I rewatched this movie for the first time in almost 10 years to see if it still held up. Did it? Kind of. The first 20-30 minutes are great, the last 20 minutes are great, but the middle really drags.
Everything from the beginning of the film to the point where the knights split up is superb. The false opening, the second false opening, coconuts, swallows, "tis but a scratch", monster hand turning the book pages, the Trojan bunny, that stuff was great. Once the knights split up, the movie screeches to a dead halt for 40 minutes. The scenes were basically unrelated skits that meandered about to pad the running time to theatrical length. This wouldn't be so bad if these scenes were at least funny, but they weren't. I didn't laugh or even chuckle once through this whole stretch. Sir Robin, Galahad, Lancelot, none of it did it for me. The Knights Who Say Ni was the only somewhat humorous thing, mostly because of how stupid it was. Once they reunite, things start picking up again. The killer bunny, The Man From Scene 24 at the bridge, intermission, getting arrested, all classic stuff.
Had the middle section been heavily trimmed, this could have been fantastic, but that middle section really bogged the movie down to just "very good" for me. Apart from the humor, I'll say the film looks good given its small budget, and the foggy locations give it some nice atmosphere. Comedy can be very subjective, so how much you enjoy this film is dependent on your sense of humor. If you're not a fan of British humor, you're going to hate it, but if the first half hour grabs you, you'll probably enjoy it.
Everything from the beginning of the film to the point where the knights split up is superb. The false opening, the second false opening, coconuts, swallows, "tis but a scratch", monster hand turning the book pages, the Trojan bunny, that stuff was great. Once the knights split up, the movie screeches to a dead halt for 40 minutes. The scenes were basically unrelated skits that meandered about to pad the running time to theatrical length. This wouldn't be so bad if these scenes were at least funny, but they weren't. I didn't laugh or even chuckle once through this whole stretch. Sir Robin, Galahad, Lancelot, none of it did it for me. The Knights Who Say Ni was the only somewhat humorous thing, mostly because of how stupid it was. Once they reunite, things start picking up again. The killer bunny, The Man From Scene 24 at the bridge, intermission, getting arrested, all classic stuff.
Had the middle section been heavily trimmed, this could have been fantastic, but that middle section really bogged the movie down to just "very good" for me. Apart from the humor, I'll say the film looks good given its small budget, and the foggy locations give it some nice atmosphere. Comedy can be very subjective, so how much you enjoy this film is dependent on your sense of humor. If you're not a fan of British humor, you're going to hate it, but if the first half hour grabs you, you'll probably enjoy it.