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image Review by CinemaSerf

The biggest problem I have with this is that, well, it just isn't very funny! It centres on Michael Palin's "Dennis Cooper" - a man who determines that to win the hand of his true love "Griselda" (Annette Badland) he must enter the vile and filthy city of King "Bruno the Questionable" (Max Wall) and prove his worth with some magnificent deed of derring-do. The deed, well that is to rid the kingdom of a pesky dragon - "the Jabberwocky". Right from the get-go, the would be fairy tale romance is so implausible as to go from mildly amusing at first to downright irritating after about ten minutes. Thereafter, a cast of British theatrical stalwarts and comedians do try to keep this film vaguely entertaining, but the humour is just far too contrived and piecemeal. Palin works hard, but the exhaustion in having to stretch this thinnest of stories out for 1¾ hours is writ large on his face until, by the end, even he looks like he is thinking - "Please, let's just get this over with". "Star Wars" fans might spot "Darth Vader" himself and from a star-spotting perspective, there is some value in the film but otherwise it is a poorly conceived and executed attempt at a fantasy adventure and my money was always on the dragon!