Co-writer and star Danny McBride has said movies like Krull, The Dark Crystal, Beastmaster and Conan the Barbarian were his inspiration for the story of Your Highness. Once you see this movie, that will become painfully obvious. It is a fantasy, magical, beast slaying, rescuing-the-beautiful-princess type of movie except it is vulgar and has many references to drugs. Now if that is what you expect and crave from a movie then you won’t leave disappointed. But with this comes a warning. If you are fans of Danny McBride and James Franco (such as myself), you will expect more from them than what you actually receive.
McBride plays Prince Thadeous. Franco plays his older brother and future king, Prince Fabious. Fabious is the handsome, brave prince who goes on many missions. But, he always comes back with a victory story to share with all of the people. He is celebrated and respected. Unlike Thadeous, who tries to stay away from all of the action and danger. He just likes the drugs and women. He disappoints his father on a regular basis. And, he reeks of jealousy when it comes to his brother’s success.
But Thadeous goes on his first adventure after Fabious’ bride-to-be Belladonna (Zooey Deschanel) is kidnapped by the magical, all-powerful, evil wizard Leezar (Justin Theroux). Thadeous is tired of living in his brother’s shadow, but he makes no attempt to get out of it. He is lazy and good-for-nothing, but this adventure could change everything for him and how everyone sees him. He can either earn the respect he thinks he deserves or be who he has always been and ruin it all.
McBride is funny as Thadeous. He is basically the same guy we know and love from other movies. But, he has an English accent (or something like it). And Franco plays the part of the hero. But, he is naive and always seems to count on his brother when he should know better. Franco can be quite a dork himself so the team of he and McBride is a good one. But even with Natalie Portman playing Isabel, who is good with a bow and arrow and wears a thong, this movie still manages to lack real excitement.
The longer Your Highness goes, the more you can see it run out of steam. Director David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express) starts his movie off strong and the beginning is where most of the laughs are. By the end, you are ready for it to be over with. The jokes are funny the first time around, but cursing and drugs can only make you laugh for so long. Well, at least jokes about them, anyway. Same may not could be said for actually cursing and doing drugs. But the writing feels sluggish and dull because they created a magical world and just put Franco and McBride in it and that was it. I guess that was supposed to be good enough, but it’s not.
Your Highness had a great director and amazing actors who can do it all. So I wonder why this movie was just an average, decent comedy. I read that McBride and others from the movie did this one because they loved those movies from the same genre. It was a movie that they wanted to see. I certainly understand that now. This is for a specific taste and even for those who may love everything about it, you should expect more. All of the folks involved are so much smarter, funnier and better than what they have created and put on the screen.
“Nature Boy” Brandon Vick is the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and star of Brandon’s Box Office In Your Mouth. Follow him on Twitter@SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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