Yar, you be here: The Princess Bride (Special Edition) > Customer Reviews

The Princess Bride (Special Edition) Customer Reviews (82 - 84 of 103 Reviews)

Director: Rob Reiner
Format: Color
Studio: Mgm/Ua Studios
Video Release Date: March 7, 2000

Cast:

Cary Elwes ... Westley
Mandy Patinkin ... Inigo Montoya
Chris Sarandon ... Prince Humperdinck
Christopher Guest ... Count Tyrone Rugen
Wallace Shawn ... Vizzini
André the Giant ... Fezzik
Fred Savage ... The Grandson
Robin Wright Penn ... Buttercup/The Princess Bride
Peter Falk ... The Grandfather
Peter Cook ... The Impressive Clergyman
Mel Smith ... The Albino

Carol Kane ... Valerie
Billy Crystal ... Miracle Max
Anne Dyson ... The Queen
Margery Mason ... The Ancient Booer
Malcolm Storry ... Yellin
Willoughby Gray ... The King
Betsy Brantley ... The Mother
Paul Badger ... The Assistant Brute
Sallie McLaughlin

A storybook stable boy turns pirate and rescues his beloved who is about to marry a dreadful prince.

The story is told by the Grandfather (Peter Falk) to his cynical (at first) Grandson (Fred Savage).

The story is a love story with all of the elements of a fantasy fairy tale. Westley (Cary Elwes), the good guy, is opposed by Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin--"My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father. Be prepared to die!"), at first, and then wins Westley's admiration. Another opponent who becomes a co-conspirator, is Fezzick (Andre the Giant). Buttercup/The Princess Bride (Robin Wright Penn) is the princess who needs rescuing.

There is a lot of good tongue-in-cheek humor involved, and even though it is understood that this is a story told to a young boy, there is nevertheless a good level of tension involved.

This is a fun movie.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre

author of Handguns and freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books

What a marvelous movie... I waited too....
long to buy this movie -- my boys loved it the first time they watched it. It is timeless, a great comedy, wonderful lines.....
A great addition to our movie selection!

"Think this happens every day?"
Does anyone NOT love this movie? Whenever the title of this movie is mentioned, there's always a chorus of people responding that it's one of their all-time favorites. "The Princess Bride" is a now-classic tongue-in-cheek fairy tale about adventure, danger, true love, and Sicilians who talk too much.

A bored little boy (Fred Savage) who is sick in bed, is told a story by his quirky grandfather (Peter Falk) -- a story of adventure, pirates, revenge, true love, giants and treachery. Westley, a clever stableboy (Carey Elwes) falls in love with the beautiful Buttercup (Robin Wright, in her first role), but is apparently killed when he goes to seek his fortune. Buttercup is heartbroken. But a few years later, she is unwillingly affianced to the charmingly evil Prince Humperdinck. One day, when riding, she is kidnapped by a trio of mercenaries who plan to start a war by blaming another kingdom for her death.

But things go wrong for the mercenaries -- a mysterious masked man is following them, and he knows quite a bit about Westley's fate. No sooner has Buttercup discovered that he actually IS Westley than Humperdinck brings his "princess bride" back to the castle. Westley, pleasant giant Fezzik, and a vengeance-seeking Spaniard Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) must find a way to rescue Buttercup and deal with Humperdinck.

Movies very, very rarely are as good as people say they will be. Usually you'll be let down. But "Princess Bride" is unique on its own -- rarely is there so much good acting, good scripting, good direction and such humor. What's more, like "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," it's also become a source of endless quotations -- lines like "Inconceivable!" "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die," "I'm not left-handed!" and "As you wish" are more or less immortalized now. And while it's a solid story, director Rob Reiner keeps it light and funny.

Usually (though not always) movies are best when adapted by the author, and Goldman did a superb job keeping the grim moments lighter than they would have otherwise been. ("We'll never make it through!" "Nonsense, you're only saying that because no one ever has") Reiner also keeps the direction fast-paced, never quite letting it descend to open comedy but merely keeping it deadpan.

Carey Elwes is extremely good as Westley; he seems to be winking at the audience all through the movie. Mandy Patinkin is amazing as the discouraged Spaniard who's been seeking revenge for twenty years; Andre the Giant is great as Fezzik; Wallace Shawn is uproariously funny as the brainy, shrill-voiced Sicilian Vizzini. And Billy Crystal makes a brief but insanely good appearance as the Miracle Man, an embittered medieval healer with a very peeved wife (Carol Kane, who steals the scene with her shrieks of "Liar!").

For fans of romance, there's Westley and Buttercup; for fans of villains, there's Christopher Guest's Count Rugen (deliciously casual in his evil); for fans of adventure there's swordfights, wrestling, and three men storming a castle. And for those who love comedy, there's the Miracle Man and the clergyman with a speech impediment ("Mawiage: that bwesed awangement, that dweam wifin a dweam.")

This movie has got it all, and people love all it's got. The unlikely heroes and very funny dialogue make this a modern classic. A must-see.