MovieChat Forums > Your Highness (2011) Discussion > Anyone get the sense this didn't start a...

Anyone get the sense this didn't start as a Comedy?

posted 13 years ago by brendanfoy
8 replies | jump to latest

when watching this film, and suffering through the repeated reliance on dick, sex, rape and molestation jokes, I noticed a shadow of a reasonably developed script with a standard but functional sword and sorcery plot, sub plot, and theme. This could have worked as a more genuine film with light hearted humor or parody thrown in like The Princess Bride, but instead we get a stoner sex comedy with sword and sorcery.

It just seems like someone wrote a script for a Fantasy film and it was hastily converted into a comedy using shock humor. They took every joke too far and dragged it out too long. I really wanted to like this film too, but it kept making me want to punch it in the face. It had none of that 80s B-movie sword and sorcery charm, and none of the sharp wit from The Princess Bride or Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

[–] Fluke_Skywalker 13 years ago

I think what they did--and it's one of the things I love about this movie and one of the biggest reasons why I believe it works so well--is play the basics straight. The score (Especially the score), the costumes, and the f/x would look right at home in a straight fantasy film. And the structure and story beats are also very traditional. What they did was marry the two, welding a stoner comedy onto the frame.

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[–] ChrEberle 12 years ago

Yeah, exactly - this is how it is made - and not like these horrible "movie" movies (Meet the Spartans for example... yuck!!!! WORST - MOVIE - EVER!!!)

Your Highness has great actors, amazing landscapes, great FX and a clichéd storyline that is just perfect.

The costumes are a hommage to these 1950s Knight-movies...very 'retro' - not like these almost authentic, amazingly crafted costumes and armours of modern fantasy movies (Lord of the Rings for example - amazing costumes, swords...)

And what "Your Highness" also did right: Using animatronic creatures (the pervert wizard; the minotaur) that have the good old 1980s charm (the good old times, when George Lucas movies looked good and not like cheap videogames!)

...so, yeah - "Your Highness" did everything right!

[–] Strazdamonas 12 years ago

You got it exactly. it was a average fantasy movie with a lot of unfunny jokes thrown in hoping to convert it to a comedy.

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[–] SoTyred 12 years ago

This horrible film prob could have been damn funny if the Python guys had a go at the script (of which there apparently was none).

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] OnkelCannabia 12 years ago

I think it actually was what made the movie somewhat bearable. The whole Epic/Fantasy/Disaster movie crapfest tries so hard to maximize the amount of silly jokes that it just comes out looking desperate and incoherent at the end. I didn't really like the movie but compared to the embarrassingly silly slapsticks movies we had recently this was a step in the right direction. Point is, if you're gonna do slapstick you better have some really good jokes to fill a complete movie, if not fill it with a story instead of throwaway jokes.

[–] madmax17 12 years ago

Possibly.. it started as a high-budget porno.