Totally and in all other ways inconceivable!!!!!!

Rating: 9/10 (20 July 2005)

Superb, sublime, imaginative family entertainment from Rob Reiner. Tongue in cheek fairy tale/adventure that hits the ground running with a breathless first 25mins of fantastic set pieces that includes one of the best sword fights in cinema as well as some great characters. Vezzini, Fezzick and Inigo are characters that stayed with me all through my childhood but until a recent watching of this film I hadn't realised just how good this was for adults & children. It hasn't dated at all in the intervening years and compares well with modern fantasy films mainly due to a tone that wouldn't benefit from expensive CG.
All the cast are memorable, Chris Sarandon as the pompous prince and Christopher Guest's Basil Rathbone style duke are great villains but Wallace Shawn as Vezzini steals best baddie honours. For the good guys Cary Elewes is superb as the Errol Flynn style hero swashbuckling and joking his way through duels, torture, chases and more with support from Innigo (the always superb Mandy Patinken) with Andre the Giant the ideal person to play Fezzick the good natured giant. Memorable cameos include Peter Cooke, Billy Crystal, Carol Kane and Mel Smith. As the Princess of the title Robin Wright really fits the bill looking like she just stepped out of the pages of a fairy tale but never letting her performance slip into the sappy, mushiness it could have become.
It's magic spell never loses grip through chases, romance, duels and brawls its a treat my one complaint I wish it was longer so there was even more to enjoy. 9/10