DVD Review: The Princess Bride (20th Anniversary Edition)

DVD Reviews

By Jeff Swindoll Nov 12, 2007, 14:41 GMT

The Princess Bride was made twenty years ago and since then has been winning fans ever since. With the twentieth anniversary rolling around you’d expect that MGM/Fox would’ve put some effort into this release, however they decided to blave instead. Inconceivable!

A grandfather (Peter Falk) goes to see his sick grandson (Fred Savage) and reads him a story. In the story, a farm girl named Buttercup (Robin Wright) has a hand named Westley (Cary Elwes) who she falls in love with. He goes to make his way in the world and is killed by the Dread Pirate Roberts (or so it is thought).

In her depression about the death of her true love, she agrees to marry Prince Humperdink (Chris Sarandon). In an effort to start a war with the neighboring country of Guilder, Buttercup is kidnapped by Vizzini (Wallace Shawn) and his henchmen the giant Fezzick (Andre the Giant) and sword master Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin). The Dread Pirate who turns out to be her dear Westley rescues her. However, Prince Humperdinck and his lackey Count Rugen (Christopher Guest) are really behind the kidnapping and have devious plans for both Buttercup and Westley. The Princess Bride has grown to be a classic film. It’s based on the novel by William Goldman who also served screenwriting duties on the film. He uses several fairytale plotlines and creates a wonderful story. Director Rob Reiner also keeps things good fun and finds places to put many of his famous pals, such as Christopher Guest. He also populates some of the minor (but well loved now) roles with faces like Billy Crystal (“Miracle Max”), Carol Kane (Max’s wife “Valerie”). Princess Bride was given a grand DVD two-disc edition in 2004 and dual Dread Pirate Roberts/Princess Buttercup editions in 2006. Now this year finds another release – Inconceivable! It would’ve been nice if the twentieth anniversary of this modern classic added features that would be worthy of this celebration. However, what has been added feels rather light compared to the discs that have been issued in the past and that makes this release feel like a missed opportunity. It might’ve been acceptable if they would’ve added what is on this new edition to what was on the other two-disc editions but none of that content (commentaries, etc.) sadly makes it on this new one. The Princess Bride is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include a sample of the “True Love and High Adventure Princess Bride DVD Game.” Next is the 9 minute “Princess Bride: The Untold Tales” which interviews Robin Wright Penn, Mandy Patinkin, Fred Savage, Chris Sarandon, and Christopher Guest. The 7-minute “Art of Fencing” interviews Swordmaster Robert Goodwin about fencing. Goodwin is a current Hollywood fencing teacher and it was Bob Anderson that trained the actors on the film. The 9-minute “Fairytales and Folklore” has a professor comparing the film to other fairytales. That’s all. You would’ve expected more since this release is supposed to be celebrating the twentieth anniversary of this classic. Sadly, the previous releases seem to do a better job of doing that. If you have those releases I can’t say that this new edition offers you anything that would warrant an upgrade.

The film is a classic, but this release doesn’t offer much in the way of celebrating that. It seems to have been thrown together at the last minute and without much thought. I’d stick with the old releases and would seek those out if you were buying it for your film library. I base my rating on the DVD and not on the film itself (which would warrant the full star rating). The Princess Bride (20th Anniversary Edition) is now available at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for this version of the DVD in the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.

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DVD Review: The Princess Bride (20th Anniversary Edition)

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