Customer Reviews

Prince & The Surfer [VHS]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Went to a screening of the movie with my two kids (my daughter(age 7) and my son (age 11) and we all loved it!!! It is funny, touching and reminded me of the kind of movies I loved as a child. Robert Englund is excellent as the bad guy and former screen icon, Jennifer O'Neal is touching as a queen from a magical country. After the movie, I told my children about the original Twain classic and they immediately wanted to read it themselves. Let me say that anytime a movie makes children want to read the source material, it makes a movie worth watching. Go see it!!!

For those who are looking for classy family entertainment that still includes fun, adventure, and a healthy dose of romance, this is the movie for you! This is so much more than a simple "remake" of the Twain classic. In this story, the expected switch between the Prince (a teenaged visitor from the country of Gelfland) and the Surfer (Cash Canty, a rambunctious yet thoroughly modern Southern California kid) is just the beginning. Director Arye Gross and writer Gregory Poppen then thrust our heroes even deeper into the other's world by adding two key characters: Lady Galina, the spoiled young woman betrothed to Prince Edward, and Melissa "Mel" Hendon, Cash Canty's beautiful but tough-as-nails friend on the boardwalk. In addition, there is a "Roman Holiday"-like romance that blossoms between Cash Canty's father Johnny (Timothy Bottoms), and Edward's mother Queen Albertina (Jennifer O'Neill). And finally, an insidious traitor (Minister Kratski, played with manipulative glee by Robert Englund) throws even more turmoil and confusion into the mix.

Whatever you do... don't miss this movie!

I rented this movie for my whole family to watch, because there aren't too many opportunities for some wholesome family fun anymore in this crazy, violent world. I gotta say, it was hilarious! Mark Twain would be prouder than a peach! My two little girls thought the star was quite a hunk, and little Donnie talked like a prince for a week. I hope the star takes up a modern send-up of "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" next! In two words, this movie was "Toooootally rad!" Surfers definitely rule!

As the guardian of a California Teen Age Boy, I found this movie fun with a lot of positive overtones. Arye Gross is listed as director in the actual movie 'credits' and I saw him directing on the beach scenes I am curious how Gregory Gieras came to be listed, as director, here on Amazon?

This movie hasn't been reviewed since 1999! I wonder why not, it is certainly worth paying $9.99 for. I think Mark Twain would be well pleased to see his famous story The Prince and the Pauper transferred to the competitive, yet laidback world of teenage surfers down in Santa Monica, California. Wasn't Twain from California in the first place? Or the second place? I missed the very beginning, the Timothy Bottoms is an ex cop turned security guard hired to protect the royal family of Gelfland as they visit some sort of beach resort in Palm Bay, while entering into some delicate trade negotiations with a foul, multinational leisure corporation that plans to turn their whole country into a theme park called Golfland! This would be enough to turn off most viewers, but on the other hand there's a lot of fun in the movie too. Bottoms doesn't know that the lady-in-waiting he meets outside the queen's gate is actually Queen Albertina herself, trying to disguise her royalty for some reason. Maybe she wanted the chance to feel what life is like for an ordinary person, sort of the way Audrey Hepburn does in ROMAN HOLIDAY. (Oh, I see another reviewer pointed up the ROMAN HOLIDAY influence already.)

Albertina is played by the stunning Jennifer O'Neill of SUMMER OF 42 fame. O'Neill was 51 when she made THE PRINCE AND THE SURFER but she looks about 32 or 33, I don't know how she did it because this was one movie where they did not spend a lot of money on makeup or flattering costumes, but she is enchanting in every scene, even the montage where Timothy Bottoms teaches her how to play mini-golf. Directors must love montages, but I always think, they must be hell of the actors, who have to play the equivalent of 12 or 15 scenes in a condensed 2 minute running time, and sail right through the entire gamut of human emotion!

There is also a plot involving unknown Seth Kellman, who plays not only O'Neill's teen son the Prince, but he plays Cash Canty, the teen age surfer son of Tim Bottoms. I never did find lout why the two mature lovers each have a son who look enough alike to pass for twins. Kind of a coincidence, isn't it? For that I subtract one star because it makes your head hurt trying to figure it out. Add a star however, for the appearance of super young Linda Cardellini, playing what amounts to pretty much the same character (Lindsay Weir, be still my heart) as she did on FREAKS AND GEEKS. Basically it's an extended FREAKS AND GEEKS episode; the people who make the deluxe editions of FREAKS AND GEEKS DVD boxed sets should seriously consider including THE PRINCE AND THE SURFER as an extra. It is essential Cardellini just as it is essential Jennifer O'Neill.

I had never heard of this film,but I'm so glad that I got to see it the other night( library's copy),and I really enjoyed it. Good acting,all around,and a fun story.
Much better than so much called 'family-fare' that's available today! Nothing offensive,not even innuendo!

Will be ordering this one for my granddaughter to see.