Watch With the Kids
The Pitch
Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles.... Try to stay awake.
Age Recommendations
Watch With the Kids: 7+ Common Sense Media: 8+ New York Times: 6+
Content Advisories
The Rodents of Unusual Size can be a lot for small children to handle. Our hero is tortured. Buttercup makes plans to commit suicide. Our hero dies. (He is resurrected later, but you know, still.)
Anybody want a peanut?
On its face the movie is kind of a mess. Too earnest to be a great comedy, too silly to be a great adventure or romance. But William Goldman wrote The Princess Bride (the screenplay and the novel on which it is based) at the request of his two young daughters. That and the movie’s framing device (featuring a 10-year-old Fred Savage and grandpa Peter Falk) remind you that this is a story for children, whose clashing tones and embarrassing riches of quotable lines have made it the favorite movie of countless adults. The early duel between Cary Elwes and Mandy Patinkin is terrific fun, and a great excuse to read up on the career of swordmaster Bob Anderson. —