A Fairy Tale With Plenty of Bite to It

Rating: 10/10 (19 February 2007)

Grandpa (Peter Falk) comes to his grandson's (Fred Savage's sickbed) to entertain him - he's going to read the tale of the Princess Bride - a story with fencing, and giants, and all the excitement and adventure the grandson craves, with some love scenes as well. What Savage and the audience do not realize is that they are getting a bunch of the oddest figures in a fairy tale that one can imagine.
On the surface THE PRINCESS BRIDE tells us the story of Westley (Cary Elwes) and Buttercup (Robin Wright Penn). Westley a groom on Buttercup's estate who falls in love with (and is in love with) Buttercup. But he is lost at sea, and she reluctantly agrees to marrying Prince Humperdink (Chris Sarandon). She is kidnapped by the a trio of brigands (Wallace Shawn, Mandy Patinkin, and Andre the Giant) who seem to intend to kill her. This can have serious repercussions on the relations of the two neighboring counties (one of which is ruled by Prince Humperdink). But the kidnappers are pursued at sea by a mysterious pirate ship. They are pursued on land too - and confronted by a legendary pirate (Elwes). He has a confrontation with each, concluding with Wallace Shawn, who outsmarts himself in a dizzy philosophical duel.
So it goes in this crazy story, with it's wizards, giant rats, cruel rulers and their assistants (Christopher Guest) and duels and vengeance and true love conquering in the end. The chief villain is not physically destroyed (not even the original SHREK avoided that cliché), but left universally ruined by humiliation. The second hero neatly avenges his father. The fact is the characters behave rather realistically in this story. Guest when confronted by a physical threat behaves realistically - he flees. The marriage ceremony is presided over by "an impressive clergyman" (Peter Cook) who gets so carried away by his own eloquence he fails to do an important act in the ceremony. A wizard and his quarreling wife (Billy Crystal and Carol Kane) give a charm to help the heroes, wave pleasantly as they leave, and then admit they couldn't care less about these people.
I do not think any other attempt at a filmed fairy story was ever so satiric, except the above mentioned SHREK and it's sequels (which came after THE PRINCESS BRIDE). THE WIZARD OF OZ was funny at points, but it was not a satire of the genre (and the two wicked witches in the film were destroyed). Nothing by Disney was satiric. You can consider the cartoons on ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE (FRACTURED FAIRY TALES) as a precedent, but that was a television show - not a movie. Also they were told quickly (within three or four minutes tops). But THE PRINCESS BRIDE made the fairy tale grow up. It did not forget the charm of the genre - the wonder of the dangers confronting Buttercup and Westley are there (and quite real) throughout the film. So is the warmth of the occasional scenes and comments between Falk telling the story and Savage hearing it. But they certainly knew how to make the story more accessible to adults by the spoofing. It is a very well done film and deserves a "10".