Review: Your Highness

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<em>Your Highness</em>Growing up in the 80s, I was a fan of many popular films and franchises of the time such as Ghostbusters, Star Trek, The Goonies and of course Star Wars. But the films that most captured my imagination were always swashbuckling "sword and sandal" films that set cold steel against fiery magic. Legend, Beastmaster, Clash of the Titans, Dragonslayer and Krull were some of my favorites, watched on endless repeat ... meaning of course we'd stop the videotape, rewind and play it again.

Writers Danny McBride and Ben Best and director David Gordon Green have brought back a glimpse of that silver age this week with Your Highness, a comedic romp through fantasy that sells itself as a stoner comedy but is surprisingly (and refreshingly) solid.

Prince Thadeous (McBride) is dealing with a serious case of second-child syndrome, yearning for the approval and pride his father heaps on older brother Fabious (James Franco). Seemingly unable to do anything right and unwililng to do anything as expected, Thadeous is ordered to accompany Fabious on a quest to rescue his fiancee Belladonna (Zooey Deschanel) from the clutches of evil wizard Leezar (Justin Theroux) and hopefully become a man in the process. They find help along the way from Isabel (Natalie Portman), who is on a quest of her own.

It would be easy to dismiss this movie for the lowbrow toilet and sexual humor, but all of the above-mentioned films include a smattering of comic relief. Even Shakespeare's plays were written with a bawdy humor that appealed to the masses of the time that when read literally may appear subtle but when performed would become painfully obvious. While some of the jokes in Your Highness are of the least-common-denominator variety, they are mostly hilarious, and unlike some of the more family-friendly comedies (Shrek comes to mind) the humor doesn't rely on current events and references that will soon become dated.

What Your Highness does quite well is pay homage to the material from which it draws inspiration. It is set in a generic fantasy land: there are two moons, so we know it isn't Earth. Characters, props, situations, even particular scenes or shots give a sly wink to geek favorites like Krull, The Seven Voyages of Sinbad or The Lord of the Rings. None is overstated, and my inner child rejoiced with each reference I caught.

Yes, Your Highness has a very childish spirit, but that is encompassed almost entirely in McBride's character as he comes of age in this adventure the way Will Ferrell does in so many of his films. It's not a stretch, though to believe each of the characters represents a different aspect of the childish personality. Deschanel's Belladonna is all wide-eyed innocence. Franco's Fabious is idealism and hope. Portman's Isabel is rage and scheming, and McBride's Thadeous is playful imagination. Even Theroux's Leezar represents selfishness and lust. These are all aspects of the teen and tween male psyche, and Your Highness will appeal to that crowd who will inevitably see it despite its R rating. But it also appeals to the boy still in me.

I was fortunate enough to attend a special triple-feature at the Alamo Drafthouse that began with The Sword and the Sorceror and ended with Krull, and included a themed menu and entertainment between films as well as a Q&A with McBride, Green and Theroux. A complete account of the event including video can be seen at BadAss Digest.