'Once Upon a Deadpool' Didn't Deserve a Theatrical Release

Deadpool 2 has had three cuts at this point: the theatrical cut, the “Super Duper” cut (which has a few additional scenes – most notably a post-credit scene in which Deadpool tries to murder a baby Hitler – and some alternate gags), and Once Upon a Deadpool, a PG-13 cut that was released in theaters.  I’ve just seen the last one, and it’s essentially Deadpool 2, just with the blood, gore, and most of the profanities edited out.  And since I already reviewed Deadpool 2, there’s really no need to make a thorough review of Once Upon a Deadpool.

But it needs to be said that Once Upon a Deadpool mostly exists as a cash grab.  Sure, parodying The Princess Bride’s framing device, in which Deadpool tells the story to an abducted adult Fred Savage, is the only additional value it brings.  And I admit that it was fun and charming.  However, giving the movie a theatrical release solely for that is fundamentally unnecessary.  It’s something that would have been good enough as an extra for the home media release.

To be fair, Ryan Reynolds didn’t really want to do a PG-13 cut.  It’s the studio executives, unsurprisingly, who want to milk the movie some more.  Reynolds apparently only agreed under the condition that a part of the ticket sales are going to be given to charity.

In the end, if the pleasure of re-watching Deadpool 2 with the addition of a couple of minutes’ worth of hilarious interactions between Deadpool and Fred Savage are good enough for you, then Once Upon a Deadpool is worth a watch.