Several of the decade’s cinematic fantasy adventures are unimprovable but others – Dragonslayer, or The Neverending Story perhaps – are not
There will probably never be a reboot of The Princess Bride, the classic 1980s film fantasy which was adapted by William Goldman from his own novel and directed by Rob Reiner. Certainly not if star Cary Elwes has his way. The dapper face of Westley the farmhand, AKA Dread Pirate Roberts, AKA The Man in Black, confirmed this week that he remains wholly opposed to a new version, the prospect of which has been mooted once or twice over the past decade. “If a film has landed in the hearts of the public, then, to me, it is not a good idea to try and revisit it,” he told the
Hollywood Reporter.
It’s a fair point. It is hard to imagine a remake of Reiner’s film ending up anything but a shallow retread. Unlike many of its contemporaries, the 1987 movie has not really aged: all its key components would look pretty much the same in 2021 as they did 34 years ago. There are no ambitious special effects and no giant beasties or fantasy landscapes that could be improved upon with modern technology. The closest thing to a non-human character is probably Billy Crystal’s goblin-like Miracle Max. It would be hard to find a living
Actor as out-of-this-world as the inimitable Andre the Giant to play Fezzik, and completely pointless to CGI a replacement.