The chocolate coating makes it go down easier

Rating: 8/10 (1 August 2015)

The Princess Bride is framed by a second narrative of a grandpa telling a story to his sick grandchild, who like all pre-teen boys wants to listen to things like sports and fighting, not true love and kisses. Of course in the end he changes his mind, having being enthralled by the story like so many others. It's a very neat device which allows the film some breathing space; clichés, larger than life characters with seemingly singular purposes, fantastic declarations of true love and sacrifice, mysterious locations that challenge then are never returned to...it can be all chalked up to the fairytale nature of it. And that's perhaps a crucial selling point that may make or break an impression of the cult classic; it's simply something that you either love or hate.
A relieving thing about The Princess Bride is that it never takes itself too seriously. Buttercup (Robin Wright) is by far the most serious and passionate of the cast; even the enigmatic Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) has moments of playfulness and humour. When Buttercup's desperate cries of suicide rather than be wedded to a man she does not love, the film simply takes it down a notch. The protagonists are never confronted with too difficult a challenge or too perilous a situation, and if they are in a spot, there's always some sort of device or miracle to lift them out of it.
Although the main romantic storyline and the tale of revenge are indeed cliché to a degree, there's also moments where Princess Bride can step back and subvert those fairytale moments. The castle's gatekeeper straight forwardly refuses to give up the key to the gates and looks to be up for a fight, before a threat of missing limbs from no less than Andre the Giant very quickly makes him fold and surrender, in a cowardly but humorous manner. The main villain Humperdinck is persuaded to surrender after an impassionate and fierce condemnation from the lowly diamond in a rough protagonist, Westley. Only after he is tied up then it is revealed that Westley can barely move a muscle, and Humperdinck bursts out in exasperation "I knew it, I knew you were bluffing!" The important thing is that Princess Bride never descends into the areas of parody or self-awareness for the sake of it, like so many modern comedies tend to feel the need to. It relies on its sharp script and lively performances to generate humour rather than the audience nodding in recognition.
There are perhaps areas of weakness that may result in the audience second guessing the narrative tone and wondering whether its camp for the sake of it or simply bad. There's a well done scene where Buttercup flings herself into the waters and is faced with Shrieking Eels (although the darkness and obscurity certainly help mask ageing effects), where the score turns ominous and we cut from a terrifying Jaws-esque display of teeth to a concerned young boy who hastily pretends to not care. There's the hilarious squabbles of heavily made-up apothecary couple Billy Crsytal and Carol Kane. And of course there's the classic confrontation between Inigo and Westley, where the duel for several minutes with both hands, flipping and jumping and dodging all around the rocky set. These scenes are weakened somewhat by others like the painfully clunky scene where Westley and Buttercup are attacked by a Rodent of Unusual Size (or just an actor in a very poorly made costume). In fact the entirety of the Fire Swamp seems rather trivial and undeveloped as a location/set (even its name screams lazy).
It's of course fairly easy to push these scenes aside or convince yourself that they fit within the context of a grandpa telling a young boy a fairytale, and I suggest that you do so for maximum enjoyment. To put yourself in the shoes of the genuine innocence of the grandson will produce nothing but pure joy and magic.