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A delirious action-adventure fantasy directed by Monty Python's Terry Gilliam, Time Bandits is in some ways an updated version of The Wizard of Oz. The surreal tale follows a wee lad as he hops through time, accompanied all the while by a band of six hyperactive dwarves who harbor the "Supreme Being's" map of the universe and its hidden time portals. Together the boy and his compatriots tour Agamemnon's Greece, Robin Hood's Sherwood forest, and the Titanic as it cruises toward its destiny. But the so-called Evil One (David Warner) wants the map too; his epic pursuit results in a dazzling showdown involving cowboys from the Old West and knights from the Middle Ages. Time Bandits also features a superb supporting cast that includes Ralph Richardson as the Supreme Being, Sean Connery as Agamemnon, and Monty Python member John Cleese as Robin Hood. (Cleese also cowrote the film with Gilliam and Python mainstay Michael Palin.) Gilliam's phantasmagoric imagery is highly theatrical and riveting. Time Bandits is a fine precursor to the director's later, even more visually stunning work in Brazil. Monica McIntyre

All Movie Guide

A young boy joins a group of renegade dwarves on an unpredictable journey through time in this humorous fantasy. Monty Python animator Terry Gilliam mostly achieves a tricky balancing act in his second feature as sole director, creating a dark, irreverent comedy disguised as a family adventure. Particularly amusing are the boy's encounters with various historical figures, including an entertainment-starved Napoleon (Ian Holm), a powerful Agamemnon (Sean Connery), and a surprisingly stuffy Robin Hood, embodied by Gilliam's Python cohort John Cleese. Episodic by nature, the film is less successful when dealing with the larger narrative, which concerns the pursuit of the dwarves and their time-traveling map by the Supreme Being. However, the combination of Gilliam's visual exuberance and the witty script (by Gilliam and Michael Palin) ensures an entertaining, if erratic, journey. Judd Blaise

Product Details

• UPC: 013131408980
• Source: STARZ / ANCHOR BAY
• Language: English
• Time: 1:56:00

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