Time Bandits   Starring: David Rappaport, Kenny Baker, Malcolm Dixon, Mike Edmonds, Jack Purvis, Tiny Ross, Craig Warnock, John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, Ralph Richardson, Michael Palin and David Warner Optimum Home Entertainment RRP: £15.99 OPTD1659 Certificate: PG Available 05 October 2009

A group of a guerrilla dwarves leave their jobs with The Supreme Being for a life of crime with a map they've stolen from their workplace. The map hold the secrets to time-holes in the fabric of creation, allowing the holders to go forward and back as they please. The gang intends to use the map to hunt treasure - which they have little skill at, and to steal - at which they fail miserably. One such journey lands them in the bedroom of a young boy called Kevin, who joins them on their journey. The band are transported through time to meet such historical figures as Robin Hood, Napoleon and Agamemnon. They are Pursued, however, by an evil genius who will stop at nothing to get his hands on the map...

Time Bandits fans may feel a little short changed by this latest release of the movie, which has already been issued on DVD at least two other times. There's an anniversary edition, that's a few years old now that comes on two DVDs, that can currently be picked up on most online stores for less than the price of this single disc edition. The picture quality while okay, hasn't been cleaned up and there are a few instances of artefacts on the print.

Extras include an Interview with Terry Gilliam (2009) (18 min, 11 sec which is very interesting - especially the segment which talks about the cut sequence which would have been the scariest scene in the movie and how he managed to keep the ending to the film he wanted); Scrapbook (2 min, 55 sec behind the scenes and publicity shots and video set to music); and Trailer (which is interesting if you've never seen it before as it includes a comical voice over by Michael Palin).

It's a shame that there wasn't an audio commentary or deleted scenes segment as it would have been interesting to know the answer to a few questions - like why the bandits are in black tuxedos one moment and white the next.

While this is a great movie (and easily worthy of a 9/10 score) the fact that this gives you less in the way of extra material than previous releases of the film means that you might like to compare releases before you buy. For that reason alone unfortunately the overall score is much lower than I'd like to give.

6

Darren Rea