Review of Time Bandits (1981) by Faisal A — 08 Sep 2013

Very enjoyable and clever time travelling adventure, but it does feel bloated at times, and could have been trimmed down by 20 minutes. There is a large story arc involved and a lot of great ideas explored as we get to see the lead child character go through this journey whereby he learns more about himself by experiences various happenings and understanding the nature of man and god. I'm always interested in whatever Terry Gilliam or the other 5 Python members write and work on, and this film definitely captures the elements I admire about him in particular very much: Surreal, flamboyant, meaty and unique. The movie does suffer from a few a too many cornball antics, jokes and few too many overlong set pieces. And of course, action has never been one of Gilliam's strongpoints (even if it can be creative), and here it tends to not find the right pacing.

With all that said and done, I think any kid over the age of 7 can sit and watch this with their parents and older siblings, and all can take something away from this experience. The movie was close to being a masterpiece for me but Gilliam has found that masterpiece in the far superior time travel film, "Twelve Monkeys" (1995).