In gatherings where the geek-level in the room/forum is sufficiently high, invariably “The Princes Bride” quotes will abound almost as much as Monty Python. They seem to pop up (again, on a Python-level) in .sig quotes as well. This gives me the impression that this is definitely a geek film.
But (due to not having seen it, I’m not much of a movie person) looking up the plot online, it seems to be basically a typical “chick flick” just from plot descriptions (and the title doesn’t help dissuade me at all). Sick child? Fairytale? Unrequited love? A woman about to be married? This definitely sounds non-geeky and too glurgy for me …
So, why is this movie so great, especially with geeks? Have they managed to actually make a film that both hard-core nerds and romantic non-nerds would want to see?
I’m an epic geek, and I thought it was kind of… underwhelming. There are a handful of good parts, a few funny jokes, but otherwise it doesn’t really deviate from the romantic glurge stereotype. It is a little offbeat… think Stardust (only not as good.)
I think this is one of those nostalgia things. Sort of the way The Goonies seems like the most brilliant and best show ever when you’re ten, but watch it again at twenty and you’re like, ‘’…huh.’’
I apologize in advance to any Dopers whose hearts broke into a thousand pieces. I know this is a beloved film for a lot of you. I just didn’t feel it.
While there’s still a love story at the heart of it, the film takes all the fairy-tale cliches and turns them upside-down and inside-out. So, while you’re waiting for Buttercup and Wesley to get together in the end, there are a lot of funny things happen on the way.
(And I’m not going to put spoiler tags around Buttercup and Wesley getting together: this is a fairy story, so you know it has to happen, even if you’ve never seen the movie.)
I like the movie, mostly for its dialog. One thing I can’t stand is that the princess is named “Buttercup.” If that one minor detail was changed I would love the movie.
It’s funny, it’s clever, it’s played very tongue-in-cheek. There are a lot of very quoteable lines, and two very good (though not at all realistic) swordfighting scenes. And it’s all thrown together with some very good timing.
Admittedly, I might find it less clever if I saw it fresh today, at 37, than I do seeing it through the eyes of the fifteen-year-old who first saw it.
It might come off as a romantic chick-flick by reading the story synopsis, but I don’t think it comes off that way when you actually watch it.
It’s more of an old-fashioned adventure movie, with tongue placed firmly in cheek in many places.
As hogarth notes, the dialog is very clever. It’s got quite a bit of action (in a generally-safe-for-kids sort of way), including several enjoyable sword-fights. The characters, if a little two-dimensional, are still very enjoyable (especially Billy Crystal and Carol Kane’s cameos). And, the wrap-around story, with the grandfather (Peter Falk) telling a story to his grandson (Fred Savage) is also fun.
The problem I had with it was that the quotes are really the best part of the movie. And not just by a little bit, the movie really is quite disappointing compared to what those quotes suggest.
It avoids being glurgy by winking at the audience. It’s not just a fairytale about a princess being rescued. It’s a fairytale that KNOWS it’s a fairytale about a princess being rescued and it plays with the idea, often in subtle, silly ways.
But, while it’s making fun of fairytales, it also dearly loves them. So although it’s a parody, it’s a very sweet, gentle one that sometimes surprises you with an unexpected moment of real feeling in the middle of the silliness.
Plus the script is very clever and quotable, and the actors have excellent timing.
Yeah, it’s a fairy-tale done different, basically. You spend a good bit of the movie following the exploits of bad guys (but not The Bad Guys) and without a hero in sight. People who might be helpful in furthering the quest… well, maybe not so much. The princess isn’t exactly helpless but definitely does need help. Reveals happen in non-traditional fashions. It’s hard to explain without wrecking a lot of the film.
Plus, the dialogue is witty, the actors spot-on with their performances, and if you’re in the mood for a charming offbeat fairy tale, it’s hard to think of any better.
And finally, the conceit of it is that it’s a story being told to a sick-at-home boy by his grandpa, and the boy is also very suspicious of whether this is a good story or a “kissing story.” It’s both, really.
I’m not a geek (despite posting to the SDMB) and I think it’s great.
I was first introduced to it, never having heard a thing about it, when studying stage combat. The instructor considered the fight between Dread Pirate Roberts and Inigo Montoya to be the most technically brilliant ever committed to celluloid. My curiousity was piqued so I rented it and loved it.
The reason I like it is that it’s a fairy tale, not some turgid fucking fantasy bollocks where the T’wats of G’runtinng have to take some stupid sword or some random shit somewhere to prevent something or other happening, like it matters. It’s just fun - yeah there’s some kind of quest, but generally it’s simply entertaining, exciting, silly, witty, with great dialogue and a love story - and it’s got Peter Cook in it. What’s not to love?
The book is much more cynical than the movie. Whether I like it more or less depends on my mood, but mostly I like the movie more.
One of the things that makes the movie good is that the writer of the book was also a very talented screenwriter (who also wrote Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, among other things) and did the adaptation himself.
This was the best scene in the whole movie, and what makes it worth watching at least once.
I think it is one of the most perfect, pure examples of revenge I’ve ever seen in a film. Nothing graphic, nor overly dramatic, or even particularly vicious. Just a man who has achieved his one life goal: to kill the man who killed his father.
My friend and I got together this Valentine’s day to “eat pizza and watch movies with absolutely no romance.” When we were browsing Netflix, I came upon The Princess Bride and he said he’d never seen it. I’m like “dude, you’re a 30 year old geek and you’ve never seen this?!”
I promised him that even though it’s a fairy tale and the title suggests romance, it’s totally not a romance film. In fact, every time it got a little romantic my friend would say “eew!” and Fred Savage would pop up and say “eew!” too.
He did enjoy the movie, and it didn’t spoil the non-romantic mood we were going for.
Personally, I don’t think it’s one of the best movies ever and it’s not in my top 10, but it’s one I can watch more than once and still enjoy it.