vortex-4

The best animated feature ever made. Period. No argument. The Disney studios pulled out all the stops to create this sublime achievement, using the best animators, storytellers and musical artists in the business. Surpassing any animated feature made before or since this is simple story about a beautiful girl in a small village who wants to escape her "provincial life" and the clutches of the handsome town brute who wants to have her for his own. Told in the style of a lively Hollywood musical, this story is never boring and continuously engaging. You won't find a better family film. Even the movie's beginning, telling the background of the Beast through the use of stain glass windows, is stunningly beautiful and original. The musical numbers are alternately fun, hilarious, quietly sweet and rousing.

Don't expect the DVD version of this film to last on the shelves very long.

The fact that this great film was not even nominated for an academy award for best picture shows how out-to-lunch the academy members were in 1989. This film not only should have won over "Driving Miss Daisy" that year but would be highly competitive in any year. Matthew Broderick shines as the Colonel who commands a rag-tag group of black enlisted men during the Civil War. He and the men he fights with show what true honor and bravery are all about during wartime. Every character is compelling and you feel right along with them as the plot unfolds. A must see.

The simplest pleasures in life are the best, and this film is one of them. Combining a rather basic storyline of love and adventure this movie transcends the usual weekend fair with wit and unmitigated charm. Every character is a delight and you just want to see more of them. "The Princess Bride" is based on the unsurpassed novel by William Goldman, who also penned the screenplay. While this is a movie review, I cannot recommend the book on which it is based more highly. It is quite simply the most humorous, enthralling fable ever written and will fill in many details that were impossible to include on the screen. The only other movie of this type that I can think of that is this much fun was Danny Kaye's "The Court Jester," another costumed comedy/adventure/romance that I also highly recommend.