Charming little fantasy adventure.

Rating: 7/10 (5 February 2011)

The Princess Bride starts as a Grandfather (Peter Falk) visits his ill Grandson (Fred Savage) & decides to read him a classic fairytale, he opens the book & begins to read the story... In the kingdom of Florin a farm-boy named Westley (Cary Elwes) & his boss Buttercup (Robin Wright) fall deeply in love with each other, Westley leaves & Buttercup receives word that he has been killed by the dread pirate Roberts. Five years later & Buttercup is engaged to be married to Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon) even though she has no love for him, shortly before the marriage Buttercup is kidnapped by a man named Vizzini (Wallace Shawn) who then sets sail for the kingdom of Guilder where he plans to kill Buttercup in order to start a war between Guilder & Florin but Buttercup is saved by whom she thinks is the dread pirate Roberts with Prince Humperdinck & his army close behind...
Produced & directed by Rob Reiner this was written by William Goldman based on his 1973 novel of the same name, while not drastically different I haven't read the book so cannot compare the two but I really enjoyed the film on many levels for it's action, it's adventure, it cuteness & sense of humour. There's a neat wraparound story in which peter Falk tells the story of The Princess Bride to his young grandson & there are several amusing moments in which we cut back to the pair who make several comments, the sort of comments that a young boy might make while listening to an old fashioned fairytale but it's also nice to see him become engrossed & caught up in the story like anyone watching The Princess Bride will, the point that mere words on a page can captivate as much as a computer game is well made. I would call The Princess Bride itself more of a swashbuckling adventure adventure yarn rather than a straight fairytale, for some reason the fantasy elements are downplayed quite a lot with only giant Rats & Westley being brought back to life (if he was dead anyway which is never made totally clear) the only fantasy aspects. The Princess Bride seems more interested in amusing one-liners, sharp, witty dialogue & sword fight action which is fine as it all adds up to a throughly enjoyable light hearted fantasy romance. In fact the main aspect that The Princess Bride lifts from the average fairytale is the idea of true love conquers all, it's a strong & constant theme throughout thankfully without ever getting to mushy or sentimental. The Princess Bride manages almost perfectly to balance seriousness & parody with an assortment of wonderfully drawn character's all of whom have great personality & some great moments. At just over an hour & a half the film never lacks pace & keeps moving all the time, it's easy to see why the young Fred Savage gets so engrossed in The Princess Bride & I am sure most viewers will feel exactly the same way.
As I mentioned earlier I am a bit disappointed at the lack of overt fantasy elements, even the settings & locations from woods & ancient Castles look a little drab. The ROUS (Rodents of Unusual Size) are dwarf actor's in Rat suits which look a little tatty but at least they have fluid movement & still look better than a modern CGI computer effect probably would. There are some great fencing & sword fighting scenes, some of the best you will ever see to be fair as th makers don't seem to go for historic accuracy or realism & just go to town with various stunts & improbable gymnastics.
With a supposed budget of about $16,000,000 the production values are good & it looks nice enough having been mostly filmed on location here in England. The acting is good, Cary Elwes as the smooth, handsome & likable Westley shines although Robin Wright is a little flat in comparison. Billy Crystal, Mel Smith & Peter Cook all have comedic roles.
The Princess Bride is a highly entertaining & witty play on the old fairytale clichés that is a cracking action adventure film in it's own right. What's not like? I thought it was clever & humorous & heartfelt & exciting. Definitely recommended.