Pretty good if you look at it from the witty entertainment angle

Rating: 7/10 (17 May 2018)

A lot of people and critics believe 'The Princess Bride' is a masterpiece and some even believe it is one of the greatest films ever made. However, objectively speaking the movie is not a masterpiece but primarily a highly entertaining escapism flick which still far outweighs its negative sides.
Not entirely sure why the film was told out of a book straight from another modern day story, because the modern scenes really seem to have little significance and it also eventually ends up going nowhere. Fortunately, most scenes take place in the historical fantasy setting, which is obviously far and away the most entertaining one. The cinematography is beautiful, with a lot of stunning shots of the beautiful british landscapes where it was filmed on. Also the area where Inigo and the Man in Black face off is worthy of mention as a beautiful piece of cinematography. While being covered in comic aspects, the said scene with the sword fight between Inigo and Man in Black is actually also a masterpiece of choreography and incredible moves, resulting in possibly the greatest single duel swordfight one can ever see in film.
The acting was mostly good, especially by leads Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin & Robin Wright. They manage to make their characters likeable due to their natural charm and witty line delivery. A lot of other characters were ridiculously overacted, such as Wallace Shawn's Vizzini. The screenplay is a bit wobbly as a lot of the dialogue is extremely witty and original yet Patinkin's constant uttering of 'Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die.' grows tiresome after a while. Some things are really predictable such as who the Man in Black really is but other things such as Count Rugen's response to the first time Patinkin says the you killed by father line are quite original and somewhat hilarious.
It is quite the cliché to say if this movie was serious we might take Elwes & Wright's romance and struggles emotionally serious, but there is still truth to it as it is not the kind of film that leaves you with feelings or thought long after it is finished. It was generally just made as the type of feel good escapism flick and if you limit your expectations of true cinema it can still be considered as a worthy piece of entertaining art. However, anything transcendent or thought provoking it is obviously not therefore it should not be judged like actual masterpieces.