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Short Assignment 4

Hal Lipper. ""Princess Bride" ascends to the Hollywood throne." St. Petersburg Times (Florida).

(October 9, 1987, Friday, City Edition ): LexisNexis Academic. Web. Date Accessed:

2013/10/21.

Hal Lipper, movie critic for the St. Petersburg Times, reviews Rob Reiner s movie The

Princess Bride and he is very positive about the film throughout with hardly a criticism to be

found. Starting the review off with a fairy tale clich, he makes a point of distinguishing the

story of the Princess Bride from the

storybook classics

of Brothers Grimm, particularly in itscomedic tone and fast pacing. He points to Rob Reiner s earlier films to explain the warmth that

is also found in this one, marking it as a characteristic of Reiner. Lipper also praises the cast of

the movie for their talent and earnest sincerity , as well as the script of the film. He praises the

script for including elements such as adventure, danger, and romance, as well as for being a fairy

tale with wide appeal and that is for audiences of all ages, for the child in everyone . He

continually notes the effective comedy and quotes memorable lines. Lipper briefly explains the

framing device in the narrative, describing how the director begins the story in a young boy s

room and how the sick boy s grandfather comes in and begins to read him a tale about Buttercup,

the farm boy Westley, and their love story. He comes closest to criticism with a comment about

the transitions back to reality through the movie being jarring, but turns it around and says that

this seeming flaw in fact makes the story more engrossing. The reviewer states that the whole

tale is executed with the whimsy and grace that eluded the makers of Labyrinth and the Never-

Ending Story and goes on to explain this with Reiner s smaller budget and less polished special

effects that actually add to the tone and quality that he tries to achieve. The fact that the movie

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never takes itself too seriously is praised, and the substance over style approach is deemed a

throwback to an earlier generation of movie making .

Hal Lipper s expectations for a good movie are evident throughout his review. He has a

clear appreciation for movies that are charming, warm, and good-natured but not overtly serious.

He seeks entertaining adventure films with enough danger and tension as well as uniqueness; he

quotes the movie liberally to demonstrate what he liked about specific scenes, and the quotes are

generally ones considered nowadays to be memorable and funny lines unique to this script.

There is the impression that this critic has not been particularly pleased with shifts toward

impressive special effects that have developed over the years that lead to a style over substanceapproach, as he closes out his review by describing The Princess Bride as a throwback to earlier

generations of filmmaking, and notes earlier on that the smaller budget Rob Reiner had to work

with enhanced the storybook quality he was aiming for.