The Princess Bride [DVD] [1987]

Many adults will fail to get the best out of this movie if they have not first read the original novel. In fact, read the novel then read the spoilers in a wikipedia entry just be on the safe side. Then watch the DVD, which cannot hope to capture the subtle tones of the original in a mere 94 minutes. You also have the advantage of being able to fill in the gaps for other viewers... who will no doubt thank you much later. On their own merits, these might be a three-star movie or a five-star book, but please take the two together. It works, and it gets four stars.

*****  2010-08-31 Dr. Richard W. Gray

This has got to be one of the best children films around. It is an eighties production that is exceeding well polished (except for the man eating rodents......) and entertaining for both children and adults alike. I remember it when it first came out and I thought it was ace then (and I was around twenty at the time) and now I have just watched it again and feel the same way and my children loved it too (6 to 8 years old).

*****  2010-08-31 C. M. Wood

I remember loving this film when it first came out. My four year old son is mad about anything involving pirates and sword fighting and i was sure this would be to his taste. I also have 5 year old and a 10 year old who need to be able to watch the same thing if it's on and we want to avoid arguments.
They all really enjoyed it - the little ones particularly - I was slightly shocked what my memory had filled in over the years - it seemed to me that great chunks were missing but there was no reference to edited version so it must just be me.
It came along at a time when these genre spoofs were just beginning to get into their stride and I still think it's funny.

*****  2010-08-02 N. LAW

Ah, the Princess Bride. This really has to be one of my favourite films of all time. Its fairy tale mixture of swashbuckling adventure as the hero tries to rescue his true love is perfectly executed to deliver a film that just hits all the right buttons.

With a sense of humour, a cracking script with lots of eminently quotable lines, a great cast full of famous faces, excellently staged sword fights, a great sound track from Mark Knopfler and Willy De Ville, this is family entertainment at its best. I guarantee that you will all enjoy it, and be smiling for ages after seeing it.

This two disk special edition is pretty good. On the first disk there is the film itself, nicely cleaned up and presented in 1.78:1 widescreen. The sound track is 5.1 surround, and sounds pretty good. The quality of the main feature is head and shoulders above my old version. There is then a disk full of extras, two interesting featurettes and a documentary, along with various trailers and TV spots. Quite interesting, but really just a garnish to the main feature and I do not anticipate taking this disk out too often.

A really great film, very nicely presented and with some interesting extras. A real quality purchase, quite a steal at the low price it is currently on offer at. Highly recommended.

*****  2010-07-18 Victor Tugelbend

There was absolutely no problem with this seller - but the dvd does not look like the one pictured, it has dutch synopsis on the jacket, and dutch subtitles, but it does have an English sound track. As I wanted it for a gift for a french family, the subtitles needed to be in English. I returned it for a full refund, and bought a different version.

*****  2010-05-19 Jane Seeber