Review by Leonard Norwitz
Studio:
Theatrical: Reiner/Scheinman
Blu-ray: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Disc:
Region: 'A'-locked
Runtime: 1:38:21.937
Disc Size: 40,664,407,496 bytes
Feature Size: 32,991,184,896 bytes
Average Bitrate: 44.72 Mbps
Chapters: 30
Case: Custom Blu-ray case
Release date: March 17, 2009
Video:
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Resolution: 1080p
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio:
DTS-HD Master Audio English 3856 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3856
kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio French 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps
/ Dolby Surround
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps
Subtitles:
English SDH & Spanish
Extras:
• Audio Commentary by Director Rob Reiner & Writer William
Goldman
• Fairy Tales & Folklore* (9:16)
• The Art of Fencing* (7:07)
• The Princess Bride – The Untold Tales* (9:06)
• The Dread Pirate Roberts (11:43)
• Miraculous Makeup (11:22)
• Cary Elwes' Video Diary (3:55)
• Love is Like a Storybook (16:43)
• DVD of the Feature Film (with selected bonus features*)
The Film:
Is it conceivable that there is anyone out there who does
not enjoy The Princess Bride? Even if you find the
contemporary part of the movie where Peter Falk seduces his
eight year old grandson (Fred Savage) into the world of
fairy tales a case of interruptus (Fred, does); even if you
find Billy Crystal's rendition of Miracle Max a little too
much shtick or Carol Kane as his wife a little too shrill;
and even if Andre the Giant was yet to meet his match in
Hulk Hogan, is this not one of the sweetest, most
entertaining 98 minutes on video? I ask you! (Pacé, Ms. Kael.)
I had forgotten that The Princess Bride introduced those of
us who don't watch daytime soaps to Robin Wright (in the
title role) and gave Cary Elwes (Westley, the farm boy) a
shot at having people recognize his name, perhaps even
pronouncing it correctly (El-wez). By this time, Rob Reiner
had long been something of a household name, not so much as
a director, but as "Meathead",
Archie Bunker's son-in-law, whom he played from 1971-79. His
first stint as a director was in 1984 for the satirical and
still iconic rockumentary This is Spinal Tap. His next
movie, The Sure Thing, pretty much sealed the fate of the
then nineteen-year old John Cusack. Stand By Me would do the
same for River Phoenix – for a while anyhow. The following
year Reiner made The Princess
Bride and two years after that, When Harry Met Sally. After
Misery (1990),
A Few Good Men (1992),
The American President
(1995) and Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), Reiner's output
slowed dramatically, but for a remarkable dozen years, he
gave us at least six remarkable and popular films.
The Princess Bride is a tongue-in-cheek, but loving movie of
a tongue-in-cheek, but loving book that pretends to be a
version of a famous fairy tale by one "S. Morgenstern"
(viz., The "Morning Star.") The book and screenplay is by
William Goldman, whose previous credits include:
Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Stepford Wives,
All the
President's Men, Marathon Man,
A
Bridge Too Far and
Heat.
The Movie: 8
Peter Falk visits his grandson Fred Savage who is sick in
his bed at home. To distract him from his aches, pains and
video games, and to introduce him to the joys of books and
stories Falk reads to him from the book "The Princess
Bride." Grandpa says that it was the book his father read to
him when he was a boy and that his grandfather read to his
father. The grandson is impatient,
but little by little he tears himself from his video game,
finding himself seduced by forces beyond his control or
apprehension.
The story is about a beautiful girl named "Buttercup" (Robin
Wright) and a farm boy named Westley (Cary Elwes) and how
they fell into True Love. Not having the money to marry,
Westley goes off to make his fortune, but his ship is
captured by pirates and all hands are presumed lost. Five
years later Buttercup finds herself the intended bride of
Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon) who
has political designs beyond his own kingdom. He arranges
for Buttercup to be kidnapped and for blame to fall on
another kingdom, provoking an excuse for war. But the
kidnappers (Wallace Shawn, Mandy Patinkin and Andre the
Giant) are themselves chased by a lone pirate, the "Dread
Pirate Roberts" who bears a striking resemblance to our own
Westley. Puns and other lighthearted low humors abound,
along with the swash and the romance.
Image:
4/7
NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were ripped directly from the
Blu-ray disc.
The first number indicates a relative level of excellence
compared to other Blu-ray video discs on a ten-point scale.
The second number places this image along the full range of
DVD and Blu-ray discs.
I've always found video representations of The Princess
Bride tough going on a large display. Thin and fuzzy they
were. If it weren't for the movie, I would prefer they not
take up space on my shelf. The new Blu-ray is an
improvement, but not by leaps and bounds. Though no fault of
the transfer process I'm reasonably sure, the image is never
much better than fair: It is soft and thin, sometimes
filtered to the point of fog. Unless lit by a strong light
source such as direct sun, skin tones and garments show a
fine film grain in place of what little texture remains.
Contrast and color rarely "pop", but then the original
photographic intention was to ensure that the story would
maintain a remote feel.
CLICK EACH
BLU-RAY
CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio & Music:
7/8
Clearly the lossless DTS HD-MA mix ensures that The Princess
Bride has never sounded this good on video. While most of
the material is front-directed (dialogue and most of the
music) there are plenty of occasions where the surrounds and
effects come into play: Note the screaming eels and the
rumbling fire pit.
Operations:
8
The menu design is both clever (making use of the
rope-climbing up the cliff motif from the movie) and easy to
use. It lacks only summary information about each special
feature.
Extras:
7
There are several new features here since the DVD dating
from 2006. These are all in 480p and include: the half hour
"As You Wish" – The Story of The Princess Bride, where
Reiner and Goldman talk about how their project came into
being, the tone of story where the fairy tale theme of True
Love would be placed front and center. They also talked
about how they went about casting of relative unknowns in
the leading roles, especially wanting to echo the swash and
buckle of Douglas Fairbanks. "The Dread Pirate Roberts"
crosses back and forth over the line between historical fact
and satire (more droll than dread.) Miraculous Makeup
details the conversion of Billy Crystal into Miracle Max. In
between sword fighting lesson, Cary Elwes' Video Diary
remembers what Andre the Giant had to endure as a boy when
his size became the object of derision. Finally, "Love is
Like a Storybook" looks at the history of the fairy tale
from its beginnings as an oral art form in the Middles Ages.
What is most important to note here is that fairly tales,
even in written form, are meant to be read, and read aloud
to children.
Other features are common to both the Blu-ray and the
accompanying new DVD: The Audio Commentary by Reiner &
Goldman, and "Fairy Tales & Folklore," which explores why
and how fairy tales have the hold on us that they do, and
how The Princess Bride fits into the genre (an interesting
segment, I thought). In "The Art of Fencing" we see how the
actors learned how to wield a sword reasonably convincingly
and how Cary and Mandy learned how to do it bi-laterally.
"Untold Tales" is a retrospective look at the impact of the
movie on both the actors and audiences in general.
Bottom line:
8
I don't imagine that The Princess Bride is going to look
much better than on this Blu-ray, which is a bit of a shame,
really. The audio is fine and the new extra features have a
couple of items worth the effort. But the main thing is that
fans of the movie are going to want to best there is. That
would be this Blu-ray for the foreseeable future I imagine.
Leonard Norwitz
April 1st, 2009
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Reissued January 4th, 2011 at a cheaper price!:
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