Amazon.com Essentials:
This lushly produced fantasy has gained a loyal following
since its release in 1985, and it gave a welcomed boost to the careers
of Matthew Broderick, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Rutger Hauer. You have to
ignore the overly aggressive music score (critic Pauline Kael aptly
dubbed it "disco-medieval") and director Richard Donner's
reckless allowance of anachronistic dialogue and uninspired
storytelling, but there's a certain charm to the movie's combination
of romance and heroism. Broderick plays a young thief who comes to the
aid of tragic lovers Isabeau (Pfeiffer), who is cursed to become a
hawk every day at sunrise and Navarre (Hauer) who turns into a wolf at
sunset. The curse was cast by an evil sorcerer-bishop (John Wood), and
as Broderick eludes the bishop's henchmen, Navarre struggles to
conquer the villain, lift the curse, and be reunited with his love in
human form. The tragedy of this lovers' dilemma keeps the movie going,
and Broderick is well cast as a young, medieval variation of Woody
Allen. --Jeff Shannon
