Gilliam said he purposely wanted the story to be scary for little kids because that's the way good fairy tales should be.
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Terry Gilliam is the Python who did all the animation for the Monty Python TV shows and movies. You know when you see his name as director that the film is going to be creative, original, and more than a little wacky. Think of "Brazil," "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," or "Twelve Monkeys." Working with some of his Python cronies, Gilliam has made an engaging fairy tale in "Time Bandits," one that very much points to his later ambitions in "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen."
While "Time Bandits" may not have enough humor or enough action to satisfy hard-core fans of comedy or adventure films, it does provide sufficient visual splendor and pure invention to qualify as a successful fantasy. A careful transfer to DVD ensures that its charms come across splendidly on the small screen.
The narrative tells us that in His rush to create the heavens and Earth, God left a few odds and ends unattended, like holes in the fabric of time. The time bandits are a group of dwarfs who have stolen a map of creation from the Supreme Being that locates these time portals, and they are using the map to hop from one century to another robbing people. When the movie begins, these dwarfs mistakenly come crashing through the bedroom closet of a boy named Kevin (Craig Warnock). This is a blessing for Kevin as he is a very bright, imaginative lad who is chained down by a pair of boring, middle class, totally lackluster parents more interested in their household appliances than in their kid. The dwarfs take Kevin with them on their misadventures, among which are jaunts to Napoleon's campaign in Italy, Robin Hood's England, Agamemnon's Greece, the Time of Legends, and the Fortress of Ultimate Darkness. All the while, the Evil One is trying to get his hands on the map, and the film ends with a confrontation between God and the Devil. How's that for a story!
With a tale of such scope and fancy, why then does it not come off as well as it should? "Time Bandits" is like a Gilliam cartoon come to life. Its aspirations are greater than its achievements. Portions of it are brilliant; other sections border on the tedious. In fact, some of it is downright labored, especially the dwarfs, who get tiresome with their Three Stooges antics. So let me tell you about a few of the better parts. Michael Palin, who helped write the script, is delightful in two small cameos, appearing each time as an effete gentleman with Shelley Duvall as his companion. John Cleese makes a wonderfully funny, erudite, and urbane Robin Hood in one of the film's sharpest segments. Sean Connery appears as King Agamemnon, strongly cast as a rugged, heroic, yet compassionate protector. Ian Holm is a fussy little Napoleon, obsessed with his diminutive stature. David Warner as the devil is cynically sinister, wanting to start the world all over again from his own futile set of plans, beginning with computers rather than gardens. And Sir Ralph Richardson plays a splendidly dapper God, a fixer-uppper who longs for a little order in His universe.
We also find a terrific-looking giant, wearing a sailing ship for a cap, who appears to have walked straight out of a Monty Python cartoon. And there's an amusingly gentle ogre with back trouble, whose wife is meaner than he is. The film casts more than a passing nod to "The Wizard of Oz," the 1940 version of "The Thief of Bagdad," a little "Star Wars," and, of course, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."
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[release]1784[/release]