I Don't See Why This Is An All-Time Classic

Rating: 4/10 (19 March 2017)

I know that the reputation of "The Princess Bride" is that it is considered to be one of the greatest fairytale stories ever put to film. Besides some understandably iconic characters, however, I just don't quite understand why it is such a classic, as I found it to be rather underwhelming in large portions.
For a basic plot summary, "Princess Bride" is a fairytale read to a young boy (Fred Savage) by his grandfather (Peter Falk). The tale focuses on Westley (Cary Elwes) and his quest to find his beloved Buttercup (Robin Wright), now engaged to be wed to Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon). Along the way, Westley meets up with a motley crew of characters that include the giant Fezzik (Andre the Giant), swashbuckling swordsman Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin), and the annoying little imp Vizzini (Wallace Shawn).
For the first 20-30 minutes of "Princess Bride", I was engaged and interested. I liked the setup (story being read to a child), the Andre/Patinkin/Shawn interactions are hilarious, and Elwes has just the right sense of humor to pull off his role. There is also just a sense of irreverence that pervades the whole beginning of the film, setting the humorous tone perfectly.
After that opening salvo, however, the film seems to trend towards a more conventional "quest" tale, at which point my interest severely waned. Simply put, when the movie turns toward serious plot and away from goofy humor, it completely lost me. There were times where I was even outright bored, as the "meat" of this fairytale isn't anything to write home about. To me, the goofy comedic tone of "Princess Bride" is its calling card, and when most of that was used up in the early goings it fell flat afterwards.
Perhaps my view of this film is colored by the fact that I never saw it as a child, but seeing it for the first time as an adult left me wondering why it is considered one of the greats. I'll always remember some of the iconic characters/moments, but taken as a whole "Princess Bride" was mostly underwhelming for me.