The Princess Bride

also known as “Die Braut des Prinzen,” “A Herceg menyasszonya,” “A Princesa Prometida,” “Bleka dödens minut,” “Caballero negro,” See more »

MPA Rating: PG-Rating (MPA)

Reviewed by: Tim Emmerich
CONTRIBUTOR

Moral Rating:	Better than Average
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience:	10 to Adult
Genre:	Comedy
Length:	1 hr. 38 min.
Year of Release:	1987
USA Release:	September 25, 1987

Copyright, Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Relevant Issues

Kings in the Bible

True love

What is true love and how do you know when you have found it? Answer

Kids

Adventures in the rainforest! Learn about the Creator of the universe by exploring His marvelous creation. Fun for the whole family with games, activities, stories, answers to children’s questions, color pages, and more! One of the Web’s first and most popular Christian Web sites for children. Nonprofit, evangelical, nondenominational.

Featuring	Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, Christopher Guest, Wallace Shawn, Andre the Giant, Fred Savage, Kevin Bacon, Robin Wright Penn, Peter Falk, Peter Cook, Mel Smith, Carol Kane, Billy Crystal, Anne Dyson, Margery Mason, Malcolm Storry, Willoughby Gray, Betsy Brantley, Paul Badger
Director	Rob Reiner
Producer	Norman Lear Rob Reiner See all » Steve Nicolaides Andrew Scheinman Jeffrey Stott
Distributor	20th Century Studios, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Studios, a division of The Walt Disney Company

“Scaling the Cliffs of Insanity, battling rodents of unusual size, facing torture in the Pit of Despair. —True love has never been a snap.”

“Princess Bride,” starring Cary Elwes and Robin Wright Penn (with appearances from Fred Savage and Peter Falk) is a recommended fairytale-romantic comedy.

Remember those days as a child when you may have been home from school, lying in bed, sick? Such is the case with a young boy (Savage) who is fortunate enough to have a loving grandfather (Falk) at his side ready to keep him entertained with a captivating story… Only, this story is not exactly a story that most preteen boys desire. Despite the “love story” theme in this tale, grandpa assures his grandson that there is plenty of action and intrigue. And so begins the story.

As the story starts out, it certainly sounds like a love story. A handsome, blond farmboy named Wesley (Cary Elwes) does whatever his beautiful boss, Buttercup (Robin Wright) wishes. He even goes as far as to respond to all her commands with “as you wish”—his signature saying throughout the movie. Although Buttercup mistreats Wesley for the longest time, she finally is smitten with love for him.

Finally some action occurs… Buttercup is kidnapped! She is even led to believe that Wesley was killed. Heartbroken and against her choice, she becomes engaged to the evil Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon) even though she really loves Wesley. She now is becomes known as Princess Buttercup.

“The Princess Bride” is humorous at times. Chivarlious at times. Even downright rude in a few spots. All the ingredients for a hilarious epic! Director Rob Reiner puts unusual twists into what could have been a dry and boring storyline.

From a Christian standpoint, “The Princess Bride” is not overly violent but there will be scenes that may scare younger viewers. There is no nudity and virtually no indecent language. As is the case in most medieval tales, there is a wizard. Miracle Max and his wife (Billy Crystal and Carol Kane) hilariously try to bring someone back to life with magic. This may be difficult to explain to young viewers. However, “The Princess Bride” offers an enjoyable story for preteen through parenting age and proves to be an excellent choice for family entertainment within this age grouping. (Parents will especially be keen on the idea of their kids copying the phrase “As you wish” to every parental request…)

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.

Positive
Negative
Young people

Positive

Positive—Overall, a brilliant story! I have one major problem though. Profanity is treated fairly casually in this movie. “My God” may be commonly used in the real world as a mere exclamation, but I find it more offensive than vulgarity. Also, the sick boy (SAVAGE) uses Jesus as an exclamation guite clearly at one point. That said the language is still far better than most other movies I’ve seen. The action is heroic, the humour is quite clever, and the pace of both is at time breathtaking. My Ratings: [Average / 4½]

Bradley Fleming, age 32

Positive—This is truly one of the most memorable films ever produced. Who could forget Andre the Giant as Fezzik? It is important to note that the Miracle Max is NOT a magician—if anything, he is more like a doctor. He uses an herbal remedy, NOT supernatural powers to revive Wesley. He even makes it crystal-clear (no pun intended) that Wesley is “half-dead” (flatlined) and that if he were “all-dead”, there would be nothing he could do to save his life.

