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The Prince seeks to be king through any means necessary, and the safety of his bride to be is in reality, little more than an afterthought. The Man in Black is captured and brutally tortured, Buttercup returns (unwillingly) to her wedding preparations, and it looks like our fairy tale is going to come to a tragic and early end. Luckily, Inigo and Fezzik remain free and soon seek to join forces with the mysterious Man in Black to defeat the evil Prince and reunite Buttercup with her lost love.

What follows is a hilarious and endearing adventure that’s so easy to enjoy that you almost wish it was real. Yes, it sort of sounds like a garden variety fantasy that’ll make you want to lose your lunch, and that’s the Grandson’s initial reaction too. But a truly inquisitive mind can’t resist a good story, and as with all good stories, there’s something about these characters that makes the boy - and us - almost want to jump into the story ourselves and help them!

This is one of the few places where the film differs from the book - the original story contains a running narrative, but the particular device of the unnamed Grandfather and Grandson is not present in the book. But the film takes on an entirely different and media appropriate flavor because of the change. Where the book focused more on the story’s wry, satirical nature, the film seeks also to reconnect us all with what it means to believe in something that’s worth giving up everything for.

The Grandson is at that tender age where we first tend to stop believing in things like Santa Claus and Superman and start to see the world for the occasionally ugly place it can be. But the ability to develop strong motivating principles and stick to them is one that benefits anyone of any age and often, a simple story about a simple place like Florin is the best way to express such a fundamental idea. Westley and Buttercup are motivated by True Love, perhaps the most powerful Prime Mover in the universe. And Inigo Montoya and Fezzik are not really bad people - Inigo seeks to avenge the murder of his father, while the gentle giant Fezzik just wants to be loved and accepted. In keeping with another hallmark of great storytelling, all of our protagonists share different motivations that ultimately are satisfied by a single goal they achieve together and in the end, despite knowing that it’s just a story - it just makes you feel good to see how it all turns out.

True Love doesn’t really solve everything. Adoring someone with all your heart is an essential part of life that nobody should have to miss out on, but loving someone is easy - keeping them happy forever is the hard part. Of course, that’s the part that fairy tales never show us - Cinderella and Prince Charming may have ended up going through a bitter divorce and custody battle, for all we know. Maintaining a long term relationship is grueling work. Adhering to your principles in the face of hopeless odds takes grit and determination that not all of us have. And bearing misfortune with dignity and grace is a whole lot easier on paper than it is in practice. But they are elementary concepts that we all have to master to get the most out of life, and the earlier they’re learned the better.

The simplicity of learning should not be limited to our formative years - Peter Falk’s Grandfather serves not only to narrate the story to his young listener but to deliver an important maxim to all of us. And Fred Savage doesn’t just represent a cynical little boy, but every man woman and child who never learned, or grew to forget what it means to be special, and to make someone else feel that way too. At one point in the story the Man in Black advises Buttercup: “Life is pain; anyone who says differently is selling something.” It’s a cynical world view but sadly, there is some truth to it. Pain and sorrow and suffering come to us all at one point or another, but to possess strength of character, conviction and the unconditional love of someone who mirrors all of these things within themselves can go a long way toward pulling you through. Love is a powerful thing, and if you happen to disagree, I don’t think that word means what you think it means.

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