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TV show review: CONTINUUM season 4
PHOTOGRAPHY

YOUR HIGHNESS

Blu-ray review by David Blackwell

 

DETAILS:  103 minutes (theatrical)/ 106 minutes (unrated), alternate and deleted scenes, extended scenes, gag reel and joke reel, making-of featurette, audio commentary, and extra comedic material

VIDEO:  2.40:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen)

AUDIO:  English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 DVS, Spanish, French DTS Surround 5.1, English 2.0 (extras)

Subtitles:  English SDH, French, Spanish

 

STUDIO:  Universal Pictures/ Stuber Pictures

Theatrical RELEASE DATE:  4-8-2011

DVD RELEASE DATE:  8-9-2011

ANALYSIS:   Prince Thadeous (Danny McBride) is a worthless sleazy prince in a fantasy kingdom.   He has a servant named Courtney (who continues to follow him despite all of the humiliation he goes through).  The movie starts (after a small prelude 100 years ago) with one of Thadeous's sleazy misadventures (that concludes in the illustrated title sequence with dwarves chasing him and courtney back to the kingdom because Thadeous slept with the Dwarf king's wife).   His brother, Prince Fabious (James Franco), is the perfect prince who goes on quests and makes the King proud.   Fabious has killed one of Lazar's evil beats and brought home Belladonna (Zooey Deschanel) which he intends to marry.   However, the evil wizard Lazar (Justin Thereoux) crashes the wedding to take back Belladonna which he intends to impregnate when the two moons converge (which happens once very 100 years).  If Lazar can have sex with a virgin, she will give birth to a dragon he can control and wreck havoc on the world.

 

The King orders Thadeous to join his brother Fabious in the quest to rescue Belladonna from Lazar or face banishment.   They go on their quest which is fraught with betrayal, danger, and male bonding humor.  They are joined in their quest by Isabel (Natalie Portman) who has her own reasons to kill Lazar.   Some icky moments are present like a pervert wizard who molested Fabious as a kid and other vulgar moments like how an evil ruler uses his hand to bring forth a beast.   The only way to kill Lazar is to find a magical unicorn sword with the help of a magical compass given to Fabious by the creepy molester wizard.

 

YOUR HIGHNESS is a funny and very vulgar fantasy comedy.  Think of it as the most funny Dungeons and dragons game you have played with friends or the 1980s type of fantasy film turned into a vulgar comedy.   Danny McBride is amusing while Natalie Portman plays it straight while Justin Theroux hams it up as the power mad evil magician (who I think needs to get laid more instead of listening to old crone witches).    The part of the film that sticks in my head most when one of the characters takes a trophy from a creature that is so funny (and yet so wrong at the same time).    I would love to see a sequel to YOUR HIGHNESS since this film is a reaction to fantasy films taking themselves too seriously which has sometimes resulted in bad films with horrible scripts (SEASON OF THE WITCH).    The ending leaves it open in true cliffhanger adventure style.

 

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Alternate and deleted scenes feature more jokes in addition to another musical sequence with James Franco and Zooey Deschanel and a dragon birthing sequence I wish was left in the final film.

15 minutes of extended scenes featuring some cut dialogue from various sequences.

 

LINE-O-RAMA is a montage of alternate jokes that didn't make the final reel and it is a funny companion to the gag reel which features flubbed lines

PERVERTED VISIONS contains more of Thadeous and Fabious's dirty visit to the Great Wise Wizard and features material dirtier that what made it into the final film.

A VISION OF LEEZAR has Justin Theroux making inappropriate faces and sounds

DAMN YOU GODS: THE MAKING OF YOUR HIGHNESS- a making-of that chronicles the pre-production and production of the film in addition to the origins of YOUR HIGHNESS and the teaming up of Danny McBride and director David Gordon Green (it goes back to college).

 

Audio commentary with Danny McBride, James Franco, Justin Theroux, and director David Gordon Green (with a video intro that I didn't get to play)

 

FINAL ANALYSIS:   YOUR HIGHNESS is vulgar and funny.  The extras are just like that too.

this review is (c)8-11-2011 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com