Time Bandits

You don’t have to be a film critic to recognize the common elements in Terry Gilliam’s work. Beginning with his contributions to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the director always seemed to gravitate to the more ridiculous aspects of our society. For Gilliam you’re either swallowed by the industrial machine or in a constant state of revolt against the same. Neither option seems to be a good theme for a kids’ film, which, based strictly on circumstantial evidence, Time Bandits in generally agreed to be.

Gilliam’s second solo feature film is often disturbing, complex and mean-spirited. But it’s just as often hilarious, goofy and unarguably clever. All the ingredients are there for a fracturing of the classic fairy tale: seven dwarfs, magical maps, kings, queens, giants and ogres. But unlike Shrek, which simply littered its story with pop-culturisms for shock effect, Time Bandits goes much deeper down the theological rabbit hole.

Kevin (Craig Warnock) is a curious kid who goes completely unnoticed by his materialistic parents. So when he’s dragged off from his bedroom by a pack of time traveling dwarves using a map stolen from God himself, he’s not too broke up about what he leaves behind. After a couple of run-ins with historical figures he’d only read about in books – Napoleon (Ian Holm) and Robin Hood (John Cleese) – Kevin finds a new home with King Agamemnon (Sean Connery) who adopts him as his own son.

But his fellow time travelers insist on dragging him off for more profitable adventures, which leads to an epic showdown between good and Evil (personified in by actor David Warner) recruiting warriors from centuries past and technology decades in the future, all the while pursued by the Supreme Being (Ralph Richardson) who wants his stolen map returned.

Time Bandits sounds lighthearted on paper and Gilliam retains much of the whimsical Python look and feel (not to mention cast) throughout. But his visual execution is much more dark and threatening. This is a fairy tale decidedly unafraid to strike some fear into its audience from the opening scene to the final frame. The striking sets, miniatures and matte paintings create a seamless time of legends on a practical stage (no CGI yet, remember). Time Bandits looks like a movie worth two or three times a much as it cost to make.

But beyond the spectacle, it’s Gilliam’s boundless imagination that makes the movie work; prison cages suspended in an endless limbo, a huge three-masted sailing ship perched atop a giant’s head…even ogres with bad backs. Time Bandits is like a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure story put to film, episodic but still satisfying as a whole. There are pacing troubles (the Napoleon sequence is a dud to open the film) abd the finale seems like it would leave most kids scratching their heads while most of the modern satire would fly right over it. But Gilliam never talks down to his audience, whoever that may be. And as the first film in his so called Trilogy of Imagination (Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen completing it), one couldn’t ask for a more vivid example of imagination in action.

Time Bandits has popped up in several DVD and hi-def editions through the years, but none better than this new Criterion Blu-ray, which includes a new featurette entitled Creating the Worlds of Time Bandits along with an hour-plus interview with Gilliam to accompany his audio commentary where he’s joined by Michael Palin, John Cleese, David Warner and Craig Warnock. Some rare set photographs, trailers and a short 1981 interview with Shelley Duvall (who has a recurring role in the film) complete the set packaged with a clever reproduction of the Supreme Being’s map.