Two of the greatest lines in movie history come from The Princess Bride. “As you wish,” and that immortal line as delivered by Mandy Patinkin. There’s romance, some action, suspense, humor and pretty much something for everyone. The Princess Bride is about as close to a perfect movie as once could hope for.
Cary Elwes and Robin Wright are Westley and Buttercup, two young people who find themselves in love. He leaves to find his fortune, and subsequently lost at sea to the “Dread Pirate” Roberts. Then years later Buttercup is due to marry Prince Humperdink (Chris Sarandon) who has his own detractors. The whole story is wrapped around a grandfather telling a story to his grandson who is sick, home from school. Perhaps more than Columbo, it is Peter Falk’s defining role as the grandfather.
Actually, almost all of the actors who appear in The Princess Bride have gone on to other projects, but none with the same lasting appeal and impact. Almost everybody involved save for a few have The Princess Bride as one of the defining moments in their career.
Is it a spoiler if I mention how everything works out with a happy ending? After 25 years if you haven’t seen this movie, you deserve that spoiler. Yes, everybody pretty much gets what they deserve, and it is all done so satisfactorily. While it may be cliché to have everything work out, for The Princess Bride it works. If it weren’t so, it would be a much lesser film.
For its 25th anniversary The Princess Bride arrives on Blu-ray looking and sounding better than ever. This is a great representation of a catalog title done right.
Special features kick off with a new roundtable interview featuring director Rob Reiner along with stars Cary Elwes and Robin Wright. There’s also another new featurette that looks at the impact the film has had. Both total about 30 minutes and don’t replace some of the stuff that has been left off, they are nice additions. Missing are a couple of older featurettes and a still gallery. Not massive losses, but still notable.
We still get the featuretts on fencing, makup, and plenty more from earlier releases. I would have liked to see these all incorporated into one big look at the film, but at least we’re getting most of what came before.
In short, The Princess Bride is a nearly perfect movie, and this Blu-ray is a solid upgrade for fans to consider.