Cast: Sean Connery, John Cleese, David Warner, Craig Warnock
Director: Terry Gilliam
Screenwriters: Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam

This is a curious re-release of Terry Gilliam’s weird and wonderful fairytale, presumably designed to cash in while The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus packs out cinemas.

It sadly adds precious little to Anchor Bay’s excellent two-disc 25th Anniversary Edition from 2006. A new 17 minute interview with Gilliam filmed this year merely rehashes many of the anecdotes from the yak-track on the two-disc set. That’s an awful lot of empty space gone to waste if you buy the Blu-ray, and it’s just begging to be filled by collecting all those other extras on one definitive disc. Shame.

Still, another chance to revisit one of the best children’s films of all time is no bad thing. As with all of Gilliam’s work, it’s an episodic collection of imaginative images, inventive set-pieces and inspired characters, rather than a cohesive whole.

A top cast of British thesps and comedians bring historical and mythological figures to life like you’ve never seen before. David Warner revels in his role as the hammy Evil Genius long before Mike Myers came up with Dr. Evil; John Cleese spoofs Prince Charles superbly as a peasant-patronising “jolly good� Robin Hood; Ian Holm gives his Napoleon a small-man syndrome by only wanting to be entertained by “small things hitting each other�; Michael Palin and Shelley Duvall crop up a couple of times as a sappy lovesick couple with the former having an unexplained sexual problem; Jim Broadbent is the host of a violent gameshow in which a husband is suspended by his ankles over a vat of custard; Ralph Richardson plays the Supreme Being like a preoccupied headmaster; and even Sean Connery does his bit as friendly father figure Agamemnon.

There’s a cautionary tale at the heart of all the silliness that younger viewers should appreciate more than ever. Back in 1981, Gilliam was obviously concerned about materialism and our growing reliance on technology, and this is even more prevalent today. It’s obviously a bit rich when you consider how many CGI effects shots there must be in Doctor Parnassus mind! But the movie’s also about growing up and relying on yourself when your parents aren’t there for you. Or in this instance when they get blown up – an ending that barely sneaked past the studio after a shambolic test screening, as Gilliam reveals during the interview.

Time Bandits is still a joy because it’s got a bit of everything for everyone. There’s slapstick humour, exciting escapes, fight scenes, DIY effects, satire, and spot-on performances. It neither patronises kids nor alienates adults, and there aren’t too many children’s films you can say that about these days.

Time Bandits is out now on DVD and Blu-ray via Optimum Releasing

By Maxine Frances Roper