Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Messy, dated romantic fantasy is dull and violent.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 12+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Ladyhawke
What's the Story?
A bishop (John Wood) with passionate designs on Isabeau (Michelle Pfeiffer) curses her and the captain she loves (Rutger Hauer) to lifelong misery: He becomes a wolf every night, she becomes a hawk every day. Unable to be together as a couple, they travel in limbo until Philippe, a nimble pickpocket (Matthew Broderick), stumbles on their plight. With the help of a hermetic monk (Leo McKern), who figures out how to end the curse, they evade the bishop's murderous soldiers until day and night somehow intermingle and the good guys prevail.
Is It Any Good?
This overblown, overlong, overacted romantic fantasy is dull and devoid of both wit and good taste. Rock music more suited to an episode of Miami Vice competes with lute melodies without any good reason. In one inexplicable sequence, we view the hawk flying in slow motion to an accompanying heavy rock beat. The characters bear French names, but the accents range from Brooklynese (Broderick says, "I gotta be outta my mind"), faintly Dutch (Hauer), and Californian (Pfeiffer) to legitimately Shakespearean (Wood and McKern). Broderick plays the role with the same ironic detachment as he played Ferris Bueller, a modernity utterly out of place in a tale set during the Middle Ages.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about whether there is such a thing as a curse. What do you think?
The bishop is evil and selfish. How in real life can you fight powerful people who are not doing the right thing?
A pickpocket is scheduled to be executed for his crime. What crime, if any, do you think would merit the punishment of death?
Movie Details
- In theaters : April 4, 1985
- On DVD or streaming : October 29, 1997
- Cast : Matthew Broderick , Rutger Hauer , Michelle Pfeiffer , John Wood
- Director : Richard Donner
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Warner Bros.
- Genre : Romance
- Run time : 124 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : violence
- Last updated : August 1, 2022
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