Desert Sun, Number 76, 31 October 1981 — At The Movies ‘Time Bandits’: Lacks charm that made ‘Oz’ [ARTICLE]

At The Movies ‘Time Bandits’: Lacks charm that made ‘Oz’

By 808 THOMAS Associated Press

“Time Bandits” is a demented “Wizard of Oz,” complete with little people and a winsome youngster adrift in curious lands amid unworldly creatures, but no child's tale is this. It's an adult fable, somewhat cynical in tone, a bedtime story told by Monty Python. The script is by Pythonians Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, direction by Gilliam, the lone American in the luna-

tic comedy team. An English boy (attractively played by Craig Warnock) has dreams or are they dreams? that take him through Napoleon’s battles, Robin Hood’s forests, Agamemnon's palace and to the castle of Evil himself.

He is accompanied by a sextette of trouble-making dwarfs who lead him from one time zone to another Much of the humor is arch, as with Napoleon's fixation about his shortness, some of it inspired. The film lacks what Garland, Lahr, Haley, Bolger, et al, had in abun-

dance: humanity and charm. Guest players include Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall. Ralph Richardson and David Warner, as well as Python members Palin and John Cleese Rated PG, with lots of stuff that will scare the very young.