Kevin, an 11-year-old British kid with apathetic parents, is in his room, sleeping. Suddenly, a knight bursts through his wardrobe, makes a mess of his room, and exits by smashing through his wall!—but in a flash, everything is back to normal. The next evening, Kevin arms himself with a flashlight and camera and waits for the knight to appear again. Instead, 5 little men stumble through his wardrobe and kidnap him. The men have stolen a map depicting the holes in the fabric of space-time, allowing them to use these holes for time travel. Kevin joins them as they time-hop from Napoleon-ravaged Italy, to the Sherwood Forest, to Ancient Greece, stealing as much as they can (hence: Time Bandits). Kevin’s knowledge of history, big heart, and integrity suit him well as he guides the locals, the bandits, and faces the personification of evil, itself!
This film is a tremendously fun, fantastical, sloppy, and silly romp. Part “The Princes Bride”, part “Bill and Ted”, part “The Lego Movie”, part “Monty Python”, and in the fashion of every 80’s fantasy flick—but predating almost all of it—“Time Bandits” is a heck of a recipe. Made by the inventive Terry Gilliam and costarring a few of his Python friends, film carries a great deal of whimsy and adventure, with a small, irreverent dose of Monty Python humor. That was almost a downside, as every time the Python humor kicked in (be it Cleese’s hilarious take at Robin Hood or Palin & Shelley Duvall’s “Vincent & Pansy”), I almost wanted to stay in that space. Still, I was endeared enough with the main story to continue with Kevin and the bandits.
I loved how fully formed the bandits’ characters were. While there were plenty of little people jokes, they ultimately weren’t just a punchline and you really grew to root for them. And Sean Connery’s unexpected cameo, and the surrogate father role he sort of plays for Kevin, was mostly heartwarming. The film felt sloppy in places and I feel like some of the themes would have been more potent if developed a little further. I love the unconventional way Gilliam shoots his films, but the characters can get lost in the richly detailed sets. Finally, I can’t help but be incredibly confused by the ending. Are we still in the fantasy? Was that real life? What’s up with Sean Connery? Why is the firetruck leaving? Am I overthinking it and I’m just supposed to go with it?!?!
Anyway, yeah. I loved this film’s spirit and had a few quibbles with its execution. Still prefer it to much of the fantasy genre and recommend giving it a watch!