Man and Witch: The Dance of a Thousand Steps

Man and Witch: The Dance of A Thousand Steps is an under appreciated masterpiece. It is a movie that knows exactly how cliche it is, makes fun of how cliche it is, and shows how fun it is to be cliche. From great main characters to great background characters, to a great setting, to great set pieces, to great writing, this movie feels to me like a cult classic in the making. It heavily calls back to the whimsical era of 80s fantasy, from The Princess Bride to The NeverEnding Story, deconstructing some of the more cliche tropes of 80s fantasy while still showing how fun fantasy can be to watch. I highly recommend this movie to anyone looking for a fantasy movie, romance movie, comedy movie, or just a movie with a happy ending.

It is that rare kind of cinematic oddity that defies traditional notions of quality, effortlessly earning a place among those so-bad-it's-good films that viewers can't help but return to. The plot is delightfully absurd, wandering through medieval fantasy tropes with a charming lack of subtlety, like a fever dream conjured up in a basement D&D session. Characters are over-the-top and occasionally baffling, with performances that swing between campy earnestness and full-on melodrama. But for all its quirks, there's a strangely endearing quality about it-the way it fully commits to its wild, unapologetic weirdness without blinking. "Man and the Witch" is cinematic junk food, undeniably flawed yet irresistibly entertaining, the kind of film that begs for late-night re-watching with friends, a true cult gem for those who revel in the beautifully bizarre.

As a child of the 80s, I was intrigued by a film that promised to pay homage to the fantasy films of that decade...but also a bit skeptical about its ability to do so. That skepticism gave way to pure delight as the film delivered on that promise and then kept delivering.

The story's creative twists are charmingly and skillfully unfolded to us, and the film keeps a humorous and whimsical tone while delivering moments of actual scariness and suspense. The acting is uniformly terrific, from the two leads down to the tiny child playing Cupid. Jim Henson's puppets serve as a Greek Chorus of sorts in a way that engaged the children and amused the adults in the audience. And the broadening of the POV from just the goatherd to include the witch enhances the tension of the build to the film's very satisfying denouement.

The film carefully threads the needle between being a throwback to the 80s and commenting on the world of today. It's a joy to see something that unmitigatedly "feel-good," and it says a lot about this film that it has stuck with me in the weeks since I've seen it. I'd love to get to see it again and to share it with others of all ages.

Me, I got it. It's a self depreciating pantomime with a good budget.

I understand why there is a massive gap between the user reviews and scores. It's because you have to get what's going on and find that amusing, otherwise this is just a stinky pile of garbage.

The jokes were silly and funny and very British.

There was background visual gags that just added to the silliness.

Not only did I enjoy this Mickey take of a film, but I Loved it.

The cast including Mrs Doyle from Father Ted acted exactly as they should have done. Which is just go with the flow and don't take yourself or the role seriously.

Long and short is, if you watch the first five minutes and love it, you'll love it. Otherwise abort as you'll not get into it.

This movie is a beautiful parody, with a noticeable low budget, but extremely entertaining. A mix of 80's fairy tale adventure with a touch of Benny Hill nonsense. A movie for all the family, with a cute story and great dialogues and monologues. If you give it a chance and not compare it to your favorite blockbuster, you'll find it's a little gem.

And since I still have to write 200 more characters to my review to be admitted, I might as well say that I logged in to this site after years just so I could make this review because the amount of negativity in the reviews was bothering me. There. 600.