Sua Maestà

Seriously what's wrong with people?

Here, we have ourselves one of the best hommages to the fantasy genre.

It has everything. Evil sorcerers, monsters, battles, conspiracy, cart chases, lush sets and costumes, an army of good actors.

What's not to like?

There's even a great score that is worthy of a great fantasy movie.

Oh yeah, and most of the people who made this were probably stoned the whole time.

Your Highness manages to balance everything almost perfectly.

Despite all its sillyness, it *still* works perfectly as an immersive fantasy movie.

It is probably best seen in a double feature after "Stardust", another tongue-in-cheek fantasy movie that is admittedly more polished, but similar in its approach.

Your Highness just has more THC in it.

...this film was a whole lot of fun. It is a fantastic spoof of all those usually pretty bad sword and sorcery movies that came out after Conan the Barbarian and Excalibur were huge hits. It also is a satire of the over-the-top vulgarity of many early 80s comedy hits, and it even takes it up a notch.

To borrow from Rob Reiner/Christopher Guest, they took all these elements and turned them up to 11. This film is about excess and it pulls it off fantastically. It's meant to be a genre-busting stoner movie, and, yes, it's sexist, but this is a *satire*, a point I think a lot of viewers and even more critics missed.

I just watched this now, 7 years later, because I was turned away from it by all the horrible reviews and I'm very grateful I was bored today and gave it a try. Watch it with a bud (nudge, nudge, wink, wink), you will *not* be disappointed. I think we need more films like this that take risks and push boundaries like Animal House and the Blues Brothers as two very apt examples did back in the day.

The comedic genre is increasingly mixed with dramatic content, and even comedies that do well at the box-office don't rate well it seems (a 6.5 on IMDB is fantastic rating for a comedy in my experience, which goes to show how stale a genre can get when it rests on its laurels, and for comedy especially, which at it's core is about pushing boundaries and taking chances, and has been since Duck Soup, Modern Times, etc.).

And good for David Gordon Green to make a movie that he felt like making, one he and I'm sure his friends would enjoy. It looks like it would be a blast making this movie, too. I love his more serious films like Joe, All The Real Girls, Undertow, Snow Angels, etc., mostly dramatic pieces that received critical acclaim. It makes me respect him all the more by moving to comedy when he feels like it like with this film and Pineapple Express; I think is part of the reason why he's one of my favourite directors, one where everyone of his films I've really enjoyed. I always hope that he gets his due credit someday if for no other reason than to lead viewers to some of his lesser known gems, or ones that were unfairly panned by critics who didn't seem to think about what he was trying to achieve, like with Your Highness.

Okay, I can understand why people mayn't like this film, the story while simple and often charming is also predictable and daft and the gags are on the puerile and lowbrow side. The script however while going overboard perhaps with the expletives is very funny and perhaps quotable. It is a well made movie, with good cinematography, clean and colourful sets and costumes that look more than fancy dress. The characters are engaging and charming particularly Deschannel's character. The cast are terrific, Danny McBride looks clearly comfortable and Zooey Deschannel is also in an ideal role. Natalie Portman is both sexy and feisty, Justin Thereaux nearly steals the show and Charles Dance and Toby Jones are a delight to watch. Overall, not for everybody but while not the best of the year I can think of much worse ways to spend your time. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Unrated version recommended. You gotta love silly over the top humor to enjoy it though.

This movie flew under the radar for many people and missed the mark for a lot of critics out there. However it was fairly well put together with good acting and the storyline was fresh compared to previous movies. It offered something new like a dungeons & dragons feel with comedy. The comedy wasn't forced and the flow was natural with unexpected laughs. It was clever and witty and all of the actors played well together. This movie is at least a solid seven or better. Now the movie dungeons and dragons came out with comedy in it and it basically copied this movie yet it got much better reviews lol.