Additional Features
Though there are 1.33:1 versions available, this director approved Criterion DVD beautifully presents
Time Bandits in the film's intended 1:85:1 theatrical ratio.
Time Bandits was originally shot full screen (aspect ratio 1.33:1) with the intention of it being cropped to fit a widescreen format. Though non-anamorphic,
Time Bandits looks very crisp with well-balanced colors and nice contrasts. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround audio sounds very acceptable with no obvious flaws. With regards to extras, there is a "hands-off"
Time Bandits scrapbook that is fairly interesting. But what really sets this DVD apart is the stellar audio commentary by director Terry Gilliam, cowriter/actor Michael Palin, and actors John Cleese, David Warner, and Craig Warnock ("Kevin"). Gilliam and Warnock provide most of the commentary providing interesting anecdotes and amusing tales of behind-the-scenes shenanigans. These detailed tidbits of information are a "must have" for fans.
--Rob Bracco
Review
Terry Gilliam's 1981 children's fantasy film is a curious mixture of adventure, farce, and satire that is intermittently entertaining -- if occasionally eccentric to a fault. With a camera perched at knee level, Time Bandits is told from a child's point-of-view, but rather than adopting a sickeningly sweet sentimentality, Gilliam opts for an acerbic and often nasty tone that risked offending the very audience at which it purported to be aimed. The script's indebtedness to childrens' author Roald Dahl can be seen most obviously in the relationship between the main character and his parents, particularly in the amusingly explosive conclusion. Gilliam's state-of-the-art special effects are used, ironically enough, to attack a consumer society infatuated with the latest in technological advances -- a theme he would develop more convincingly in his next (and arguably best) film, Brazil. The dozen-or-so high profile cameos are not always effectively blended into the time-tripping storyline, but when they are, Gilliam's film takes on aspects of both the surreal and existential. David Warner is the most interesting of the adult-sized performers; his devilish charms are incessantly irresistible. ~ Dan Jardine, All Movie Guide
