The Princess Bride is the 182nd episode of Screen Junkies comedy series Honest Trailers. It was written by Spencer Gilbert, Joe Starr, Dan Murrell and Andy Signore. It was narrated by Jon Bailey as Epic Voice Guy. It parodies the 1987 fantasy film The Princess Bride. It was published on January 10, 2017, as part of Screen Junkies' Fan Appreciation Month. It is 4 minutes 47 seconds long. It has been viewed over 4.0 million times.
Watch Honest Trailers - The Princess Bride on YouTube
"A satire of all those sappy, swashbuckling, medieval love stories that happens to be the best sappy, swashbuckling, medieval love story ever made." ~ Honest Trailers - The Princess Bride
Script[]
It's Fan Appreciation Month at Screen Junkies, and to reward our awesome fans, we're making the Honest Trailers that you voted for. Here's your number four choice.
From Meathead (Rob Reiner), comes a satire of all those sappy, swashbuckling, medieval love stories (shows the posters for The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Mark of Zorro (1940), and The Count of Monte Cristo (1975)), that happens to be the best sappy, swashbuckling, medieval love story ever made.
The Princess Bride
Dive in to the film that every kid is guaranteed to love, with the title that every boy is guaranteed to hate, in this real movie (shows the film's poster) about a made-up book, based on a real book (shows the cover to The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure, The "Good Parts" Version by William Goldman) about the same made-up book that the real movie is based on. Wait, i-is that right?
Gather round for a tale of epic romance that kicks off a young boy's puberty...
Grandson: Is this a kissing book?
[90 Minutes Later...]
Grandfather: Nah, it's kissing again. You don't want to hear that.
Grandson: Uh, I don't mind so much.
...as the world's gramp-iest grampa reads you a story full of beautiful heroes (Westley and Buttercup), dashing rogues (Inigo Montoya), and cunning villains (Vizzini and Count Tyrone Rugen), who probably sound a lot less impressive when their words are coming out of Peter Falk's mouth.
"Grandfather as Buttercup": "Westley and I are joined by the bonds of love..."
"Grandfather as Westley": "This is true love. Do you think this happens every day?"
Cuddle up for a story about the power of true love, between Westley, the farm boy turned pirate, and Buttercup, the farm-owning orphan turned princess...? When fate conspires to keep them apart, nothing will stop true love from bringing them back together, whether it's kidnapping...
Buttercup: My Westley will always come for me.
...death...
Westley: Death cannot stop true love.
...the fact that he's kind of abusive...
Roberts: (after nearly smacking Buttercup) That was a warning, Highness.
...the fact that she's kind of a pain...
Buttercup: Farm boy... Polish my horse's saddle. I want to see my face shining in it by morning.
...the fact that he's an optimist and she's a pessimist...
Westley: (looking at the Fire Swamp) It's not that bad.
Buttercup: (stares at Westley in disbelief)
...or the fact that they haven't spoken in five years, and their relationship was based on him doing chores for her until things got extra spicy.
Buttercup: Farm boy... Fetch me that pitcher?
(shows Westley slowly walking towards Buttercup as stereotypical porn music plays, then grabbing the pitcher above her)
Yep, looks like true love to me!
But there's more than just romance; prepare for plenty of action to go around -- Really, really polite action.
Fezzik: (after throwing a rock near Roberts) I did that on purpose. I didn't have to miss.
Roberts: --you'll put down your rock, and I'll put down my sword, and... we'll try and kill each other like civilized people?
-- where no danger is too great that you can't carry on a polite conversation...
Inigo: (while dueling Roberts) You are wonderful!
Roberts: Thank you. I've worked hard to become so.
...and no enemy is too vile that you can't have a nice chat while they're trying to kill you.
Westley: Lies do not become us.
Rugen: Well spoken, sir.
Roberts: (to Vizzini) Truly, you have a dizzying intellect. / (as Fezzik repeatedly bashes him against a giant boulder) Why should that make such a -- Oof! -- difference...?
I guess this is exciting...?
