Woodyanders Unhappy eleven-year-old boy Kevin (a fine and engaging performance by Craig Warnack) inadvertently joins up with a gang of mischievous dwarfs who possess a map that enables them to travel through time and happily plunder treasure from famous historical figures. Meanwhile, Evil (a splendidly sardonic portrayal by David Warner) plots to obtain the map so he can rule the universe.Director Terry Gilliam, who co-wrote the witty and creative script with Michael Palin, displays a tireless and positively infectious go-for-broke inventiveness that's quite a joy to behold from start to finish, keeps the wildly entertaining story moving along at a constant snappy pace, ably crafts and maintains a fairly dark, yet blithely irreverent tone, delivers an uproarious array of inspired wacky gags (for example, an ogre's ship turns out to be a hat on top of a giant's head), further provides wickedly spot-on satirical swipes at free will, mindless greed, technology run amok, shallow consumerism and materialism, and the necessity for evil to exist in the world, and tops everything off with a genuinely startling bleak ending.A slew of sharp cameos from a terrific assortment of big names qualifies as an additional delightful plus: Ian Holm as a neurotic and irritable Napoleon, Sean Connery as the kindly King Agamemnon, John Cleese as a cheerfully doltish and polite Robin Hood, a deliciously droll Ralph Richardson as the prim'n'proper Supreme Being, Peter Vaughan as an ogre with a bad back, Katherine Helmond as the ogre's doting wife, and Palin and Shelley Duvall as lovers both in the Middle Ages and on board the Titanic. Tiny Ross, Kenny Baker, Jack Purvis, Malcolm Dixon, Mike Edmonds, and especially David Rappaport as rascally leader Randall are all extremely personable as the dwarfs. A real treat.

Mr-Fusion Even though the movie is bookended by chaos, and fueled by a sort of demented Terry Gilliam charm (not to mention the dark-but-funny violence) "Time Bandits" is really a kid's movie. And that's what I love about it: it's just a young boy stealing away on an adventure from his mundane existence. Add to that the trappings of a magical cosmic map, the gallop through the Napoleonic Wars, Ancient Greece and Medieval England, and a cadre of greedy dwarfs and it's a lot of fun. Even with that cast of familiar faces, David Warner handily steals the movie as Evil (like Sark from "TRON", only having more fun with it). And I love that the Supreme Being turns out to be a cheeky old British guy.It also ends with some sort of statement about modern technology, but that's just a last-minute zinger. What this really proves is that there's fun to be had in cult movies, and Sean Connery is awesome.7/10

christinaanthony-51207 I've watched this movie and I found it quite interesting. The story is written in a very creative and imaginative way, which fascinates me in a way. It's also quite addictive, because they're many interesting plots. As for the characters, Kevin, is very smart and intelligent and the 6 dwarfs represents selfishness and greediness. But they changed in the end and realized they're mistakes. The writer shows a very imaginative side of him in this movie, by basing the movie on time traveling through portals, and basing on good and bad. I really love the ending when the good side wins over the bad side but I don't really understand why Kevin's parent had to explode. Why can't they just end it with a happy ending like, Kevin return back to his normal life and no one find out what happen. It's just my own opinion on how to end the movie.

FlickFlip Terry Gilliam's made many movies throughout his career since being the American of the (Mostly) British comedy gang Monty Pyhton. He co-directed Holy Grail with the other Terry, Jones. Then Jabberwocky, and now this. I suggest having this be an introduction to Gilliam to your child in a double feature with the Baron's film for they are easily his most child friendly for seven or eight year olds (I'd hold off on Brazil until ten for the youngling, despite the briefness of the language and other R- rated things). Alright now, this may not be the most enjoyable seeing it for the first time as an adult. I'd think I'd have a higher enjoyment if I grew up on it. But that only means that you'd better show it to your kid during a history and adventure loving phase. Since I didn't grow up on it, I haven't the appreciation as someone raised with it. But I can't deny its quality, eight out of ten.