Title: The Kid Who Would Be King
Release Date: January 25, 2019
View Time: January 25, 2019 - 4:00 P.M.
Running Time: 120 minutes
Format & Location: D-BOX - London SilverCity Masonville Mall
"Quick, Bedders, lift out the flaps." - And the new Knights of the Roundtable are born!
So, Fox is making another family movie. In the past decade, all of their family movies got WAY MORE criticism than I would give them. Since the release of Dragonball: Evolution (I know, trigger warning), with the exception of Ramona and Beezus and Life of Pi, none of the family-friendly, live-action, PG-rated films released by Fox had received a Rotten Tomatoes score higher than 60%. So it is not surprising that no one looked forward to see The Kid Who Would Be King when the first trailer was released.
First of all, I would like to congratulate Fox for its continuous effort to make a PG movie that everyone could love. The biggest selling point for me is, without a doubt, Sir Patrick Stewart as Merlin Sr. You're completely forgiven from what you did in The Emoji Movie!
[SPOILERS START IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH]
The Kid Who Would Be King is a retelling of the classic Arthur and the Knights of Roundtable story with a modern twist. Alexander "Alex" Elliot is an ordinary middle school student who gets constantly bullied by classmates Lance and Kaye, but still protects his friend Bedders from them. One night, while Alex is on the run from the bullies, he pulls out Excalibur (The Sword in the Stone) from a construction site. Later, he is befriended by the great wizard Merlin, who tells him that he has four days to defeat Morgana le Fay and her knight army. From there, Alex and Bedders successfully make Lance and Kaye their greatest allies, and the four young knights eventually defeat Morgana with the help from Merlin and the whole school during a solar eclipse.
The only movie based on King Arthur's tale that I have seen before is King Arthur: Legend of the Sword directed by Guy Ritchie. Even though Ritchie successfully blended catchy theme music with visually appealing storytelling (including his signature "flashback" style), The Kid Who Would be King definitely beats that movie by a mile! Seriously, every year (except last year) I can pick up one Fox family movie that I just want to watch some scenes again and again, and this definitely has that replay value. Despite the nod from majority of the critics, the movie slid from fourth place in Box Office from its opening weekend to seventh in this past Super Bowl weekend. Hopefully in the next bit, I can convince you to go out there and show some love and support while it's still in theatres!
The movie opens with a simple illustrated history (that resembles the style of Game of Thrones animated featurette "History & Lore") narrated by Sir Stewart, which is really a smart move for appealing to those who are not familiar with The Sword in the Stone tale (shamelessly raising my hand). At the beginning, Alex Elliot is just an ordinary student who is constantly bullied but has a strong will to stand up (like any other hero that we have seen in the fantasy genre... but it gets better). When he unintentionally lifts up the Excalibur, the evil sorcerer Morgana (played by Rebecca Ferguson aka. Ilsa Faust in Mission Impossible series) awakens and sends her minions on the nights before the eclipse. (By the way, if you want to see Ferguson shine in this movie, might as well keep waiting. Her character does not really stand out until the third act, and when she does, you will immediately see that this role is a waste of Ferguson's potential). When her underground minions invade the city, time stops, and everyone who is not the king or knighted by king himself are given an exit like half of the heroes at the end of Avengers: Infinity War.
Every hero-in-development needs the help from a mentor, and that is where Merlin comes in, and he instantly becomes my favourite character. He disguises as a teenager (Angus Imrie in his cinematic debut!) and blends in Alex's school. When he learns that the solar eclipse will take place in four days instead of four years as he has predicted, he announces Alex as the future king in public in the most hilarious way possible. Imrie has put his experience from the theatre to good use. Yes, it is exaggerated from time to time, but his collaboration with Stewart on the same character brings out a dynamic contrast between Merlin's Jr. as a playful (sort of) trickster and Merlin Sr. as a wise elderly wizard.
This family movie, unlike most of them nowadays that seek to bring romantic relationships into the mix, focuses on nailing the importance of friendship and familial love. Four codes are introduced from "Knights Code of Chivalry" (http://www.lordsandladies.org/knights-code-of-chivalry.htm):
- To refrain from the wanton giving of offence (no swearing, rude or nasty behaviour)
- At all times to speak the truth
- To guard the honour of fellow knights/ respect the honour of women (honour those you love)
- To persevere to the end in any enterprise begun.
These codes are exactly what a family movie should be about: friendship, truthfulness, unselfish/non-romantic love, and courage. While Morgana threatens to tear the four young knights apart, they learn from their mistakes after going through consequences brought by hunger for power, and eventually put aside their own ambitions and deceits and come together because of the Knights code. These codes are never mentioned in Legend of the Sword (and, although I have not seen it, probably also absent from 2004 movie King Arthur). This is a history 101 much needed for young audience and the codes still apply today to make any team stronger!
The most exciting part of any movie is a twist, and this is what Director Joe Cornish excels at (well, sort of) to prove that this is not your average fairy tale. When Alex was little, he was given a King Arthur story book with what he thought was signature from his distant father, and right on top of that, a quote inspiring him to be a king someday. This is the starting point of Alex's journey as he is convinced that his father was once a knight just like him. When he travels hundreds of miles to find the answer, all he gets is the cold-hearted truth from his aunt. Alex's alcoholic father was actually fighting his own demons in his head for years, and that is what caused him to leave his wife and son behind. And that signature and the aspiring quote in the book? That was written by Alex's mother. This is a decent departure from traditional heroic norms, but it would have been a more impactful twist without Morgana's narration of trying to tearing kids apart with conflict and deceit earlier in the movie. (Although, when Alex's mother mentions that her husband is fighting his own demons, for some reason I thought he could end up being a veteran or something, so it is still a surprise) Even though it ends up delivering a cliche life lesson about controlling your own fate and rewriting your own legend, the portrayal of the friendship between the young knights is worth the price of admission alone.
Just as the knights defeat Morgana in her underground realm with 20 minutes of movie to go, and as I was getting disappointed, thinking that they leave the best part of the trailer out, I was immediately surprised by a final FINAL battle that takes place in the schoolyard, which allows the young knights to spread their friendship to their classmates, and shows that Merlin is not a dues ex machina. This is what I found most impressive about this movie - Cornish's ability to jam in a motivational speech, a training montage, the battle itself and the final defeat of the villain in less than half an hour without letting me feel it is rushed through, now that is effective storytelling at its finest! Zack Snyder should definitely take notes from this movie if he wants his hands on DCEU again.
[END OF SPOILERS]
Even though The Kid Who Would Be King has a somewhat derivative plot, the selling point lies in the emphasis on pure friendship, team spirit and infinite courage in this family-fun adventure, which is really rare nowadays. Maybe it's not a family classic right now like Home Alone or my all-time favourite, Stuart Little, but sometimes movies age well in time. Here's to hoping that The Kid Who Would Be King will become a family movie night tradition in the next decade or so!
The Kid Who Would Be King is now available on 4K Blu-ray (US only), Blu-ray and DVD.
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