Rotten
When you can count the laughs in a comedy on the fingers of one hand, it isn't so funny.
Variety Staff, Variety
Time Bandits
…they didn’t make history, they stole it!
1981 · 1h 56m · PG
Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Directed by
Terry Gilliam
Overview
Young history buff Kevin can scarcely believe it when six dwarfs emerge from his closet one night. Former employees of the Supreme Being, 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, Robin Hood and King Agamemnon before the Supreme Being catches up with them.
Director and cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
92%
Tomatometer
Fresh
The film is resolutely, passionately antiadult, yet much of the humor has an adult sophistication and edge to it; this is one kids' movie that doesn't condescend.
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Fresh
Gilliam fills the screen with bizarre images, and directs with a breathless ingenuity.
Nigel Floyd, Time Out
Fresh
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.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Fresh
A cheerfully irreverent lark -- part fairy tale, part science fiction and part comedy.
Vincent Canby, New York Times
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