Today’s quick review: The Princess Bride. After her true love is killed on the high seas, a forlorn Buttercup (Robin Wright) agrees to marry Prince Humperdink (Chris Sarandon). But unbeknownst to her, Humperdink has arranged for her kidnapping to spark a war with a neighboring kingdom. A trio of brigands (Andre the Giant, Mandy Patinkin, and Wallace Shawn) abscond with the princess, but their scheme is interrupted by a mysterious stranger clad in black (Cary Elwes).
The Princess Bride is a cult classic that delivers comedy, romance, and adventure all wrapped up in a storybook shell. The pleasant, simple flavor of the storybook genre makes The Princess Bride a light and easy watch. At the same time, The Princess Bride pokes loving fun at the conventions of the genre, from the politeness shown between the stranger and the kidnappers to the everyday treatment of a world of potions, miracles, and unusual rodents.
For all its charm, The Princess Bride is missing a number of elements that would make it an engrossing story in its own right. The story has a generic medieval setting with slight fantasy elements. The fight scenes are not impressive enough to qualify it as an action movie. The characters and story are deliberately simple.
The magic of the story lies in its telling. Peter Falk’s warm narration of the story to his sick grandson provides the film’s framing device. All the countless minutiae that other movies rely on to buttress their stories are scrapped in favor of memorable characters, quotable dialogue, and charm. The strength of these elements is not always apparent on the first watch, but The Princess Bride has a quality that persists time after time.
Watch The Princess Bride if you are looking for a light, cute, and somewhat sappy adventure. Skip it if you dislike the genre or are looking for more weight or a more fully realized world.
8.1 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it an 8.0 to 8.5 for charm and quotability.