We have just passed the twenty-fifth anniversary of the release of the movie Princess Bride. I was nineteen when it was released. My husband was twenty-two. He declared his geekdom by writing a final exam paper on the movie. I declared my geekdom as most people do, by loving the movie and memorizing all the funny lines. My husband and I have been awaiting the day that our daughter will be old enough to watch the movie with us.
Well, that time came last night. Our daughter is seven, and she seemed mature enough to deal with some of the scarier issues in the movie. We all watched it together and she did great. She really enjoyed it and kept talking over and over again about what a great movie it was.
She laughed at the little kid complaining about the kissing in the movie. She covered her face when the Shrieking Eels were approaching Buttercup in the water. The little asides to the kid and his grandfather were good at breaking up the scary and mushy parts of the movie. She was “going for the guy in black” during the sword fight with Inego and was concerned that he would be killed. She was extremely nervous during the iocaine poison scene and was relieved when the “good guy” survived. She didn’t quite understand how both cups could be poisoned though. She was appropriately nervous in the scenes in the fire swamp, but she seemed unmoved by the ROUS. (She had been warned in advance). She immediately caught on to the significance of the six-fingered man, although she wanted to know how anyone could be born with six fingers. I told her it actually happens. She booed Prince Humperdink and was very anxious when Wesley had the life sucked out of him by The Machine. She loved Miracle Max and his wife. She was very relieved when Wesley came back to life after being “only mostly dead.” She became very agitated at the swordfight between Inego and the six-fingered man; it was the only scene where someone was violently killed and she may have been a little young for that. She got over it pretty quickly though (although she became alarmed at the prospect of a duel between Wesley and Prince Humperdink – I did reassure her that the swordfighting was over). She was thrilled at the romantiic ending. I think overall that we were correct in judging her to be grown up enough to enjoy the movie – she actually understood some things that I had not thought that she would get. So she has been chattering happily about watching a “big girl movie” and we had a great time geeking out and watching The Princess Bride with her last night.
Rants from the Crib 