The Princess Bride
This is probably my favorite movie of all time. It took me far too
long to actually get around to reading the book. I kind of didn't want
to ruin the experience of the movie by finding out that book was even
better. It turns out that the book is better, but the movie is a pretty
damn good adaptation.
I bought the 30th anniversary edition of The Princess Bride, which included a couple of extra introductions. These were fun to read, partially because it felt a bit like I was stripping back layers of time, and partially because William Goldman maintains that he simply abridged S. Morgenstern's classic work, which it turns out is a historical account of certain events in Florin. Goldman talks about going to the Florin history museum with his grandson, seeing Buttercup's wedding dress and Inigo Montoya's sword. He notes all the little kids, gathered around the sword, repeating that infamous line to themselves over and over. He also talks about the sequel to The Princess Bride, Buttercup's Baby, and the legal troubles he's had with the Morgenstern estate that are preventing him from abridging this book as well (in actuality, Goldman seems to have a severe case of writer's block). The first chapter is included at the end of the book with its own introduction. There is also a lengthy section talking about filming the movie, which was a lot of fun to read, even if Goldman's version of Andre the Giant doesn't mesh with the reality I've been told all my life.
The story itself was a lot of fun to read. The movie stayed surprisingly true to the book, with a few necessary differences. The Pit of Despair is actually Prince Humperdinck's Zoo of Death: an underground, five-level zoo filled with every deadly animal you can think of so Prince Humperdinck can practice his hunting skills. The zoo has everything from fearsome rhinos and gorillas to speedy cheetahs to poisonous snakes and spiders. Nearly every day Humperdinck picks one to fight to the death. The existence of this zoo makes Inigo and Fezzik's rescue of Westley far more exciting than it was in the movie. There's one scene in which Inigo is fighting off some poisonous bats with his sword that reminded me of fighting the Keese in Zelda.
The book also had sharks instead of shrieking eels, which I was surprisingly disappointed by. A fantasy should have animals like shrieking eels, not boring, old sharks. They didn't even have laser beams attached to their heads or anything.
The first chapter of the book is filled with parenthetical asides that serve to place the story in time, though I'm not sure when that time is exactly. We're told that it takes place before Europe, but after Paris. After American and blue jeans (Westley is wearing blue jeans in one scene). After stew and taxes, though everything is after taxes, including stew. They add a lot to the overall satirical tone of the book.
The book also provides a lot of background for both Inigo and Fezzik. We get to see Count Rugen kill Inigo's father and Inigo's subsequent challenge of the Count leading to his twin scars. We follow Inigo on his quest to become a master swordsman until he eventually joins up with Vizzini. Likewise, we get to witness Fezzik's early childhood when he's bullied for his size, and his parent's attempts to use his fighting ability to make money. It's all rather tragic.
My favorite addition, though, is during Westley and Buttercup's reunion scene at the bottom of the ravine. In the movie, we get a sweet scene with professions of love. In the book, S. Morgenstern leaves the actual reunion out, and then backtracks to include Westley and Buttercup's first argument. Westley spends over a page talking about how beautiful Buttercup is (she is, at 21, the most beautiful woman in the world), and Buttercup responds with "yes, I know I'm beautiful, but I also have a brain!" I like it for two reasons. First we see that even true love isn't immune from arguments, and second we have a princess insisting that herprince pirate recognize that she's more than just a pretty face.
The ending of the book is also interesting, in that the reader is presented with three possibilities to choose from. We get the father's romantic ending, which they used for the movie:
I bought the 30th anniversary edition of The Princess Bride, which included a couple of extra introductions. These were fun to read, partially because it felt a bit like I was stripping back layers of time, and partially because William Goldman maintains that he simply abridged S. Morgenstern's classic work, which it turns out is a historical account of certain events in Florin. Goldman talks about going to the Florin history museum with his grandson, seeing Buttercup's wedding dress and Inigo Montoya's sword. He notes all the little kids, gathered around the sword, repeating that infamous line to themselves over and over. He also talks about the sequel to The Princess Bride, Buttercup's Baby, and the legal troubles he's had with the Morgenstern estate that are preventing him from abridging this book as well (in actuality, Goldman seems to have a severe case of writer's block). The first chapter is included at the end of the book with its own introduction. There is also a lengthy section talking about filming the movie, which was a lot of fun to read, even if Goldman's version of Andre the Giant doesn't mesh with the reality I've been told all my life.
The story itself was a lot of fun to read. The movie stayed surprisingly true to the book, with a few necessary differences. The Pit of Despair is actually Prince Humperdinck's Zoo of Death: an underground, five-level zoo filled with every deadly animal you can think of so Prince Humperdinck can practice his hunting skills. The zoo has everything from fearsome rhinos and gorillas to speedy cheetahs to poisonous snakes and spiders. Nearly every day Humperdinck picks one to fight to the death. The existence of this zoo makes Inigo and Fezzik's rescue of Westley far more exciting than it was in the movie. There's one scene in which Inigo is fighting off some poisonous bats with his sword that reminded me of fighting the Keese in Zelda.
The book also had sharks instead of shrieking eels, which I was surprisingly disappointed by. A fantasy should have animals like shrieking eels, not boring, old sharks. They didn't even have laser beams attached to their heads or anything.
The first chapter of the book is filled with parenthetical asides that serve to place the story in time, though I'm not sure when that time is exactly. We're told that it takes place before Europe, but after Paris. After American and blue jeans (Westley is wearing blue jeans in one scene). After stew and taxes, though everything is after taxes, including stew. They add a lot to the overall satirical tone of the book.
The book also provides a lot of background for both Inigo and Fezzik. We get to see Count Rugen kill Inigo's father and Inigo's subsequent challenge of the Count leading to his twin scars. We follow Inigo on his quest to become a master swordsman until he eventually joins up with Vizzini. Likewise, we get to witness Fezzik's early childhood when he's bullied for his size, and his parent's attempts to use his fighting ability to make money. It's all rather tragic.
My favorite addition, though, is during Westley and Buttercup's reunion scene at the bottom of the ravine. In the movie, we get a sweet scene with professions of love. In the book, S. Morgenstern leaves the actual reunion out, and then backtracks to include Westley and Buttercup's first argument. Westley spends over a page talking about how beautiful Buttercup is (she is, at 21, the most beautiful woman in the world), and Buttercup responds with "yes, I know I'm beautiful, but I also have a brain!" I like it for two reasons. First we see that even true love isn't immune from arguments, and second we have a princess insisting that her
The ending of the book is also interesting, in that the reader is presented with three possibilities to choose from. We get the father's romantic ending, which they used for the movie:
And they lived happily ever afterWe get S. Morgenstern's ending, which is far more ambiguous. The gang is escaping on their horses and seem to have a good lead...
However, this was before Inigo's wound reopened, and Westley relapsed again, and Fezzik took the wrong turn, and Buttercup's horse threw a shoe. And the night behind them was filled with the crescendoing sound of pursuit...And we get William Goldman's ending, in which the happiness is there but doesn't really last forever after:
And yes, they got away, And got their strength back and had lots of adventures and more than their share of laughs.
But that doesn't mean I think they had a happy ending either. Because, in my opinion anyway, they squabbled a lot, and Buttercup lost her looks eventually, and one day Fezzik lost a fight and some hotshot kid whipped Inigo with a sword and Westley was never able to really sleep because of Humperdinck maybe being on their trail.Personally, I like Goldman's ending.
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