Wolff rating: MOSTLY HARMLESS
Plot summary: A daughter of one of the knights of Camelot finds herself searching for the lost sword Excalibur.
Biased, pithy comments: As I watched this film, I couldn't decide whether it was the animation, story, or dialog that bugged me more. In the end, I couldn't blame the animation (in fact, I quite enjoyed most of the non-human players; the two-headed dragon in particular came off quite well) despite some rough points. Likewise, as weak as the lines were the all-star cast was assembled to read (they got Sir John Gielgud to do Merlin!), it wasn't at fault. What was goofy was the terminally stupid story with dodgy continuity, iffy logic, and the pointless all-cleansing fire at the end. I kept trying to make the sequence of events into a story, but they wouldn't fit, and the lackluster songs (outside of the good opening tune) filled space rather than brought the story along. As a warm-up to making ``Prince of Egypt,'' it probably got their hands all covered in ink, but it's not a great movie despite some good efforts. Idle and Rickles, for instance, put on a great show, but, oy, how could they make King Arthur such an ineffectual pansy? Oh, well.
Other Notes: I wonder if the novel was a good show and butchered to fit the kid's movie marketing genre? Maybe not; this seemed like a deeply flawed story (the four screenwriters are a good giveaway).
How many times I have seen it: x1
Starring: Jessalyn Gilsig, Cary Elwes, Gary Oldman, Pierce Brosnan, Erick Idle, Don Rickles, and Bronson ``Balky'' Pinchot as the griffin.
Directed by: Frederik Du Chau