The Kid Who Would Be King

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