The Princess Bride (1987)

I've watched this wonderful movie so many times, that I practically have it memorized. Yet, I still watch it again.I love the actors' performances; they are all amazing in their roles.This is one of the few movies I've seen where they closely follow the book (also wonderful, BTW).

A lot of people and critics believe 'The Princess Bride' is a masterpiece and some even believe it is one of the greatest films ever made. However, objectively speaking the movie is not a masterpiece but primarily a highly entertaining escapism flick which still far outweighs its negative sides.Not entirely sure why the film was told out of a book straight from another modern day story, because the modern scenes really seem to have little significance and it also eventually ends up going nowhere. Fortunately, most scenes take place in the historical fantasy setting, which is obviously far and away the most entertaining one. The cinematography is beautiful, with a lot of stunning shots of the beautiful british landscapes where it was filmed on. Also the area where Inigo and the Man in Black face off is worthy of mention as a beautiful piece of cinematography. While being covered in comic aspects, the said scene with the sword fight between Inigo and Man in Black is actually also a masterpiece of choreography and incredible moves, resulting in possibly the greatest single duel swordfight one can ever see in film.The acting was mostly good, especially by leads Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin & Robin Wright. They manage to make their characters likeable due to their natural charm and witty line delivery. A lot of other characters were ridiculously overacted, such as Wallace Shawn's Vizzini. The screenplay is a bit wobbly as a lot of the dialogue is extremely witty and original yet Patinkin's constant uttering of 'Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die.' grows tiresome after a while. Some things are really predictable such as who the Man in Black really is but other things such as Count Rugen's response to the first time Patinkin says the you killed by father line are quite original and somewhat hilarious.It is quite the cliché to say if this movie was serious we might take Elwes & Wright's romance and struggles emotionally serious, but there is still truth to it as it is not the kind of film that leaves you with feelings or thought long after it is finished. It was generally just made as the type of feel good escapism flick and if you limit your expectations of true cinema it can still be considered as a worthy piece of entertaining art. However, anything transcendent or thought provoking it is obviously not therefore it should not be judged like actual masterpieces.

I had not seen this film, until it was set as 'text' by my son's deluded English teacher. This film is OK for the small hours of the morning, if you have very low expectations - but a classic? Give me a break! Shakespeare's a classic, Dickens, Orwell, Steinbeck - all who would have turned in their graves at this abysmal, one-dimensional script writing. A Spanish character, finally enacting long sought-after revenge and what does the writer come up with? "Son of a bitch!" Really! That's the best, wittiest and most memorable line you can come up with? Come back Welles, Kurosawa, Copolla, Ford, Scott, Kubrick, Lang, Bunuel, Capra, Wyler, Curtiz, Weir, etc. SERIOUSLY SUBSTANDARD - STANDARDS ARE SLIPPING, FOLKS.

On my own, I would never have watched this movie based on the title alone. But it's in the IMDb 'Top 250', so as I manage my viewing to go through that list, this one came up in it's proper turn. I'd have to say this one was more than a surprise. It was fairly entertaining and I don't mind saying it had the very best sword fight I've ever seen in any movie, which is saying something because I've seen Errol Flynn, Tyrone Power and Douglas Fairbanks in action, and I don't think any of them could have held their own with either Dread Pirate Roberts/Farm Boy Westley (Cary Elwes) or Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin). Now there could have been some special effects involved there, but if so, it wasn't transparent. Those two put on quite a show.The story also had a few pretty cool concepts like the shrieking eels and the Cliffs of Insanity. The Fire Swamp and the Lightning Sand were kind of original too. The convoluted turn of phrase that old Vizzini (Wallace Shawn) engaged in trying to outwit the Dread Pirate was pretty amusing, and if you try to keep up with it you'll be hopelessly lost, so best not even to try. It was also neat to see Andre the Giant in the film, one of the wrestling world's all time favorites. Interesting, but when he spoke he sounded kind of normal, unlike his in-character TV interviews where he had a much more guttural and heavily accented voice.With all that going on, it's easy to forget that the Princess Bride tale is a story within a story, as a grandfather (Peter Falk) attempts to carry on a long family tradition of reading a favorite book to his grandson (Fred Savage). It doesn't sound very favorable at the outset with the romance and the 'eeeuw' kissing, but the kid warms up to the story when it sounds like there will be some action and adventure. If I had to come up with a minor nit-pick, it seemed like the picture got a bit more slapstick in the final third of the movie. Otherwise the humor was well placed and I thought it made for fine family fare.