Screenwriter William Goldman and director Rob Reiner’s beloved fairy tale adventure is one of those rare movies of whimsy that appeals across gender lines, and in near-equal fashion. Full of well-choreographed swashbuckling, lively character interplay and pithy, irreverent dialogue, it’s an adventurous treat, plain and simple. Satire can so frequently seem malicious and kind of jaded because there’s no appreciation of the genre(s) being aped, but 1987’s The Princess Bride, is lovingly framed as a rousing bedtime story, and wears its affection — and thus its emotional honesty — refreshingly on its sleeve.
The film’s story centers around the titular betrothed maiden, Buttercup (Robin Wright), who is kidnapped and held against her will to wed Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon). Her childhood beau, Westley (Cary Elwes), sets out to rescue her, journeying through and over shrieking eel-infested lagoons and, yes, the Cliffs of Insanity. Along the way he, variously, hooks up and crosses paths with Inigo Montoya (a winning Mandy Patinkin), Fezzik (Andre the Giant) and Count Tyrone Rugen (Christopher Guest).
Oscar winner Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President’s Men) brings his shrewd eye for detail and ear for whipsmart dialogue to bear on this eminently quotable (to this day, “Have fun storming the castle” ranks as my all-time favorite flippantly pleasant tiding of futility) adaptation of his own cult tome, but the movie is just as notable for its discernment in casting. Billy Crystal and Carol Kane are perfect as Miracle Max and Valerie, and Peter Falk anchors the movie’s wraparound segments as the kindly grandfather relating the story to his grandson (a wee Fred Savage).
Released in a new 25th anniversary edition Blu-ray, The Princess Bride is presented here in a gorgeous 1080p transfer in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, along with a DTS-HD 5.1 master audio track that is super-crisp and clear. As far as the hue balance, though, for those already owning the movie’s previous special edition release, the difference is negligible, with perhaps slightly more attention paid to color consistency in cinematographer Adrian Biddle’s backgrounds.
This Blu-ray imports all the previous, vintage featurettes and mini-documentaries from the movie’s prior home video releases (inclusive of DVD and Blu-ray), including fun, separate audio-commentary tracks from Goldman and Reiner. Also ported over to this release from its two-disc DVD special edition are a 10-minute mockumentary on the “real” Dread Pirate Roberts, with historian’s recollections and other edifying information; a make-up featurette that nicely showcases Crystal’s transformation via new footage and interview information; and a trivia game. New to this version are two retrospectives running about a combined half-hour. Interviews with Reiner, Elwes, Wright and more include plenty of anecdotes from the production, but it’s also nice to hear everyone speak to the film’s unique staying power, and their surprise and delight at how subsequent generations have come to discover the movie. Patinkin even goes so far as to speculate that The Princess Bride will make the first line of the obituary of every major player. And he may not be wrong. To purchase the Blu-ray via Amazon, click here. A (Movie) A (Disc)