What happened?

Rating: Null/10 (20 April 2000)

I saw parts of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" when I was younger, but couldn't get all of it. However, in recent times I have become more of an AD&D fantasy-mythology type fan, and since I had found a rare Monty Python book which I found funny, I decided it would be the best of both worlds and rented it. I really enjoyed it and rented "Life of Brian" when I returned "Holy Grail." I hate to say it, but something happened. Holy Grail was a series of related skits which met at the beginning and end to form a full story. Because of this, many wacky, outrageous adventures took place. They were all unbelievable silliness, like singing a goofy song in Camelot, killer bunny rabbits, a knight who attempts to fight even when all his limbs are severed, etc. But as soon as I began watching "Life of Brian" and got to the beginning credits, I knew I was in for something I didn't want. I tried not to let it get to me, and many parts of the movie were still funny, but not enough to keep the movie afloat. The only silly scenes in the style of "Grail" were the alien scene, which seemed more pointless than funny, and the singing crucifixion victims. There were a couple other scenes too, but the whole thing honestly reminded me of "History of the World part 1," which I also didn't find funny.
I feel weird putting up a review like this amongst the flood of "This is the funniest movie ever made" reviews, but I'm stating my opinion. I will eventually re-watch it and maybe it will be better the second time(often this happens with me), but I really don't know how much it will hope. The movie simply seems to have the lost the magic and, well, what better word than "zaniness" the first had. Maybe it just had too much if a plot. Some of the other movies I've seen could well have used one, maybe they could have sold it to a more deserving film 8-)
All in all, I give it ** out of *****, making it slightly below average. I don't have it in my heart to give it any less, although I was going to give it *1/2, but that ranks it in the same rating with my opinion of Manos: The Hands Of Fate, and that's not very accurate. Still, if you are a fan of the Python troupe, you may as well check it out. I just wish I had known the public library is renting it for free when I paid for it.