Your Highness

I have just seen this at a preview screening in London.

I'm not actually a fan of low brow humour but I found myself laughing and chuckling throughout this filthy mouthed, very gory, medieval sword and sorcery fantasy comedy. Its mainly because the cast is very likable with its main leads resonating off each other in this pool of silliness which makes the film highly entertaining. While James Franco and Danny McBride provides the laughter and brotherly banter, Natalie Portman strides in with stunning gravitas as a deceptive sexy swashbuckling heroine.

The storyline is a simple action adventure journey to save a damsel in distress from a warlord. But this not a naked gun style comedy, rather a humorous homage to classic fantasy movies such as Dark Crystal, Conan the Barbarian, Princess Bride etc. What's surprising is that the adventure is rather genuine and exciting with a huge dose of special effects that a comedy shouldn't really be allowed to have. I believe the film was given a normal comedy level budget but they certainly seem to have made clever use of it with some impressive special effects.

Yes there is much sexual jokes and innuendos and a heavy reliance on uncharacteristic medieval expletive adjectives to force a laugh but the charm of the characters makes them get away with it.

Having said all of the above, there were clearly some pacing issues and missed opportunities for this to be an even funnier and smarter movie but as it is, it offers plenty of entertainment, fun and laughs for a Friday/Saturday evening at the cinema.

This movie was made to make you laugh and that is exactly what it does. No real depth or signifigant underlying message to speak of, just a lot of raunchy humor to split your sides. I laughed the whole way through the movie and you will too if you have at least one funny bone in your body. There is so much filthy humor in this movie that is in no way suitable for children, but hey we adults need some idiocracy of our own every now and then and that is exactly what this movie brings to the table. Purely brilliant idiocracy. The best kind there is. It has a great cast and Danny McBride is hilarious as usual. Definitely worth watching. Be forewarned, it is DIRTY!!!

Okay, I can understand why people mayn't like this film, the story while simple and often charming is also predictable and daft and the gags are on the puerile and lowbrow side. The script however while going overboard perhaps with the expletives is very funny and perhaps quotable. It is a well made movie, with good cinematography, clean and colourful sets and costumes that look more than fancy dress. The characters are engaging and charming particularly Deschannel's character. The cast are terrific, Danny McBride looks clearly comfortable and Zooey Deschannel is also in an ideal role. Natalie Portman is both sexy and feisty, Justin Thereaux nearly steals the show and Charles Dance and Toby Jones are a delight to watch. Overall, not for everybody but while not the best of the year I can think of much worse ways to spend your time. 7/10 Bethany Cox

They say that there is no such thing as a bad idea for a movie, just bad executions of ideas. I was open to the idea behind "Your Highness" - after all the spin on this sword and sorcery world - mixing stoner and frat boy humor into this pot is an original one. All I was asking that the movie be funny doing this. Sadly, the movie isn't that funny at all. Stoner and frat boy humor can be funny, but all this dumb humor has to be executed with some intelligence to work. But the filmmakers of this movie seem to be thinking at the level of a brain-dead adolescent. The movie thinks that simply spouting off curse words is hilarious, but it simply isn't. The actors do their best, but the low-level mentality of the entire enterprise ultimately sinks the movie. The best I can say for this failure is that it is seldom boring. Stupid and intelligence-insulting, yes. But not boring.

Seriously what's wrong with people?

Here, we have ourselves one of the best hommages to the fantasy genre.

It has everything. Evil sorcerers, monsters, battles, conspiracy, cart chases, lush sets and costumes, an army of good actors.

What's not to like?

There's even a great score that is worthy of a great fantasy movie.

Oh yeah, and most of the people who made this were probably stoned the whole time.

Your Highness manages to balance everything almost perfectly.

Despite all its sillyness, it *still* works perfectly as an immersive fantasy movie.

It is probably best seen in a double feature after "Stardust", another tongue-in-cheek fantasy movie that is admittedly more polished, but similar in its approach.

Your Highness just has more THC in it.