Plot: What’s it about?
“As you wish…”
Director Rob Reiner has directed some of the most interesting films. He has shown a great range in his directing decisions as well. Films like “This is Spinal Tap”, “Misery”, “A Few Good Men”, “When Harry Met Sally” and “Stand by Me” come to mind as some of his more popular ones. But it was with this 1987 film written by William Goldman, that made some sort of name for the ex-“All in the Family” star. Reiner has shown us that he can scare us, entertain us and most importantly–make us laugh. The Princess Bride was certainly not a box office hit, at the time it was marketed all wrong, it would fare much better had it been released ten years later. But what stands out among this movie are the performances. And not just the performance by one person, but many. Featuring a then unknown actress by the name of Robin Wright (now Robin Wright-Penn who would later go on to play Jenny in Forrest Gump among others) and Carey Elwes, both of whom have gone on to successful movie careers. As mentioned above, the story was written by William Goldman who has penned some pretty successful movies in his day. However the story didn’t get picked up and made into a movie for the next 14 years.
And speaking of story, it’s simple enough. Being more of a fairy tale in many such senses of the word, we find our dashing hero, Westley (Carey Elwes) who is always managing to rescue his fair-headed Buttercup (Robin Wright). Buttercup is engaged to Prince Humperdink of Florin (Chris Sarandon) who has plans to use her as bait to start a war with the neighboring land of Guilder. This is when we meet character actor Wallace Shawn and fencer, Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) who, along with Andre the Giant’s Fezzik are to kidnap the lovely Buttercup. Westley manages to track them down and in a brilliant right and left-handed duel (you’ll have to watch it to get that little inside joke) but still can’t get his hands on his Buttercup. And, the movie being a big fairy tale…it goes on like this. The dialogue is very clever and it’s the actors who make the movie worth watching. So what about the characters in the movie…what makes this such a favorite among the general public?
In my opinion, the casting of Carey Elwes and Robin Wright are perfect. Billy Crystal and Carol Kane both have very small cameos, but their parts are very noteworthy. Mandy Patinkin (who is just as good in “Alien Nation”) nearly steals the show as does the always dependable Christopher Guest (who is still coming into his own with “Best in Show” and “Waiting for Guffman”). Peter Falk and a very young Fred Savage have minor parts, but what the film seems to be really mocking is the “action” films of the 1940’s. I mean really…how close does Westley come to Errol Flynn? I didn’t grow up with this movie, though I did see it when it first came to home video. I can see how it has become the cult classic it is now, due to the subject matter and strong performances, though how well will it really stand the test of time? If you’ve never seen The Princess Bride, this is one movie you have to add to your list. While it may not be the best you’ve ever seen, I find it hard to believe that most could find much wrong with it. That would be inconceivable!
Video: How does it look?
“The Princess Bride” has been re-mastered from a new High Definition master and the result is quite good, actually. There have been two prior versions of this movie, a shotty non-anamorphic transfer plagued the first edition and a somewhat improved anamorphic transfer graced the second. Well, in the days of HD-DVD, it’s easy to become spoiled very quickly but I have to say that “The Princess Bride” has never looked quite as good as it does on this new edition. There are a few instances, in which I saw some artifacting and some minor edge enhancement, but on the whole colors were very vibrant and an overall smooth, film-like look is what’s presented here. While it doesn’t really hold a candle to some of the newer releases, I was impressed by the detail and clarity of the picture. Suffice it to say that if you’re waiting for the “definitive” DVD edition – this is it and it looks great.
Audio: How does it sound?
While The Princess Bride featured a new, re-mastered track in Dolby Digital 5.1 the first time around, that exact same track has been used here as well. While it won’t light up your system, the track does have it’s high points, albeit not many. The dialogue tends to get a bit washed up at times, and I caught a few hisses too. Maybe it’s my setup, I don’t know…but everything else sounded fine. And while the sharp wisps of swords fills the air at many points during the movie, you won’t feel like you’re right there. Still, the audio is ample and does more than it’s fair share here. If you’re into audio, this will probably not be your movie, but it’s better than the old VHS and Laserdisc tracks, and that’s a fact.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This new version of “The Princess Bride” contains most of the supplements found on the previous Special Edition, with a few extras (to justify the second disc, no doubt). Sporting not one, but two commentary tracks, “The Princess Bride” will have more than enough supplements to keep any fan occupied for a few hours. Rob Reiner, as good of a director as he is, just can’t record that good of commentary tracks. He is always by himself as he is on “Stand by Me”, “This is Spinal Tap” and “A Few Good Men” and gets so involved in watching the movie, he’s actually giving us more of a “play by play” than any further insight into the movie. The same with William Goldman’s commentary, he goes off on some casting for “Misery” of all things, and admits that he hasn’t even seen the film since it came out theatrically. I think it would have been a bit better to weave the two commentaries together (and it’s been done…with great success before), but that’s just my opinion. There are some photos, around 90 of them in all.
The second disc contains the rest of the supplements starting out with probably the best feature on the disc. “As You Wish” documentary which clocks in just under 30 minutes. This has archival footage, new interviews and a few surprises here and there. Even a tribute to the late Andre the Giant. While not your standard “extended” featurette, it has things that fans of the movie will like and enjoy. If the new 16:9 transfer doesn’t entice you to buy this DVD, then get it for this segment alone. I mean it! There is also an earlier featurette, but it’s slow and looks (physically) dated. Carey Elwes had shot some footage, though the two included featurettes are really nothing more than a few minutes of shots of the set and the other is nothing more than a press packet in video form. Neat, but they could easily be lost off the disc. The new material is a bevy of featurettes starting out with a historical analysis of “Dead Pirate Roberts: Greatest Legend of the Seven Seas”. “Love is like a Storybook Story” is a cute little featurette, that tells us what we already know about the movie. There’s a featurette on the make-up, a vintage documentary and the original 1987 featurette. There’s also a booklet entitled “Fezzik’s Guide to Florin” with some production notes and some highlights from the movie. Clever. Lastly, the “Battle of Wits” trivia game is an interactive feature that’s fun, but I can’t see using this all too often. This new “Buttercup Edition” certainly looks better than its predecessors and offers some more features as well. The legions of fans will no doubt want to add this to thier collection – as will you.
