Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Your Highness - reviewed


Alrighty adventurers and non-adventurers alike! Many of us have seen the previews and trailers for the newest tale of comedy (of olde) and laughed our way to the end... and for those of you that have seen the restricted trailer - laughed much harder than most of us during the wait for this film to hit theatres.

At first glance, the movie looks like a great film for the year - filled with action, adventure, quests, mini-quests, and an odd little creature that looks like it has a magic-mushroom for the top of its head. It truly looked (and felt) as if it were a "Dungeons & Dragons" session/adventure turned into movie... but including all of the "out of game" humor, remarks, and banter. But as I mentioned: at first glance. Depending on your brand of humor and comedy, this movie could go either way for you.

In a nutshell - two brothers are princes. The wise and noble brother (James Franco) is set to marry the beautiful maiden (Zooey Deschanel) when she is kidnapped by a powerful evil wizard. Now the noble prince must set out to rescue the damsel and slay the wizard... with the help of his moron of a brother (Danny McBride). Along the way, they'll join with a female warrior (Natalie Portman) and traverse many trap and death-filled locales on their way to quest (and mini-quest) completion.



Pros:

+ The visual effects for a medieval adventure movie were EXTREMELY well done!

+ The story seemed to flow from one scene to the next smoothly

+ Most of the movie was done as improv by Franco and McBride

+ Alot of the humor is so off-the-wall and unexpected, it's well done

+ Natalie Portman wears a chain-mail thong

+ McBride ends up wearing... well... watch the film :P


Cons:

- The improv some of the time was just too dry and not captivating

- The film in and of itself didn't feel gripping and/or draw the viewer in until roughly the last half hour


The bottom-line? If you have nothing to do for an evening and can't think of anything better to do (and you like off-the-wall/off-beat humor), I recommend seeing this film. It had the potential to be so much more than it is - although in seeing this, it does raise my hopes that a more serious take on the "good vs evil in a medieval magic setting" film could easily make its mark.


Rated 2.5 out of 5

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