As You Wish

Rating: 10/10 (8 May 2005)

This has to be one of my favorite movies of all time! THe thing is,I saw this in the theater almost eighteen years ago and at the time,while I enjoyed it a lot,I didn't realize what kind of special movie it was until I'd watch it again years later.
To me,what marks this film as special is the fact that it dares to make the simple method of storytelling as the crux to the film. Even though the movie is,on face value,a tale of the love between Princes Butercup(Robin Wright,now Penn)and her servant boy Westley(Cary Elwes,whose career since seems to be underusing his talents),it's also many things:a caper,a comedy,a uniquely created characters,a drama,a morality tale and a love story that isn't as clichéd as it might appear. It's unapologetically anachronistic and yet still seemingly true to the sword-and-sorcerer fairy tale genre.
It's also the underlying tale of the ability for the bond between a grandfather(the always solid Peter Falk) and grandson(Fred Savage,pre-"Wonder Years")to supercede a contemporary kid's need for all the comforts and instant gratification kids tend to expect anymore.
BAsically,this is a well crafted weaving of two stories to fit one movie. Very strong supporting roles from Billy Crystal,Andre the Giant,Mandy Patinkin,Christopher Guest,CArol Kane,Wallace Shawn and Chris Sarandon also flesh this story out effectively.It makes me sad that Rob Reiner doesn't seem to think he needs to direct anything even remotely like this film anymore.Mark KNopfler's score is absolutely beautiful,too.
I could try to say more to tell you why I think this is such a great film,but you'll just have to see this yourself to get the idea.