Your Highness (2011)
Directed by David Gordon Green
A fantasy movie about an arrogant, lazy prince and his more heroic brother who must complete a quest in order to save their father's kingdom.
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5 films that influenced Your Highness
What critics say influenced Your Highness
When assessing the small motion picture sub-genre of the "fantasy comedy," it's necessary to acknowledge that the impregnable pinnacle is occupied by Rob Reiner's The Princess Bride , a classic whose prominence may never be challenged.
The bulk of the film consists of that quest, and there are echoes – on a juvenile level to be sure – of “Monty Python And The Holy Grail” and “The Princess Bride.”
It's as if a chemically altered college kid watched a bunch of Judd Apatow movies, and then decided to remake " The Princess Bride ."
A slapdash assortment of various genres, “Your Highness” plays like “The Princess Bride” meets “Clash of the Titans” with a little bit of “Up in Smoke” thrown in for good measure.
Sort of "The Princess Bride" as retold in colorful sailor's vernacular.
The most obvious point of reference is The Princess Bride, which was both funny and thrilling, as well as oddly romantic and sweet.
There are some amusing one-liners but the majority of the comedy makes one realize how brilliant Monty Python and the Holy Grail is.
The bulk of the film consists of that quest, and there are echoes – on a juvenile level to be sure – of “Monty Python And The Holy Grail” and “The Princess Bride.”
For every "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," there are countless woebegone failures like 2009's " Year One ."
But McBride and company haven't worked hard enough to create the puffy, pretentious, formal diction of a king's court (the gold standard being "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"), and without that contrast, the gags become tiresome and repetitive.
The decision to stick with the filthy gags instead of the insightful intelligent ones seen in similar medieval parodies like Monty Python and the Holy Grail, keeps it from being memorable.
The movie’s creative team—which includes screenwriters Danny McBride (who also stars) and Ben Best as well as director David Gordon Green—have set their specific sights on ’80s-era medieval romps like Excalibur, Willow and The Princess Bride, while also showering affectionate ridicule on such otherworldly adventures as the Jim Henson classics The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth and the Peter Yates camp favorite Krull.
Short of ending each line with 'dude', Franco plays it dumbly doe-eyed, evoking Keanu Reeves in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.
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The film, co-scripted by cast member Danny McBride and directed by David Gordon Green, who also directed co-stars James Franco and McBride in “Pineapple Express” (2008) and directs McBride in cable TV’s “Eastbound & Down,” is a mostly lame throwback to such Mel Brooks efforts as “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” (1993) and his nearly sublime “Star Wars” spoof, “Spaceballs” (1987).