So settle in one more time for the action/romance/comedy/drama/kids movie for adults, that you probably never saw in theaters, but re-watched on VHS so many times that you can quote every line, not just because it's great, but because every character repeats their little catchphrase, like, a hundred times.
Westley: As you wish.
Vizzini: Inconceivable!
Inigo: Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
Starring: Zorro (Cary Elwes as Westley/The Dread Pirate Roberts); Pirate's Booty (Robin Wright as Buttercup); Hi! (My Name Is) What? (My Name Is) Who? (My Name Is Tikki Tikki) Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin as Inigo Montoya); Obey (André the Giant as Fezzik); Danny DeVit-ish (Wallace Shawn as Vizzini); Small Wonder (Fred Savage as Grandson); His Fingers Go to Eleven (Christopher Guest as Count Tyrone Rugen); Crappy Sets (shows an obvious matte painting of a cliffside); Cheesy Music (shows synthesizer music playing as Roberts forces Inigo back and switches his sword hand); and Obvious Stunt Doubles (shows Cary Elwes' stunt double accidentally revealing his face to the camera as he tumbles down a hill). But come on, who cares? This movie's amazing!
Adventure Time
Honest title for The Princess Bride - Adventure Time. Title design by Robert Holtby.
Why don't they make satirical fairy tales anymore with romance and action and jokes and a big giant guy? (shows Shrek roaring at an angry mob in Shrek) Ohh, right.
Trivia[]
- For Fan Appreciation Month, Screen Junkies ran a poll where viewers got to decide which films they would make Honest Trailers for during January, 2017. The Princess Bride got the 4th highest number of votes.
- Screen Junkies have also produced Honest Trailers for several other fantasy films including How to Train Your Dragon, Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Labyrinth, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.
- Screen Junkies have also produced Honest Trailers for many more awesome 1980s movies including Ghostbusters, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Die Hard, Labyrinth, Predator, Robocop, Top Gun, Batman (1989) and many more. See list of Honest Trailers for more.
- An Honest Trailer Commentary for this episode was recorded and was available on the Screen Junkies Plus until the website/app was discontinued. Screen Junkies don't currently have any way of releasing the video.
Reception[]
Honest Trailers - The Princess Bride has a 98.7% approval rating from YouTube viewers. Many media sites commented on the surprisingly positive slant of this Honest Trailer. Slate wrote "most Honest Trailers mercilessly expose a movie’s flaws, but this one is more of a celebration of all the things that make Princess Bride great." In the same article, Slate wrote that Screen Junkies jabs at the film's "crappy sets, cheesy music, and obvious stunt doubles aren’t blasphemous, because (as everyone knows) they’re some of the best parts." In a similar vein, Screen Rant wrote, "Displaying the kind of love that the film deserves, Honest Trailers creates a careful deconstruction that reminds you of everything you ever loved about The Princess Bride, while still managing to work in some of their trademarked sardonic quips." Screen Rant called the Honest Trailer a "loving roast of a Hollywood legend" and that while "some of the cuts might seem pretty harsh, but they’re delivered in a way that that’s more honoring than hating. If anything, it’s a wonderful reminder of how great the film is and how well it’s held up over the last thirty years."
Production credits[]
Video thumbnail for Honest Trailers - The Princess Bride
Voiceover Narration by Jon Bailey
Title design by Robert Holtby
Series Created by Andy Signore & Brett Weiner
Executive Producer - Andy Signore
Producers - Dan Murrell, Spencer Gilbert, Michael Bolton, Christina Kline
Written by Spencer Gilbert, Joe Starr, Dan Murrell & Andy Signore
Edited by TJ Nordaker & Bruce Guido
External links[]
- ‘The Princess Bride’ Honest Trailer Praises the Sappy Swashbuckling Love Story - IndieWire article
- Honest Trailers Comes for The Princess Bride - The Mary Sue article
- Even the Honest Trailer for The Princess Bride Gushes About The Princess Bride, Because This Movie Is Practically Perfect - Slate article
- The Princess Bride Gets an Honest Trailer for Fan Appreciation Month - Screen Rant article