Friday, October 8, 2010

Halloween Challenge - #3 Time Bandits (?)

Okay, okay. Not really a horror or thriller. But it's been at my house for weeks and I needed to hurry up and see it (again) so that I could get something new. I had seen it before when I was a little girl, but only remembered bits and pieces of it. Mostly the bit at the end with the big fight.

The basic premise is that a little boy hooks up with a roving band of time traveling drawves and they pop through several historical time periods. All the while they are on the run from god (whom they stole the time travel map from) and end up facing off with evil incarnate.

That summary, along with the knowledge that it comes from Terry Gilliam, will give you a pretty good idea of whether you will enjoy it or not. It comes out of the same camp as Labyrinth - fantasy that works best for kids, but is entertaining enough for adults. While I enjoyed Time Bandits, I'm not sure it's as clever as Labyrinth, although Labyrinth may just hold more of a nostalgia factor for me.

Michael Palin (who co-wrote the film) and John Cleese pop up with cameos, and Ian Holm plays a Punch and Judy obsessed Napoleon. Sean Connery turns up as a Greek king, as well, in a segment which attempts to give some emotional grounding to the child star.

Speaking of whom, that child had no eyebrows. I spent the first half hour wondering if it was a young Matt Smith (it was not).

I'm glad I saw it again, if only to remember what happened in it, but I'm not sure I'd recommend spending time on it unless you have kids.

3/5 Stars

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