Short and Simple Review by WubsTheFadgerThe story is stupid but still funny. The plot is easy to follow but is also paper thin. Most of the jokes are actually funny and the wedding scene where James and Zoey sing is hilarious.The runtime is way too long and the pacing is very slow in the beginning. Also the editing is very wacky. For example, Natalie Portman's character is seen in the water in one scene and then she is seen on dry land in the very next scene not even wet.The CGI is good. There are a couple of instances of bad CGI, but most of it is good.The acting is good as well. James Franco plays a likeable and brave prince. Danny McBride plays a stuck-up, jealous brother. Natalie Portman is a badass huntress looking for revenge. The only bad thing about the acting is the terrible English accents by James, Danny, and Zoey.Pros: Funny jokes, good acting, good CGI, Zoey and James' singing scene, and James Franco's performanceCons: Some bad CGI, very stupid story, paper thin plot, terrible English accents, overlong runtime, and slow pacingOverall Rating: 6.0

Unsung and un-discovered writers of fantasy films everywhere will be shaking their fists in the air ruing the fact that $48 million was spent on this pathetic pile of plop.The only positive way I can frame this is if I went back in time and showed it to my 14 year old self. In order to enjoy this film you have to engage with the playground gutter humour part of your brain. Filthy humour can be done well if crafted well. The writers of this film didn't go to that effort and it made me wonder how the $48 million was agreed to be spent on it by the producers. The quality of actors gathered for this film is quite impressive so the most impressive person to be part of this production must have been the casting agent. A lot of spin and porkies must have been fed to these fine actors to get them on board in the first place.I'm sure that when the filming was under way they rolled their eyes at the script and ached with embarrassment whilst they longed to move on to the next show. Natalie Portman's class shone through as best it could given what she had to work with. Danny McBride takes the bullet for being responsible for the majority of the crap gags and I will actively avoid any of his future films. I'm sure this film is loved somewhere in the world where there is a bong and a big bag of crisps. Probably in a teenage boy's bedroom and no-where else.

This seems a very expensive and concentrated attempt to make a spoof on the Sword and Sorcery Genre. However, it misses out by the sheer inanity and hopelessness of it's puerile jokes that relentlessly drag the film down. If you took all the glib swear jokes out it would make a passable, if regular, quest movie? If you leave them all in, you are continually shaken by their sheer lack of humor and revelry in the lowest common denominator type of schoolboy smut. (Sorry schoolboys everywhere)This was a misses chance as some of the hero's/villains/special effects are truly good. Yet the lead comedian is given the opportunity to stick his boot into all of the scenes, which in the end becomes predictable. (Surely, we can all make crap jokes)Someone somewhere has written on IMDb, in a review/critique, that this film might "give you the opportunity to hear Natalie Portman use the f word". If that, is an example of what the merits of this movie are, then where do we go?

Fabious (James Franco) is the heroic perfect son of King Tallious. Thadeous (Danny McBride) is the pathetic lazy brother. After defeating the evil wizard Leezar (Justin Theroux), Fabious proposes to marry the virgin Belladonna (Zooey Deschanel) who he rescued from a tower. Fabious's Knights Elite led by Boremont (Damian Lewis) ridicules Thadeous. Julie (Toby Jones) is a courtier. When Belladonna is kidnapped by Leezar, Thadeous is forced to go on the quest with Fabious. On the way, they are rescued by the skilled fighter Isabel (Natalie Portman) who agrees to travel together.Danny McBride is a little too mean-spirited. It's good that he's pathetic. It's off-putting for him to be so bitter. I feel like there is a missing element in the comedy group. It needs a goofy fun guy that somebody like Seth Rogen could play. There is a lightness that is missing from this comedy. The jokes are adolescent but workable and sometimes even funny. The addition of Natalie Portman is good but she comes in after around half of the movie is over. Her best quality is to be the straight man calling out McBride. She improves the group dynamics markedly. I want her in the movie earlier. I just think that something is missing from the Franco McBride pairing.