Watch This! The Princess Bride

Our first movie of the month happens to rank among my all time favorite movies...ever. This is a movie which I can always watch, anytime, no matter my mood, and it will make me smile. Every time.

Like the book it was adapted from, the story of The Princess Bride is being told to a sick little boy by his Grandfather. The framing of the storybook gives you leave not to take the (rather absurd) story seriously, or at least not entirely seriously. Basically, Wesley is a farmhand who falls in love with Buttercup, a beautiful but air-headed girl. Wesley wants to make money for marriage, so he sets sail for distant lands, but his ship is captured along the way, and he is lost. And that is why Buttercup, concluding that she will never love again anyhow, becomes engaged to Prince Humperdinck, becoming the princess bride the title promised.

The delightfully silly story continues on with a kidnapping, sword fighting, battles of wit, and of course the infamous revenge story between Inigo Montoya and the six fingered man. The details make this movie the charming romp that it is, and of course you must watch it to appreciate that.

But since I'm including this in Romance Month, I am required to talk about the couple. Wesley and Buttercup have the simplest and most uncomplicated form of fairytale love there is to be had. They look at each other, and realize they're in love, and that's the end of that. Their journey to being together is fantastical in that it includes the overcoming of piracy and treachery and death. Most of the overcoming is done by Wesley, who is in all ways awesome--good at everything, persistent, and stubborn. Buttercup, on the otherhand, is intentionally useless. She is dumb and she is helpless, but she is pretty. He one credible trait is loyalty, and faith, in believing that Wesley will find a way to save her, always. And so, in this way, this is perhaps not my favorite story in terms of romance, despite the fact that it is a favorite movie.

I can't imagine there are that many people who haven't yet seen this movie--it's so much fun that it would be a crime not to see it.