Rolf, age 20, non-Christian

Positive—Rob Reiner encapsulates all the themes from our childhood fairy tales to deliver an enjoyable movie to watch with the entire family… “The Princess Bride” is a very enjoyable movie with no nudity, no sexual situations, and only one instance of a foul word used which occurs at the end of the movie (no use of God’s name in vain)! Although this is an older movie (1987), it is the perfect movie to rent if all the new releases are gone from you local video store. Kids will love the fairy tale like theme and adults will enjoy remembering when a man was a man and fought for his true love. Watch for the special appearence of Billy Crystal.

Jason Hauger, age 24

Positive—“The Princess Bride,” a romance-comedy directed by Rob Reiner, based on the novel by Academy Award winning screenwriter and author William Goldman (who also wrote the script) and starring Robin Wright as the title character is a feel-good chick flick with adventure, romance and comedy. With only one mild profanity (spoken during the climax; though the word in the context is used appropriately), Jesus’ name abused once and a possible double entendre, this movie is perfect for family viewing.

With some of the best lines in cinema history (“As You Wish,” “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die,” “Why don’t you give me a nice paper cut and pour lemon juice on it? We’re closed,” “No more rhymes now, I mean it,” “Anybody want a peanut?”) a terrific swordfighting sequence (which was performed for the most part by the actors, with stunt doubles doing only the most dangerous part) and featuring guest appearances by Fred Savage (“The Wonder Years,” “Boy Meets World”), veteran actor Peter Falk (“Columbo”), Mandy Patinkin, Carol Kane and Billy Crystal, this movie is suitable for all ages.

“Fighting, fencing, torture and romance.” This movie has it all. Devoid of sex and graphic violence, “The Princess Bride” is a movie you’ll want to add to your wish list.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 5

D, age 23 (USA)

Negative

Negative—“The Princess Bride,” 1987, has a scene where the little boy uses the Lord’s name in vain, “Jesus!” he exclaims. In another scene, one of the characters prays to the spirit of his dead father for guidance and strength. What about the part where one of the characters is seen drinking from out of a wine bottle and gets drunk? At the end of the movie, one character sticks his sword into his enemy and calls him a son of a bitch?
My Ratings: Moral rating: Average / Moviemaking quality: 2

Melissa De Soto, age 47 (USA)

Comments from young people

Rolf [says that] that Miracle Max was not a wizard, he was more of a doctor. That is true, but he’s really just a miracle man. Also, Wesley was never “half-dead.” There is no “half-dead.” Wesley was mostly dead. My Ratings: [4½/5]

Ms. Pepper, age 15, non-Christian

Positive—This was the best movie I have seen in a long time. It’s not boring like most clean films, but is still clean. It is romantic with adventure, and one of the best movies I have every seen.

Vanesa Johnson, age 14

Positive—Princesses, brides, swords, fighting… This fairy tale is inconceivable.

This is a great movie. It has a good story, and good characters. The only bad things are that the boy takes the Lord’s Holy Name in vain, which was very disappointing, and the scene where Westley is hooked up to the torture machine is really painful to watch. Without the torture scene, this is probably for seven and up, but with the torture scene it’s for ten and up. I’d recommend skipping the torture scene. I’m fifteen and I still do that.

All the other violence is fairly mild. Other then those two parts, this movie is great. It’s really funny and has memorable quotes. The sword fighting is probably some of the best you can get in a movie, and my brother really enjoys those parts.

The characters for the most part are witty and likable. The bad guys are pretty dastardly though. All of the characters are full, and I like how Inigo and Fezzik become good guys. I love the way that the story is supposed to be in a book, and how it can jump from the fairy tale to the boy and his grandfather reading it. I also like how a lot of the places and things in the story have names that sound like fairy tale names, like the Cliffs of Insanity, the Pit of Despair, the Fire Swamp, the Dread Pirate Roberts, the Man in Black, the Shrieking Eels and the R. O. U. S (Rodents Of Unusual Size). I love how they are all printed in capital letters. This is a wonderful, whimsical, imaginative fairy tale that both girls and boys will enjoy.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Average / Moviemaking quality: 4

Bernadette, age 15 (Canada)