‘Your Highness’ Review

Release Date: 4/8/11

Your Highness is a typical run-of-the-mill action/adventure/fantasy/comedy. Ok, maybe not so typical. Director David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express, Snow Angels, All the Real Girls) didn’t have a firm grip on what kind of movie he really wanted to make. It was at different times reminiscent of The Never Ending Story, Star Wars, Labyrinth, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Ghostbusters, Sleeping Beauty, Lord of the Rings, Willow, and The Princess Bride. Throw in a lot of cursing and you have Your Highness.

The plot is simple. James Franco plays Fabious, the brave and heroic son, while his brother, Thadeus (Danny McBride), is the laughingstock of the town and a disappointment to his father. When Fabious returns from yet another valiant quest, he proves once again to be the favorite and most respected brother. He also brings with him a beautiful bride to be, Belladonna, played by Zooey Deschanel. During their wedding ceremony the following day, the evil wizard Leezar (Justin Theroux) shows up to steal Belladonna back, as he had her held prisoner in his tower before Fabious saved her. Long story short, Thadeus and Fabious embark on a quest to get her back.

First they visit the wizard, who is very similar to Yoda, except extremely perverted. Later they meet a really gross guy who summons a monster to kill them. He sticks his hand in a huge pot of yellow guck that makes a five-headed monster come out of the ground – each head is controlled by one of his fingers. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Willow, but for some reason it made me think of it.  Along the way they meet Isabel (Natalie Portman), a tough girl on her own quest. Portman is awesome (as always) and guys will be thrilled to see her in this sexy role. McBride is the same character he always is – which is of course enjoyable: “I shouldn’t even be here! I will probably die on this quest, and Courtney definitely will!” Franco is also quite funny as a blissfully happy hero who always stays positive. Newcomer Rasmus Hardiker plays Courtney, Thadeus’ sidekick. This role could have been extremely cheesy and over the top, but Hardiker strikes just the right balance with his subtle humor and timing. He mostly has TV credits to his name, but is currently filming a zombie movie.

Overall, Your Highness just doesn’t succeed. Sometimes it’s silly, and then there’s a serious action scene with fighting and chasing that doesn’t fit. There aren’t many laugh-out-loud moments either, which could be due to the fact that there was never a script used on set – the dialogue is heavily improvised. During the wedding ceremony, Deschanel breaks out into song. She has a good voice, but it’s just weird. Then Franco starts singing – terribly – and it’s still weird. In the first scene of the movie, Thadeus is about to be hanged by little people in a little person village. The distance from the rope to the ground isn’t long enough – obviously – so he lands on his feet when they try to hang him. Deschanel gets possessed at one point for no reason and with no explanation her voice gets really deep and scary (Ghostbusters?).

Surprisingly, I mostly enjoyed all the fantasy aspects. There were some cool, scary characters and a couple special objects, like a unicorn sword and a nifty compass. This could have been so much better if it focused more on the fantasy aspect with bits of humor, rather than trying to pull it in so many different directions. Your Highness would be a good movie to watch with a big group of people while drinking/drugs are going on and you don’t really mind that people are talking and interrupting the movie.

IMDB 6.2/10

Rotten Tomatoes 26%

Moviewiseguys 6.0/10