The Princess Bride (1987)

Genres

Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Romance

Director

Rob Reiner

Country

USA

Cast

Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Chris Sarandon, Mandy Patinkin, Christopher Guest, André the Giant, Wallace Shawn, Peter Falk, Fred Savage, Betsy Brantley, Billy Crystal, Carol Kane, Peter Cook, Mel Smith, Margery Mason, Malcolm Storry, Willoughby Gray, Anne Dyson

Storyline

While a young boy (Fred Savage) is home sick in bed, his grandfather (Peter Falk) reads him a story called The Princess Bride, a tale of love and adventure where the beautiful Buttercup (Robin Wright), engaged to an odious prince (Chris Sarandon), is kidnapped. It's up to Westley (Cary Elwes), her one true love, to save her. 

Opinion

After Wonder Woman hit the theatres, the entire Twitter started talking about how they loved that the Princess Bride became a warrior, and I completely felt out of place because I had no idea who this Princess Bride was. Considering this film also made the Top 100 Films list, I thought it'd be only fair to give it a shot and frankly, while I now love the fact that the princess became a warrior, I don't get all the love for the movie. I found it unevenly fun and unevenly engaging.

The main reason is the story. I am not a fan of fantasy, but I did really like how the story started, its lack of seriousness and its playfulness. Also, the plot was quite rich. But then it gets a little too predictable, there are some dead moments and it's eventually ruined by a finale that seems to say "Are we done yet? No?! Okay, let's end this anyway". 

On the other hand, there are some good and memorable characters. Mandy Patinkin's Inigo Montoya is easily the most entertaining and fun to watch. He simply steals the show as the Spanish swordsman seeking revenge and he delivers the best lines of the film. His fencing skills are also quite impressive - I read that he trained very hard - so he is very believable. I also kind of loved the Zorro guy, as I like to call Cary Elwes's Westley. He was fun but his lack of charisma just didn't do for the leading role.

I should also give The Princess Bride credits for not relying on special effects to entertain. Actually, I should give the film credits for delivering some good comedy (although sometimes it doesn't work).