I commend this reviewer on his obvious good taste ....

[d_aulnoy]

Occasionally, a DVD Special Edition is released with such thorough extras, reviewers can sit back in their hammocks and say, "My work here is done." The Princess Bride: Dread Pirate/Princess Buttercup Edition (two different covers are available) is one such case. Specifically, a 15-minute mini-doc titled "Love Is Like a Storybook Story," featuring literary scholars Helen Pilinovsky of Columbia University, Veronica Schanoes of the University of Pennsylvania, and novelist/screenwriter David Pesci will leave fans of the film so enlightened with insights and enthusiasms, it'll feel like a fresh coat of paint has been slapped onto a classic, bringing new life to that vintage model we all love.

Pilinovsky, Schanoes, and Pesci -- all huge fans of The Princess Bride film and novel -- lay out the complex evolution of fairy tales in straightforward terms, condensing the common tropes, themes, and traditions of fairy tales as they pertain to William Goldman's tongue-in-cheek updating of this classic narrative form. These talking heads seem to cover every relevant point about the film, from how the grandfather/grandson framing device (with Peter Falk and Fred Savage) carries on the oral tradition from which fairy tales first sprung to Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin), and Fezzik (Andre the Giant) being something of a conflicted, three-headed monster. The scholars argue that, together, the three men possess a seemingly unstoppable combination of intelligence, cunning, and strength. But two-thirds of this monster is good (Inigo and Fezzik) and so the monster's body cannot hold.

Additionally, if you're wondering what it was like for screenwriter William Goldman to see his 1973 novel stall for over a decade in turn-around hell before finally getting made in 1987, his audio commentary (taken from a previous DVD release of TPB) will more than satisfy. Goldman is not afraid to bite the Hollywood hand that feeds him and has several peripheral anecdotes about what he thinks is wrong with Tinseltown as a business and as a place. Director Rob Reiner provides a separate, also previously available commentary that is more practical and laced with on-set anecdotes, but its inclusion here is still appreciated ....

Kudos, Jason Woloski!  Kudos, Hollywood Elsewhere!  Kudos!

We are "talking heads".  Also, we eat up over half the space of a review that covers a great deal more than our 20 minutes of fame.  I have to admit, that's kind of ... gratifying.