***1/2 (out of ****)
Starring Craig Warnock, David Rappaport, Kenny Baker, Sean Connery, Jack Purvis, Ian Holm, Peter Vaughn, David Warner, Jim Broadbent, Mike Edmonds, Malcolm Dixon, Tiny Ross, Sir Ralph Richardson, Michael Palin, Derek O’Connor, and Shelley Duvall
Directed by Terry Gilliam & written by Gilliam and Michael Palin.
1981 PG
Terry Gilliam’s “Time Bandits” accomplishes what few films can: it is successful as what it is, and as a parody of what it is. Most films that attempt this are squishy and uncertain. They seem to include parody as an afterthought only because they realize how insubstantial they are. But “Time Bandits” works both as a plucky boy’s (Craig Warnock) adventures with a band of dwarves as they travel through time, and as a spoof of children’s movies.
The dwarves (led by David Rappaport and including R2D2 himself, Kenny Baker) come in through a magic portal in his bedroom wall. He’s a good kid, and loves adventure books way more than television, and he is soon part of their thieving band. Turns out, as they explain to the boy, that when the universe was put together—by them, no less, as God’s employees—magic portals were left everywhere, all through history. This leads them to adventures with Napoleon (Ian Holm), Agamemnon (Sean Connery), and Robin Hood (John Cleese, like Gilliam an alum of “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”), all the while being chased by the Evil Genius (David Warner), who hopes to use the portals throughout time for his own advantage. Along the way there are sword fights, a siege, a minotaur, trolls, a giant, a demonic castle that proves to be made of Legos, and an escape from cages suspended over a pit of an eternal black void, all rendered at exotic locations with sumptuous art direction.
All this fascinated me when I was a wee one, especially the lair of the Evil Genius, which is a witch’s coven updated with all manner of machinery. But what keeps me coming back to “Time Bandits” is that, unlike most so-called family movies, this film really works on another level as a parody of kid flicks. For starters there’s no pandering about how every parent loves his child; the boy’s parents sit on plastic-covered furniture, watching absurd game shows, obsessed with consumer goods, and ignoring the kid most of the time.
Little boy: “Dad, did you know the Romans had to learn thirty-two different forms of unarmed combat?”
Dad (utterly disinterested): “Yeah, but I bet they didn’t have a two-speed hedge cutter.”
The film is packed with all sorts of quirks and parodies. There’s the musical number. I never liked singing and dancing when I was little, and the singing and dancing in “Time Bandits,” on behalf of the dwarfs, deteriorates into a bloody-nose brawl. There’s the kid himself, who is bright and inventive, but almost utterly passive and goes along with whatever asinine plan will almost certainly lead them into trouble. Then there are all the little Python-esque touches thrown in, including two married goblins who bicker to such extremes that they fail to notice the giant that steps on them and their house. And there’s some debunking: except for Connery as King Agamemnon, all the historical figures turn out to be less noble and a lot funnier than what the boy thought they would be, especially John Cleese’s Robin Hood. Cleverest of all is the masterplan of the Evil Genius, who hopes to restart the universe the way that Donald Trump might, with digital watches on the first day of creation instead of God letting there be light. (Astute viewers will notice that Evil’s lair is covered with the same clear plastic as the boy’s house.) When rattling off all of God’s follies, in a pompous speech to his slow-witted henchmen, he makes sure to include “nipples on men!” as part of God’s incompetence. The dwarfs themselves are a motley gang of thieves, robbing without scruple, and include one named Vermin (Tiny Ross), who is rumored to eat anything (at one point he gnaws on a candlestick like it’s corn-on-the-cob). Part of what caused them to become thieves is a labor dispute with the Almighty.
“Time Bandits” is the work of Monty Python alumni Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin. It has nothing to do with the Python series, save that it has their complete unwillingness to obey conventions. It is a gleeful, wicked, fast-paced, and energetic film, filled with special effects but not at all doting on them as a lesser film might, and very funny. Next to Cleese, the best performances are by David Warner and Ralph Richardson as Satan and God, the former bellowing out diatribes and blowing up his henchmen, the latter clearing his throat a lot and consulting a day planner. Jim Broadbent, who has gone on to fame with “Topsy-Turvy,” “Moulin Rouge,” and an Oscar-winning turn in “Iris,” has a cameo as the host of a degrading game show. “Time Bandits’” only serious drawback is how little is accomplished as Our Heroes leap from era to era; like the episodic children’s adventures it spoofs, the characters do not learn or grow as they go from place to place, except for their final confrontation with God and the Evil Genius. The film even ends back where it began—sort of—but this, too, may be part of the parody. There’s no tidy lesson or growing experience for the wee one at the end of “Time Bandits.” This is the biggest surprise you can pull in a movie ostensibly geared for families.
P.S. “Time Bandits” is now available on DVD, with an hilarious audio commentary featuring John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, David Warner, and Craig Warnock, as well as production stills and trailers.
Finished June 17, 2002
Copyright © 2003 Friday & Saturday Night
Back to home.