Time Bandits [Blu-ray] - £5.00 & Delivered Free

It follows the adventures of Kevin, a put-upon, largely ignored but particularly imaginitive young lad who is abducted by a gang of dwarves (led by David Rappaport) who have stolen a time map from "The Supreme Being" (Ralph Richardson) and are using it to develop their new careers as international criminals. Cue encounters with Napoleon (Ian Holm), the Titanic, Robin Hood (John Cleese) and an Evil David Warner.

As one of Terry Gilliam's earliest post-Python films and apparrantly aimed at a youngish audience, you might be tempted to give this a miss, but all of Gilliam's trademark imagery, wit and style is here, full-on and in bucketloads. The balance of review markings so far suggest that even those who like his work are less than enthused about Time Bandits, but really you can't go wrong here: visually sumptuous, excellently acted, exquisitely casted, superlatively plotted and wittily written, if you've enjoyed anything by Giliam, you'll love this. Many of the themes seen in later works are evident here: children, dwarves, the power of the imagination, the struggle between good and evil, theatre and travel. Indeed Time Bandits could easily be the first of a trilogy with The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (I've not seen The Brothers Grimm, but I suspect that it could make this a quadrilogy).

"We're in the middle ages! Five hundred years before the man we robbed is even born. Ha ha! Try that one in a court of law!"