One Upon a Deadpool (20th Century Fox/Marvel)

*Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, crude sexual content, language, thematic elements, and brief drug material.

Starring Ryan Reynolds, *Fred Savage, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz, T.J. Miller, Brianna Hildebrand, Jack Kesy, Stefan Kapičić, Leslie Uggams, Karan Soni,  Shioli Kutsuna, Eddie Marsan, Rob Delaney, Brad Pitt, Hugh Jackman.

Written by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick and Ryan Reynolds, based on the comic books by Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld.

Directed by David Leitch.

GRADE: A-

REVIEW:

This is probably going to be the shortest and easiest review that I will ever write, because Once Upon a Deadpool has already been reviewed by “Yours Truly.” Long story short, this is a re-release of Deadpool 2 (my May 2018 review linked here) which was released in May, only it has been reworked to edit out the R-rated stuff and there are several added cut scenes involving Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and Fred Savage (as himself), making it suitable for a (barely) PG-13 rating.

The added Fred Savage scenes are a recreation of his role in The Princess Bride, when he played a young boy sick in his bedroom as his uncle (Peter Falk) reads him an epic story of chivalry, love, and adventure. This time Deadpool has kidnapped the actor to read him the story of the superhero’s efforts to thwart the Apocalypse.  

These added scenes are truly funny and allow Reynolds and Savage to riff on some of sillier aspects of the superhero genre while poking fun at themselves.

As for the stripping away of all things R-rated, the moments where it’s obvious that edits have been made do indeed add to the comedy, especially the use of a “bleeping” sound effect over obvious four-letter words and other naughty stuff.  

Cinematic cleansing aside, One Upon a Deadpool remains very irreverent, despite its PG-13 rating and may not be for little kids. Part of the humor is the knowledge of what’s been sanitized, so take that for what it’s worth before you cave to the kiddies who missed out on the DP2 Bacchanalia the first time.