The Boy Who Would Be King

I took Emily (who’s now 8!) to see this over the weekend. A modern-day telling of The Sword in the Stone, basically, with owl and everything.

At 2h12 minutes, this is a pretty long movie for a kids’ flick. There’s an entire final act that I wasn’t expecting (I thought the movie was over). Luckily it was the best act in the movie so there’s that.

The movie is full of heart and will make you feel good. Mertin (no typo) is a ton of fun, both in young form and obviously as Patrick Stewart (my favourite). I really liked the kid’s chunky best friend, I thought he was the highlight of the movie and stole most of his scenes.

Although the movie feels good to watch, try not to think too much while watching it or you’ll quickly realize it’s a classic 3 steps forward, 2 steps back, repeat. All the progression follows this. 

Also, I’m surprised it’s only a PG rating as some scenes were actually fairly scary. The demon knights who come into your bedroom with fiery eyes are bad enough, but the beautiful Rebecca Ferguson (from Mission Impossible Fallout) is actually quite terrifying as Morgana. Emily was sitting in the front row for a bit and ran back during one of her scenes to sit close to me. No nightmares though (yet), but be aware if your kid scares easy.

Btw, if you’re having trouble making your CGI-generated bad guys look realistic, the last thing you should do is put them on horseback, it’ll be even more obvious.