听 When the one true love of her life, Westley, is killed by the Dread Pirate Roberts, Buttercup blindly agrees to the Royal command that she marry Prince Humperdinck. But the Prince is planning to incite war between his country and its neighbour - by murdering Buttercup and blaming foreign agents. Yet even as his men kidnap Buttercup, a mysterious man in black is in pursuit.
It's a fairytale with bite. Children can see it as a bright, frothy adventure while adults will appreciate the subtlety and the sheer wit. The film mocks sword fantasies yet it also delights in them and is somehow able to trumpet the genre while simultaneously laughing at it.
"The Princess Bride" is a rich, all-engrossing treat - and yet it's as nothing compared to the original novel. For all the levels of the film, the book has a couple more and screenwriter William Goldman has had to reduce his own novel's strength to fit the story onto the screen.
