The Princess Bride OKish

Rating: 4/10 (7 May 2006)

The princess bride ushers you into a mystical world of giants, pirates, and castles. This 1987 fairytale spoof has all the right intentions, like the story being read from grandfather to grandson it seems like it would be a nice way to just relax on a lazy day, or a day when you are sick. it's a harmless film but lacked something for me.
Rob Reiner (This Is Spinal Tap) directed this film which is based on the novel of the same name by William Goldman who as well wrote the screenplay. The story begins with a sick child (Fred Savage) being read a fairytale by his grandfather (Peter Falk). Quickly we are whisked away as well with the grandson who at first is dreading the fairytale story. The story introduces us too Buttercup (Robin Wright Penn) and Westley (Carey Elwes) a couple who are madly in love. Immediately we are told that Westley must leave Buttercup for no apparent reason. Quickly Buttercup is kidnapped by three pirate like men, Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin), Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), and Fezzik (André The Giant). It seems like they are being followed by a Zorro-esquire character which quickly eliminates one of the kidnappers one at a time. It quickly becomes repetitive but that's not the least of the problems here. 'Zorro' quickly makes it through the kidnappers using swords, poison, and his own hands. Later on the princess is endangered by the prince of her land who plans a marriage.
One of the major problems to me with the film is the continuation of certain aspects. An example of which was when the kidnappers and the princess make it up the mountain cliff by climbing, after they move on the prince somehow managed to reach the top of the mountain with the rest of his crew which includes a large number of horses. The props at times seem fake but mostly are average, the acting is OK, but the laughs just don't come. The movie sets out to spoof fairy tale movies and do, in some ways, succeed, but rarely did I laugh out loud when a joke was delivered, and in some ways these moments don't even spoof or satirize this classification of films. The film has its moments, I thought the poison scene was clever at best, but overall I was displeased with this film. If I was recommending a spoof of these types of films I would much rather recommend the 'Shrek' movies. I truly dreaded this film experience around 5 minutes in when we were jumped around making me feel overwhelmed and rushed, overall it was a unique experience which I do not think I will revisit.