THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING (PG)
D: Joe Cornish
20th Century Fox/TSG/Working Title/Big Talk (Tim Bevan, Eric
Fellner & Nira Park)
UK/US 2019
120 mins
Fantasy/Comedy/Adventure
W: Joe Cornish
DP: Bill Pope
Ed: Jonathan Amos & Paul Machliss
Mus: Electric Wave Bureau
Louis Ashbourne Serkis (Alex), Dean Chaumoo (Bedders), Tom
Taylor (Lance), Rhianna Doris (Kaye), Angus Imrie (Merlin), Patrick Stewart (Old Merlin)
The magical story of King Arthur and Excalibur is updated to
modern day Britain, where a bullied schoolboy comes into possession of the fabled sword and he and his friends go on a quest to prevent an evil enchantress from taking over the world, all with
the help of the wizard Merlin, who masquerades as another schoolboy.
This is a perfect example of a film where the trailer is more
entertaining than the actual feature. It's far too long, far too silly and there really isn't enough action to justify the running time. It'll probably be entertaining enough for younger children
below the age of 15, but for everyone else it's likely to be an unrewarding experience.
I'm personally unsurprised that the film had meagre returns
during its cinema run, resulting in a rather large loss for the studio.
4/10