The Princess Bride
The Princess Bride is one of those sweet romance movies that you only read about in books. In fact, The Princess Bride was based on a book by William Goldman, who also wrote the screenplay. However, it is only in stories because the romantic part of the movie is read from a book. The whole story is told by Peter Falk to his grandson Fred Savage. The beginning of this movie is very true of what kids do these days. Savage is playing his Nintendo and when he gets the book for a gift, he isn't too thrilled.
And this is sad, because I believe kids should read books, instead of playing video games because books provide just as much entertainment as TV does, if not more (Sorry, but I strayed from my review to tell my opinion about this). Now, onto the actual review. The movie opens with the story being told by the grandpa. We see the story in picture which could be represented as the kid's imagination.
The main part of the movie opens with Buttercup, a beautiful farm girl (Robin Wright, who should have gotten higher billing for this in the final credits considering that it is her character the movie is named for) who orders around Westley (Cary Elwes). One day, she suddenly realizes that he loves her and she loves him. Unfortunately, Westley goes away and apparently is killed by pirates. When Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon) hears about this, he wants her for his bride. However, three bumbling idiots, Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin), Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), and Fezzik the Giant (Andre the Giant), kidnap the bride-to-be.
This is where the movie becomes exciting. "This isn't a kissing book, is it?" the grandson asks. Actually, he's way off. It's full of swordfights, Screaming Eels, magic potions, Billy Crystal and Carol Kane, and a man with six fingers on his right hand. Everything about this movie brought a smile to my face. It also brought a lot of laughs from the people I saw it with. After the kidnappers set sail, they find out that they are being followed by the Dread Pirate Roberts (the Man in Black).
The rest of the movie is a surprise because it's so entertaining, so I won't ruin it by giving away the plot. All I can say is that everything about the movie is good. Cary Elwes is well known for his part in this movie. He does a wonderful job, but it's actually Billy Crystal and Carol Kane who steal the whole movie with their hilarious scene as husband and wife. Robin Wright, who deserves more credit than she got, is terrific as the Princess Bride. Chris Sarandon is evil as always, but in a humorous way that I've never seen him in before. Andre the Giant, Wallace Shawn, and Mandy Patinkin are all very good as the fools (actually, Shawn is the only foolish character in the trio). And of course, there is Peter Falk, who I've always liked from his "Columbo" show, and Fred Savage, who is usually good.
The Princess Bride is rated PG. Kids will love the exciting things that happen to Westley and Buttercup, and adults will love the humor as well. This is probably one of the most famous movies ever made that almost everyone likes. At my school, it's the first movie thought of if a teacher asks for some good movies. But somehow, this one didn't do very well at the box office and I wonder how it became so popular. I guess lots of people discovered it on video and it spread. I know I did, and now it's one of my favorites of all-time.