Read the "haters reviews"

Rating: Null/10 (3 November 2011)

I'm sick and decided to take a few films from the local library to kill some daytime. "Why not see 'The Princess Bride' again?", I thought. I was surprised to see how old it is already. The movie is fun and funny. But reading the reviews from those who hated it seals, for me, why it is so good. This is a film from a book, and a pretty good book at that. The screenplay was, refreshingly, written by the book's author, William Goldman, so what was filmed was OK by him. The Haters make several common errors in their misunderstanding of the film.
1: Who ever said this is a children's film? It's a contemporary fairytale peppered with irony, and only one person who didn't like the film said he had read the book. You need more sophistication to understand irony. The satisfaction depends on knowing how things normally go, how they could go, and why opposite outcomes are funny, not visual punch lines to obvious jokes. If you don't read and don't listen well, you'll not enjoy this movie.
2: Plenty of people complained about the scenery, acting, and costumes. They entirely miss that what we see on screen is the story as imagined by a young child as he hears the book read to him. That concept allows for certain inconsistencies and stylized actions, such as scenes where others complain about a certain creature looking "obviously fake" It's intentional.
3: Most people complained about Wallace Shawn being annoying. That is absolutely so, he is so damn irritating that I usually go elsewhere when his face and voice appear in anything. He's like ketchup on pancakes, just doesn't belong and ruins the whole thing. He is not at all what the book character was supposed to be and I can only assume that Rob Reiner owed him a big favor. I remember being hugely disappointed when he showed up and it took me several minutes to regain my attention to watching the movie.
But, golly, the rest of the movie is so fun and freewheeling that you'll be left behind if your imagination needs to be spoon-fed every morsel. We who love it, love it, and we understand why. For the rest of you, there's reality TV.