pill (you haven't heard of those either, have you?) down his throat, and help him rescue Buttercup and ride off into the sunset with her on four white horses. But this isn't a typical adventure-romance, remember, so of course Goldman presents an alternative ending where there is no sunset, and the hapless hero is forever chased by the villains.

The movie version sticks very close to the book, and fans of the movie will especially enjoy the book. It is marred by a few instances of blasphemy, and the glorification of Inigo's obsession with revenge. But as a farce on the traditional romantic adventure, this book can be enjoyed by anyone with a sense of humor, and a vague awareness of the literary conventions that Goldman is mocking. As Goldman describes it: "Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles." Take these ingredients, mix well with a grain of salt, a sense of humor, and a strong measure of exaggeration and farce, and you have "The Princess Bride." As "The Princess Bride" proves, it's the recipe for success.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: As You Wish...
Review: This is a classic. It is a great movie for kids (there is one cuss word in the whole thing, the themes are wonderful, and the sword fights are not very violent), teens, and adults. The humor is such that it is fun to watch by yourself but is even better to watch with a larger group of people (kind of like any Monty Phyton movie - the humor builds as it is repeated by other people). I use this all the time with the teens I am involved with in Youth Ministry. The more you watch this movie the better it gets.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very funny movie...
Review: The movie is a fairy tale about true love, evil prince, mythical characters, high ideals... On the other hand, this is a very funny and witty comedy, even though I couldn't understand it when I first saw the movie in the 8th grade...

Very reccomended!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Finally a DVD worthy of the movie
Review: The Princess Bride is one of my all-time favourite movies, yet it is conspicuously absent from my collection. For those of you who may remember laser discs, Criterion had one for Princess Bride with commentary by Rob Reiner, Billy Crystal, and others. I've put off buying the regular DVD in the hope that Criterion would make a DVD release of its version. Barring that, a Special Edition is the best option around. Do yourself a favor though before listening to the commentary track--watch it through with the standard audio track and THEN listen to the commentary track. As I remember, Westley and Inigo's fight scene takes on a whole new dimension.


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