Defining Favourites: Time Bandits (1981)
This adventure through history as told by a Python is one of the best films ever made for children.
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Directed by Terry Gilliam
Screenplay by Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin
Produced by Terry Gilliam
Starring John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Michael Palin, Ralph Richardson, Peter Vaughan, David Warner, David Rappaport, Kenny Baker, Jack Purvis, Mike Edmonds, Tiny Ross, Craig Warnock
Running Time: 113 minutes
Premiere Date: July 2, 1981
There was a time when childrenâs movies could be more openly mean-spirited. Even then, while youâre watching movies like this you also canât help but feel like theyâre showing children everything that could be done on the screen, because the filmmakers behind such stories know exactly what they can handle watching. For director Terry Gilliam, whoâd perhaps be best known as the animator for Monty Python, takes on such a challenge for himself with Time Bandits, which may very well be one of the meanest childrenâs movies ever made â but thatâs also one among many reasons why itâs the best. Itâs a history lesson thatâs told in a way that children can digest, but most importantly, itâs also told in a way that they know they can have fun with.
For director Terry Gilliam, Time Bandits was the first of a âtrilogy of imaginationâ which was followed by Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. But when observing the three films as a thematic trilogy of sorts, it only fits that Time Bandits is the start, for itâs a movie all about how a child perceives the world around themselves. Which might very well be the perfect catalyst for the adventure that weâre seeing in here, as our protagonist Kevin (Craig Warnock) is a young British boy with a fascination with history. And his life is only about to get more exciting once the titular âtime bandits,â a group of time-travelling dwarves come into the picture.
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