Movie Review: "The Princess Bride" (1987)

Image Source

Movie: "The Princess Bride"
Director: Rob Reiner
Year: 1987
Rating: PG
Running Time: 1 hour, 38 minutes

When a boy (Fred Savage) is home from school because he is sick, his grandfather (Peter Falk) comes over to read him the story The Princess Bride. It tells the tale of a woman named Buttercup (Robin Wright) and a farm boy named Westley (Cary Elwes), who fall in love with each other. As Westley goes out to seek his fortune in order to marry Buttercup, his ship is attacked by the Dread Pirate Roberts and no survivors are left in the destruction. Some time later, Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon) of Florence selects Buttercup to be his bride, and though she does not love the prince, she must comply. One day while riding her horse in the forest, she comes across 
three men, a small know-it-all named Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), a Spanish sword master named Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin), and a towering Giant named Fezzik (Andre the Giant). They capture the Princess and plan to use her to start a war between Gilder and Florence. Their plan almost works until they are confronted by a man in black believed to be the Dread Pirate Roberts. It turns out the man in black is actually Westley, Buttercup's long lost true love. He defeats the bandits but is then thwarted himself by Humperdinck and Count Rugen (Christopher Guest); these men were behind the kidnapping all along, so they take Buttercup back to Florence. it’s up to Westley to try to save her again against all odds, though it may take the help of some former enemies to do it.  

This truly is one of the greatest movies of all times. It has everything from suspense to drama, from romance to fantasy, from humor to intrigue. It is timeless, in our opinion, and many of you will probably agree with us on that point. BigJ and I both grew up with this movie and have fond memories of watching it as kids. We have probably seen it a hundred times between the two of us, and yet we can still pop it in the DVD player at almost any time and watch it like it's brand new and escape into its wonderment.

This movie, across the board, seems to be loved by both men and women. It has something for everyone. Cary Elwes plays the dashing romantic lead, Westley (when he was still relevant), and Robin Wright plays the defiant damsel who believes in true love above all, Princess Buttercup. They will stop at nothing to be together. Mandy Patinkin plays the vengeful anti-hero Inigo Montoya and utters one of the most famous lines in cinematic history. Andre the Giant plays the ever-questioning gentle but not so gentle giant Fezzik, Wallace Shawn plays Vinzzini, the intelligent brains of the operation with yet another famous movie line, Christopher Guest plays the sadistic Count Rugen, and Chris Sarandon plays the sniveling Prince Humperdinck. What a cast! Each of these actors comes together and adds a little bit of their own magic to the film. Beyond the acting, the story itself is very compelling and enthralling. It has a bit of everything, like we mentioned above, and has a good range of emotion from entrancement to despair. It covers a wide range of relationships between the characters: friends, family, and love interests. One of the aspects of this movie we like the most is that it's presented as a grandfather reading the story to his sick grandson, to the grandson's early chagrin. It's just such a sweet setup!

We can't say enough good things about this film. We love the adventure that comes from the sword fights, the ROUS's and the fire swamp, the quotable lines and funny dialogue, the bromance between Inigo and Fezzik, the entire Dread Pirate Roberts story line, and the extremely hilarious cameos from Billy Crystal and Carol Kane. It's one of our favorites!!

My Rating: 10/10
BigJ's Rating: 10/10
IMDB's Rating: 8.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 97%
Do we recommend this movie: ABSOLUTELY YES!!!