Time Bandits
79
metacriticBased on 18 Critics
75
Based on 11 Users

Release Date: January 13th, 1997

DVD Release Date: March 30th, 1999

PG |1 hr 50 min

Plot Summary

Young history buff Kevin (Craig Warnock) can scarcely believe it when six dwarfs emerge from his closet one night. Former employees of the Supreme Being (Ralph Richardson), they've purloined a map charting all of the holes in the fabric of time and are using it to steal treasures from different historical eras. Taking Kevin with them, they variously drop in on Napoleon (Ian Holm), Robin Hood (John Cleese) and King Agamemnon (Sean Connery) before the Supreme Being catches up with them.

Cast: John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Michael Palin, Ralph Richardson, Peter Vaughan

Director: Terry Gilliam

Genres: Fantasy

Production Co: Handmade Films

Keywords: 1980s, Cheeky, Growing up, Amusing, Creative, England

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Ratings & Reviews

  • 100
    Jay ScottThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)

    Time Bandits is the best children's picture since The Black Stallion, but it is a satiric, inventive, fantastical vacation for the filmgoer of any age: imagine an intelligent Raiders of the Lost Ark with a deeply bitchy sense of humor. [06 Nov 1981]

  • 75
    Roger EbertChicago Sun-Times

    First reactions while viewing Time Bandits: It's amazingly well-produced. The historic locations are jammed with character and detail. This is the only live-action movie I've seen that literally looks like pages out of Heavy Metal magazine, with kings and swordsmen and wide-eyed little boys and fearsome beasts. show more

  • 100
    James BerardinelliReelViews

    The blend of quick-moving adventure, familiar faces, lowbrow slapstick, highbrow wit, and visual style offers more than one thing to just about everyone. And, with an ending that mocks the idea of happily ever after, Time Bandits concludes perfectly. show more

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