Time Bandits (1981)
Average Rating: 8/10
Reviews Counted: 38
Fresh: 36 | Rotten: 2
Time Bandits is a remarkable time-travel fantasy from Terry Gilliam, who utilizes fantastic set design and homemade special effects to create a vivid, original universe.
Average Rating: 7/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 1
Time Bandits is a remarkable time-travel fantasy from Terry Gilliam, who utilizes fantastic set design and homemade special effects to create a vivid, original universe.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 47,816
My Rating
Movie Info
A young boy joins a group of renegade dwarves on an unpredictable journey through time in this humorous fantasy. Monty Python animator Terry Gilliam mostly achieves a tricky balancing act in his second feature as sole director, creating a dark, irreverent comedy disguised as a family adventure. Particularly amusing are the boy's encounters with various historical figures, including an entertainment-starved Napoleon (Ian Holm), a powerful Agamemnon (Sean Connery), and a surprisingly stuffy Robin
Nov 6, 1981 Wide
Mar 30, 1999
Paramount Home Video
Watch It Now
Cast
-
John Cleese
Robin Hood -
Sean Connery
Agamemnon -
Shelley Duvall
Pansy -
Katherine Helmond
Mrs. Ogre -
Ian Holm
Napolean -
Michael Palin
Vincent -
Ralph Richardson
Supreme Being -
Peter Vaughan
Ogre -
David Warner
Evil Genius -
David Rappaport
Randall -
Kenny Baker
Fidgit -
Jack Purvis
Wally -
Malcolm Dixon
Strutter -
Tiny Ross
Vermin -
Craig Warnock
Kevin -
Terence Bayler
Lucien -
Jim Broadbent
Compere -
David Daker
Kevin's Father -
Frances De La Tour
Salvation Army Major -
Derek Deadman
Robert -
Winston Dennis
Bull-headed Warrior -
Tony Jay
Supreme Being -
Peter Jonfield
Arm Wrestler -
Leon Lissek
Refugee -
Preston Lockwood
Neguy -
Andrew MacLachlan
Fireman -
Neil McCarthy
2nd Robber -
Declan Mulholland
3rd Robber -
Derrick O'Connor
Robber Leader -
Marcus Powell
Horse Flesh -
Jerold Wells
Benson -
John Young
Reginald -
-
David Leland
Puppeteer -
Charles McKeown
Theater Manager -
Sheila Fearn
Kevin's Mother -
Myrtle Devenish
Beryl -
Mark Holmes
Troll Father -
-
Del Baker
Greek Fighting Warrior -
Martin Carroll
Baxi Brazilla III -
Edwin Finn
Supreme Being's Face
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Time Bandits Trailer & Photos
All Critics (38) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (44) | Rotten (3) | DVD (33)
When you can count the laughs in a comedy on the fingers of one hand, it isn't so funny.
Top CriticThe film is resolutely, passionately antiadult, yet much of the humor has an adult sophistication and edge to it; this is one kids' movie that doesn't condescend.
Gilliam fills the screen with bizarre images, and directs with a breathless ingenuity.
Amazingly well-produced. The historic locations are jammed with character and detail. This is the only live-action movie I've seen that literally looks like pages out of Heavy Metal magazine.
A cheerfully irreverent lark -- part fairy tale, part science fiction and part comedy.
Perhaps the greatest characteristic attributable to Time Bandits is its sense of invention. The movie does so many things, all of them well.
Frequent bursts of twisted humour, several flashes of horror and a ton of first-class Brit cameos combine to ensure their movie never ages.
An intoxicating dose of children's entertainment of the rarest and weirdest and most delirious kind.
Fun fantasy has a bit of bite.
Adults will get this movie, but kids won't.
An underwhelming Blu-ray to remind viewers that the problems with Terry Gilliam's recent films are not an entirely new development.
one of the greatest of children's fantasy movies
A smart and imaginative fantasy with appeal for the whole family is always cause for celebration...Time Bandits rivals Roald Dahl in its surrealism and satire. [Blu-ray]
Time Bandits remains Fantasy 101, and a must-see for people who enjoy this kind of fare.
It's a film for kids that adults really will enjoy. A feast for the eyes with great gags and an intelligent and well realised morality.
This film is unusually dark for a modern children's film. At times a grimly comic fairy tale, Time Bandits offers little reassurance. It's a tough world out there--even in our imaginative life. Perhaps that is why we need heroes so badly.
Over praised but imaginative sci-fi/fantasy from Monty Python minds.
For a kids film this is pleasingly dark with Gilliam delivering as much classical fairy tale as knockabout comedy.
Audience Reviews for Time Bandits
Super Reviewer
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- Supreme Being: Dead? No excuse for laying off work.
-
- Fidgit: What happened?
- Wally: I'm sorry I killed you, Fidgit.
-
- Supreme Being: Do be careful. Don't lose any of that stuff. That's concentrated evil.
-
- Kevin: Mom! Dad! It's evil! Don't touch it!
-
- Randall: Well, this map, Kevin, used to belong to the Supreme Being.
- Kevin: You mean you stole it?
- Randall: No, no. Well, sort of.
-
- Evil Genius: If I were creating the world I wouldn't mess about with butterflies and daffodils. I would have started with lasers, eight o'clock, Day One!
Discussion Forum
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Latest News on Time Bandits
March 31, 2011:
Producers Plan Time Bandits RebootHave you ever watched "Time Bandits" and wished someone would turn it into a kid-friendly action...
September 7, 2010:
Gilliam Loses Don Quixote Funding; Plans 3-D Time BanditsJust when it looked like Terry Gilliam might finally get his Don Quixote project made, funding has...
February 6, 2008:
Total Recall: A Treasure Trove of Cinematic GoldThis week we'll be looking at three films that provide three unique perspectives on the familiar...
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Foreign Titles
- Bandits, bandits (FR)
- Los ladrones del tiempo (ES)
