What's all the fuss about?

Rating: 6/10 (2 June 2014)

This movie is on the higher end of 'meh'. It's seen as something of a comedy classic today, and I can see how in 1987, it probably felt very fresh and as such received a very positive response. I'd have probably enjoyed it more if I'd seen it then. But I just don't think it holds up - it's not terrible by any means, but I don't think it's quite as good as people seem to remember it as being.
So it's a fantasy-comedy-adventure that (obviously) doesn't take itself too seriously. As such the plot is fairly predictable and the characters largely played for laughs - which is fine - but I don't think it's actually done consistently well. There are definitely some funny moments, but I think I only laughed properly three times in this film. Partially I think it's because that, by now, we've seen this kind of comedy a lot (again, at the time, I'm sure it was a lot newer and fresher), and moved on from comedy based around the fact that apparently Spanish accents are funny (here's looking at you Fawlty Towers).
It looks really cheap, and yes, I appreciate it's nearly 30 years old, but a lot of films made in the 80s (even in the 70s) had better effects and sets than this. There isn't really any ambition with the world it's set in - it's very dull and stereotypical and it doesn't really fit with the fact that this is supposed to be a kooky, original world.
The guy who played the Spaniard aside, I just don't think it was acted very well either. The female lead especially is wooden, and there was absolutely nothing (even comedic) to her character or given in her performance.
I couldn't really get into the 'story within a story' element either - the granddad telling the story to his grandchild is shown for about 10 minutes and there's nothing to it - I just kept asking myself why? Why did they choose this setup? It doesn't help the overall flow of the film in any way and just seemed like an odd choice.
As I said, there were a few good laughs, but not enough for me to want to see this again any time soon. It has its fans but I think a lot of them need to remove the nostalgic veneer of their memory of this film and come back now and watch it. A warning: you may be disappointed. 6/10.