Erik the Viking (DVD)

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"Erik the Viking" strikes me as a love-it-or-hate-it film. Even Monty Python fans might be divided on this one, because it's a Norse of a slightly different color. The entire Monty Python crew was originally onboard, but when Graham Chapman died, the project was abandoned. But Pythoner Terry Jones had a vested interest. "Erik the Viking" was based on a children's fantasy book that Jones wrote, so he went full speed ahead and convinced John Cleese to serve as a last-minute replacement. So there are two Python members in a film that isn't your typical Monty Python comedy, plus Tim Robbins in the title role, Mickey Rooney as Erik's grandfather, and a motley crew that's probably more fun to watch than anybody. In the end, though, Python fans may think that the film suffers because it's not the "full Monty."

What's more, those who saw it in theaters and actually liked it (sorry, but you're in the minority) will be annoyed that after a nearly 20-year wait, the film that's finally coming to DVD isn't the theatrical version. It's the "Director's Son's Cut," which sounds like a gag, but it's for real. Jones says on a bonus feature that he was never happy with the theatrical version and so he allowed his film-editor son, Bill, to re-cut the film. George Akers edited the original 106-minute release, but the younger Jones took a Viking axe-sized chunk out of the 1989 version. He rearranged scenes and lopped off close to 30 minutes of footage, all with dad's blessing, and all because that children's book was dedicated to him.

I can't tell you if it's better than the original, because I never saw the theatrical version. I can tell you that I've seen better Python films. I'm a big fan of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and "Life of Brian," but I found the laughs harder to come by in this anachronistic satire.

If you've recently seen "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," some of this might seem oddly familiar. Tim Robbins plays a Viking who has a gentle side. When he enters a tent and grabs a female, she's pretty amazed that he doesn't try to rape her (bear with me--that's not the familiar part). It turns out he doesn't believe in it. Pillaging and plundering, sure, because that's how you finance the next expedition. But rape? It seems unnecessary, and unnecessarily cruel. But being a Viking is a bit like being a pirate, and the girl he takes a fancy to he accidentally kills. So (here's where the similarity comes in) he and his crew sail to the end of the earth and fly their ship right off the edge to Valhala, so Erik can ask the gods to stop the Age of Ragnarok (the age of killing) and maybe bring the girl back to the world of the living. The jumping-off point is an idyllic island called Hy-Brasil, where Erik has to blow a giant ram's horn to awaken the gods, and the King (Jones) and his subjects are so peaceful it's almost annoying. The Hy-Brasilians are also so much in denial about negative things that it's funny, in a pathetic sort of way.