05-02-2020, 09:24 AM
I almost skipped this one, thinking I'd seen it before. Nope, definitely not.
Two hapless fools try to get back to their village after a military misadventure. In the process, they stumble upon a hidden mountain fortress where a spunky princess hides out with a handful of loyal protectors (Mifune and Shimura among them). The fools find themselves roped into helping the group get the princess back to her realm, along with a large amount of gold to finance a new army.
Along the way they have many adventures, and though they seem beaten time and again, somehow they always find a way to survive.
The two hapless fools are certainly not the protagonists (or antagonists) in this tale, but they work extremely well, serving not only as bookends but providing comic relief throughout. All in all, a rousing adventure with the emphasis on (often implausible) escapes from cliff-hanger situations.
It wasn't until after I watched this that I did some reading up and discovered (doh!) that it was the inspiration for Tobe Hooper's Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Okay, just kidding. Lucas's Star Wars. Yeah, on reflection, it's all there, or a whole lot of it.
The princess (Misa Uehara) works very well in this. With theatrically arched eyebrows, she's smart, spunky, sexy, and though she's disguised as a peasant, she just cannot suppress her princess attitude.
A fun romp.
Two hapless fools try to get back to their village after a military misadventure. In the process, they stumble upon a hidden mountain fortress where a spunky princess hides out with a handful of loyal protectors (Mifune and Shimura among them). The fools find themselves roped into helping the group get the princess back to her realm, along with a large amount of gold to finance a new army.
Along the way they have many adventures, and though they seem beaten time and again, somehow they always find a way to survive.
The two hapless fools are certainly not the protagonists (or antagonists) in this tale, but they work extremely well, serving not only as bookends but providing comic relief throughout. All in all, a rousing adventure with the emphasis on (often implausible) escapes from cliff-hanger situations.
It wasn't until after I watched this that I did some reading up and discovered (doh!) that it was the inspiration for Tobe Hooper's Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Okay, just kidding. Lucas's Star Wars. Yeah, on reflection, it's all there, or a whole lot of it.
The princess (Misa Uehara) works very well in this. With theatrically arched eyebrows, she's smart, spunky, sexy, and though she's disguised as a peasant, she just cannot suppress her princess attitude.
A fun romp.
I'm nobody's pony.
