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The Princess Bride
DVD Review by Yanman |
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"I am Inigo Montoya. You Killed my father, prepare to die!" There are many long time favorite movies that DVD collectors are just itching to buy. The Princess Bride was on this list for many a collector, including this reviewer's. Unlike many resent favorites releases (Like the Abyss, ID4, and Jaws), this one falls short of being a "must have" collectable. Leaving us to wonder two things - 1) Why did MGM make us wait this long for a poor transfer "movie only" DVD and 2) Is there a special edition in the future? One can only hope. How does one describe this movie to the uninformed? Is a love story? Well, yes. Is it an action / adventure film? Yes again. How about a fairy tale? It's that too. But, I would guess that every one that has ever seen The Princess Bride would have to agree that is first and foremost a comedy. So whichever of the above you are in the mood for, prepare to laugh, because you won't be disappointed. Our story starts with a young boy (Fred Savage), who is at home sick in bed. His grandfather (Peter Falk) comes over to read to him from a book that has been read from for many generations. This is the story of the Princess Bride. At first our young shut-in is not intrigued by the apparent love story and feels he may have been tricked into allowing the story to be read. As the story continues however, it changes into a story of sword fighting heroes, war, and adventure. The video here is horrible, with artifacts dirt and washed out colors, making this almost painful to watch. Presented in both a widescreen version and a standard version, but with the widescreen version being non-anamorphic. This one could have been much better. The newly remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is very good, not the best we have heard but better then anything presented for this film in the past. Still just an average rating though. Extras, wait, let's look again. Nope not a one! What Rob Reiner wasn't available for a commentary? We can only hope that at some point there is a special edition of this one made available that rights this complete lack of extra material. When it comes to our favorite movies any DVD is always better than no
DVD. In the case of this version of the Princess Bride, the answer is
"Yeah, but just barely!" We hope that MGM is reading, and that a
Special Edition is somewhere in the works. If you own this on other
formats, you might just want to pass on this version of the DVD and wait
and see. As for the movie itself, it is truly a "new classic"
that everyone should own. As you wish…
This DVD was reviewed on Yanman.com's Reference Theater #1, using a Toshiba SD-5109 DVD player, Toshiba TW56X81, and M&K 750 THX Speakers. Panamax protects all systems at Yanman.com. |
The Princess Bride Is there a special edition in the future? One can only hope. Staring: Mandy Patinkin Directed By: Rob Reiner Running time: 98 Min |
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