Movie: The Princess Bride

This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.

Once Upon a Time

Plot Overview

A sick little boy (Fred Savage) plays video base­ball in bed on a device Santa brought him. His grand­father (Peter Falk) arrives with “a book?” good enough to have been passed down through generations (“When I was your age, tele­vision was called books.”) The boy is persuaded to let him read it to him when he learns it contains: “fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, & miracles” figuring he can tolerate a modicum of kissing.

Long ago in the small country of Florin lived lovely Butter­cup (Robin Wright) who got her kicks bossing farm­hand Westley (Cary Elwes) around. Then they fell in love but Wesley lacking the means to support a wife left to seek his fortune across the sea. Word soon reached Butter­cup that his ship was waylaid by the Dread Pirate Roberts notorious for killing all his captives. Heart­broken she consigned herself never to marry.

Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon,) however, following “the law of the land that gave him the right to choose his bride” picked her though she didn't love him. According to Mathetes, ad 130, “Christians follow the customs of their native lands in regard to marriage. … They obey all the laws of their country.” Humper­dinck in a dastardly scheme to provoke a war with neighboring Guilder hired three rogues to murder Butter­cup and deposit her corpse on their border. The Sicilian Vizzini (Wallace Shawn) was the brains of the operation, the muscle was “hippopotamic land mass” Fezzik (Andrè the Giant), and Spanish swords­man Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) provided the steel. They spirited her away on a four-rigger but were followed by another craft w/a masked pilot to the Channel of Florin, and then up the border cliffs.

Count Rugen (Christopher Guest) and his men were on the trail of them all to discover what became of Buttercup, and he marked signs of three separate conflicts of sword, wrestling, and wit. This last pitted Vizzini's book learning against innate intel­ligence, to pick between two chalices, one of them poisoned. Vizzini treats us to his “dizzying intellect” comparable to a choice in a Sarita Mandanna novel:

Today, the lookout post was quiet. … Thimmaya shivered drawing his tunic closer about him. If only he had picked the white cowrie shell this year, curse his luck. When Pallada the village head­man, had announced the date of the cowrie picking, Thimmaya had gone especially to the Iguthappa temple, offering its all-powerful deity, Iguthappa Swami, a whole two rupees, money he could scarcely afford. He had sacrificed a fowl to the ancestors and yet another to the veera, the ghosts of long-dead valiants. Leaving nothing to chance, Thimmaya had even propitiated the wood spirits with a hefty bundle of pork and rice left in the forest. The day of the picking, when the priest had extended his closed fists toward him, Thimmaya had sent up yet another fervent prayer to Iguthappa Swami. But no, he had pointed at a fist and the priest had opened his palm to reveal a black cowrie; Thimmaya had been selected once more, three years running, to man the post. (6-7)

Ideology

The victor tries to lose their pursuers in the Fire Swamp, but the posse is on horse­back and armed with cross­bows. Again (“You're trying to kidnap what I've right­fully stolen”) Buttercup changes hands. The poor girl has done every­thing possible to obey the law of love, but life keeps going side­ways on her. She is like the psalmist in serious need of deliverance: (Psalm 119:176) “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.”

The ending is malleable, one by the writer, one by the reader, and one by the reviewer. The king could die and Buttercup marry Prince Humper­dinck who kills her on their wedding night and then has his war with Guilder. Or the king could linger on and Buttercup have a faux wedding to the Prince invalidated by a technicality. Her suicide is thwarted and then she is spirited away on white horses by the pirate Roberts with the two remaining rogues. Or the pirate Roberts could marry her after first stepping down to first mate so he can promote the Spaniard to captain who performs the ceremony. It can go any way.

Production Values

“” (1987) was directed by Rob Reiner. The story­book was written by William Goldman, updated for the big screen. It stars Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Robin Wright and Chris Sarandon. Also featured are Christopher Guest, Andrè the Giant, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, Carol Kane, Peter Falk and Fred Savage. The giant was so suffering from a medical condition and died young with a weak constitution. He was shot at a low angle to further emphasize his height while characters next to him were shot from a high angle to diminish theirs. These actors have been around the block and performed accordingly.

It was rated PG. The special effects were good enough to spook the kids. I got vertigo just looking down from the cliff at the corsucant waves. A colorful & shim­mering cinema­tog­raphy was produced by Adrian Biddle. An unforget­table musical score was added by Mark Knofler. The sword fighting was spectacular. Runtime is 1 hour 38 minutes.

Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation

The romance emphasized fidelity at the expense of mushy stuff. It's geared to children but adults can appreciate it, too. There's some suicide ideation in it, so unstable viewers might want to skip this one. It's pretty much a classic.

Movie Ratings

Action factor: Edge of your seat fantasy action. Suitability for children: Suitable for children with guidance. Special effects: Well done special effects. Video Occasion: Good for Groups. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.

Works Cited

Scripture quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.

Mandanna, Sarita. Tiger Hills. Copyright © 2011 by Sarita Mandanna. New York: Grand Central Publishing^TM, First edition: March 2011. Print.

Mathetes, Epistle to Diognetus 5. Quoted in Ken Johnson, Th.D. Ancient Church Fathers. Copyright 2010 by Ken Johnson, Th.D. USA.