Fantasy is supposed to be fun. Unfortunately, a legion of overly-long Tolkien ripoffs (including the LOTR movies themselves) dominates the genre. The Princess Bride has everything those other movies are lacking in storytelling and it's funny to boot!No single performance stands out, but Rob Reiner did a wonderful job assembling actors who perfectly fit their role, physically as well as mentally. Wallace Shawn, Mandy Patinkin, and Andre the Giant form a triumvirate of traditional evil (the conniving intellectual, the sneak-thief, and the brute). Each of these actors was amusingly overqualified in his own way, Andre being a wrestling star, Patinkin a Tony-winning tenor, and Shawn a well known playwright. Indeed, almost everyone in the film had some sort of classical training in acting. Even Cary Elwes turned down an offer to join the Royal Shakespeare Company, somehow sensing that Saw would come along and justify his decision twenty years later. Interestingly, Reiner took the opposite approach of George Lucas, who famously cast amateurs in Star Wars. I think The Princess Bride is better for it. The movie may be silly, but it's a silliness with weight. For instance, we all know and laugh at Patinkin's Inigo Montoya speech, but by god it wouldn't be nearly so memorable if it didn't seem like he really meant it.
The one character that disappoints is Princess Buttercup. She does seem exactly like the woman a teenage Fred Savage would think up and the character may be designed to emulate the shallow heroines of pulp stories. Still, if I were a woman watching The Princess Bride I might feel a little let down. It doesn't help that Robin Wright isn't nearly as talented as some of the other people involved. Carol Kane, however, picks up some of her slack, helping to move Billy Crystal from annoying to hilarious.
The Princess Bride is largely sui generis, but there are a few themes that seem particularly of-their-time. The main villain turns out to be the scheming prince who is fostering nationalism to further his own pecuniary interests. Prince Humperdink is a medieval Gordon Gekko, choosing money over true love. This love is shown in all its silly hackneyed fairy tale glory, but as Fred Savage's grandfather explains to him in the awkward but endearing framing scenes, sometimes that silliness can be the most valuable thing we've got.
11 comments:
My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
P.S. Andre the Giant rules.
Oh, and Yoggoth, way to ruin such a magical children's movie by adding your "truth and logic". Honest to God, is there a movie you haven't picked apart? It's just a kid's story with Andre the Giant for Pete's sake!
Haven't seen this all the way through as an adult, mostly because the people who love it tend to be the same people who've never heard of The Last Picture Show. But who can forget the Inigo Montoya speech? Shall be re-watched in the near future, perhaps.
Penguin--I guess I've seen some movies while drunk that might count. You put quotes around "truth and logic" but I'm just talking about a movie I like.
Little Earl--I doubt most of the people who love Apocalypse Now, Pulp Fiction, or the Beatles have heard of The Last Picture Show.
I'm not sure what The Last Picture Show has to do with The Princess Bride.
I liked both movies, but for different reasons because they are different kinds of movies (and I don't just mean because one is black and white and the other is color).
You nailed it on the head with this one - Princess Buttercup, the title character, is boring as shit. Seriously, they should have named this movie something else, like 'Lord of the Spaceballs'. All these funny characters, but whenever she's got a scene it's bathroom break time.
"I'm not sure what The Last Picture Show has to do with The Princess Bride."
Not much. But when someone with a relatively deeper grasp of cinema history (like Yoggoth or Ninquelote) concludes that The Princess Bride is great, then it carries more weight for me because they've been exposed to movies like The Last Picture Show and yet can still feel comfortable saying that The Princess Bride holds up alongside those other kinds of movies. But when other people, the kind of people who think cinema history began with Star Wars, say they love The Princess Bride, I don't really put as much stock in their judgement because I'm not sure they're putting the movie in the same kind of perspective that I do.
So suck it.
Yeah, but you like Star Wars.
Yes, but it's OK to like Star Wars if you've also seen Andrei Rublev and Tokyo Story.
Gotcha.
I heard that Andrei Rublev was a big influence on Peter Jackson's decision to turn LOTR into a 10 hour turgid mess. Confirm/deny?
Post a Comment