Can Deadpool be just as funny without the R rated humor and graphic violence? Yes he can, and it is very entertaining. Now you can take the kids to see a cleaned up version of Deadpool 2 retooled to include nostalgic elements of the classic Princess Bride. Once Upon a Deadpool has our gross superhero reading a story to the reluctant grown up star of that film, Fred Savage.
This re-cut of Deadpool 2 manages to keep the essence of the movie intact while self-mocking the censorship needed to tone down the language for the PG-13 rating.The fact that Reynolds acknowledges this movie is a blatant cash grab adds to the fun. The joke isn’t on us if we’re all in on it.
Ryan Reynolds along with writers, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick added satire with updated references to Sony, Fox, Disney, Lion King, Frozen, Yentl, DC comics, and even Josh Brolin playing two major villains in big movies this year.
David Leitch gets his directing credit, but like everyone else in this project there’s no heavy lifting. Additionally, Ryan Reynolds agreed to do this on the condition that $1 from every ticket sold goes to the F***k Cancer charity, which has been temporarily re-named Fudge Cancer to go along with the PG-13 vibe. Remember, Wade Wilson AKA Deadpool was diagnosed with incurable cancer before his superpowers stopped the disease, hence the connection.
Deadpool uses a bleep button to insert a tone over forbidden words. It becomes a funny tool when Reynolds continuously bleeps the wrong “F” word during Savage’s monologue. Why Fred Savage? He’s essentially kidnapped by Deadpool and duct-taped to a bed. Deadpool wants him to reprise his role in The Princess Bride and re-capture some of that childhood wonder. Only now it’s decades later and Deadpool replaces Peter Falk reading the bedtime story!
The storyline itself stays fairly true to the R version. The love story between Wade and the breathtakingly sexy, gorgeous Vanessa, (Morena Baccarin), is cut short by a bullet, and cuts short our hero’s will to live. The quasi X-Men team Deadpool names X-Force, still has swagger and plenty of attitude. And watching Julian Dennison play the young, hot-headed Firefist is still a treat. This kid may have inferiority issues about being a Plus-Size superhero, but there’s no insecurity regarding his acting as he has a ton of talent.
Even if you didn’t see the original version earlier this year, it’s still possible to enjoy all the self-deprecating humor, pop culture references and the quirky music track that alternates Barbara Streisand crooning “Papa Can You Hear Me?” to AC/DC blaring “Thunderstruck.” We still laughed at the reference to Streisand’s song fromYentl with Deadpool pointing out how much her song to her father sounds like Frozen’s “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?”
The added scenes with Fred Savage comprise about 20 minutes of the film’s running time interspersed with the narrative of Deadpool 2. The film still comes in at about 2 hours since so much of the rough language and bloody violence has been excised. The interplay with Savage had us laughing more than we expected. The riff on Nickelback and Deadpool’s defense of their music career is a high note. The song “How You Remind Me” may stick with you like “It’s a Small World” for the rest of the day.
Why bother to plunk down first-run ticket dollars for this gerrymandered version of a film that’s less than a year old? There are two valid reasons. First, there’s the buck that goes to fight cancer and then, for the Tribute to Stan Lee that plays at the very, very end of the credits. Once Upon a Deadpool is a copy, but Stan “The Man” Lee is showcased as he was and will always be, truly an original.
Yes, this is a bit of Holiday fluff and fun that has been cobbled together and thrown into Fox’s schedule to sell some tickets before Mary Poppins Returns and Aquaman blow out the box office. It may come and go, but seeing this film gives you a chance to donate to “Fudge Cancer” this holiday while watching edgy but fun family fare.
20th Century Fox/Marvel 116 Minutes PG-13
