Quest for Camelot Review
by David Sunga (zookeeper AT criticzoo DOT com)May 22nd, 1998
QUEST FOR CAMELOT (1998)
Rating: 2.0 stars (out of 4.0)
********************************
Key to rating system:
2.0 stars - Debatable
2.5 stars - Some people may like it
3.0 stars - I liked it
3.5 stars - I am biased in favor of the movie
4.0 stars - I felt the movie's impact personally or it stood out *********************************
A Movie Review by David Sunga
Directed by: Fredrik Du Chau
Written by:
Kirk De Micco, William Schifrin, Jacqueline Feather, David Seidler from a novel (THE KING'S DAMOSEL) by Vera Chapman.
Ingredients:
Adventurous girl who wants to become a knight, King Arthur, blind young hunk, stolen sword
Starring the voices of: Jessalyn Gilsig, Cary Elwes, Gary Oldman (Singing voices for Kayley and Garrett are: Andrea Corr, Bryan White)
Synopsis:
In this animated feature, beautiful Kayley (voice of Jessalyn Gilsig) wants to become a knight of the Round Table - - like her father, the late Sir Lionel (voice of Gabriel Byrne), who was killed defending King Arthur (voice of Pierce Brosnan) from the rogue knight Ruber (voice of Gary Oldman). One day, Ruber's monstrous flying pet griffin (voice of Bronson Pinchot) steals King Arthur's magical sword Excalibur and accidentally loses the weapon in flight, dropping it into the forbidden forest. Ruber, who has recently kidnapped Kayley's mother Juliana (voice of Jane Seymour), seeks the sword, and also plots to attack Camelot with enchanted metal warriors.
On a quest to find the forbidden sword, Kayley enters the forbidden forest. There she meets a blind and handsome boy falconer Garrett (voice of Cary Elwes) and a friendly two-headed dragon (voices of Eric Idle and Don Rickles). Will Kayley, Garrett, and pals recover Excalibur and foil Ruber's attack?
Opinion:
Warner Brothers' QUEST FOR CAMELOT is similar to 20th Century Fox's ANASTASIA in that both movies are attempts by non-Disney studios to capitalize on the Disney-watching crowd.
The best modern animated films include a sharp script, great songs, and detailed artwork. Many use rotoscoping - - a technique where one takes live action footage, and inks it into the animation by copying each frame onto animation paper (ex: for SNOW WHITE, Disney hired Marjori Belcher to do the dancing). Thus, even with a cartoon you can mimic interesting camerawork: having the viewing angles zoom in, spin, and move around.
But don't expect any of the above from QUEST FOR CAMELOT, which is a middle-of-the-road movie. Actually, I get the impression QUEST FOR CAMELOT was hurriedly created, because the film lacks attention to the story's finer details. The blind falconer doesn't act convincingly blind; the two-headed dragon tries rapidfire comedic patter (like Robin Williams' genie in ALADDIN) but sounds irritating rather than cute; the hero gets hit with an arrow and two seconds later sings a song (and stumbles on a magical plant that heals all wounds); the protagonists tramp through dangerous forests when they could just as easily ride magic helicopter plants; they mosey along with no sense of urgency during life-threatening situations where they should be running in fear for their lives: et cetera. In other words, QUEST FOR CAMELOT is contrived rather than compelling. And as for music, coming out of the theater, nobody could remember a single song from the soundtrack. This is mediocre stuff.
On the bright side, QUEST FOR CAMELOT soundtrack features songs from Celine Dion and LeAnn Rimes. QUEST FOR CAMELOT also features the voices of a star studded cast. Very young children probably won't notice the numerous plot holes, and it has a happy ending.
Reviewed by David Sunga
May 16, 1998
Copyright © 1998 by David Sunga
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