The Kid Who Would Be King is a good wholesome family film. By that, I mean kids will love it, and it is suitable for all ages (though some monsters might be a bit scary for the really, really young ones). While it may not have any content to offend any age groups, it also has nothing that will be of interest for adults. This is purely for either kids or adults that can switch off their brains and enjoy things as a child would.
As this film isn't aimed at adults at all, it seems unfair to judge it based on the same criteria as a more mature film, but as viewing it in the cinema would involve adults having to sit through it too, I'll still mention everything.
The Kid Who Would Be King is a modern retelling of the King Arthur story (or perhaps a modern sequel would be a more accurate description). The title of the film actually is a reasonable indicator of what to expect; this is a film that has been unnecessarily stretched out. With a run time of 2 hours and 12 minutes, no matter how enjoyable the movie may be, kids will undoubtedly be squirming and fidgeting in their seats by the end.
The film starts off with a large batch of exposition shown through a nice animated sequence with narration before it switches to the live-action portion of the film. The film follows Alex, a child that looks incredibly familiar. This would be because Alex is portrayed by Lois Ashbourne Serkis, the son of Andy Serkis, who is well-known for his motion-capture work in Lord of the Rings, Planet of the Apes, and Star Wars franchises).
As this film isn't aimed at adults at all, it seems unfair to judge it based on the same criteria as a more mature film, but as viewing it in the cinema would involve adults having to sit through it too, I'll still mention everything.
The Kid Who Would Be King is a modern retelling of the King Arthur story (or perhaps a modern sequel would be a more accurate description). The title of the film actually is a reasonable indicator of what to expect; this is a film that has been unnecessarily stretched out. With a run time of 2 hours and 12 minutes, no matter how enjoyable the movie may be, kids will undoubtedly be squirming and fidgeting in their seats by the end.
The film starts off with a large batch of exposition shown through a nice animated sequence with narration before it switches to the live-action portion of the film. The film follows Alex, a child that looks incredibly familiar. This would be because Alex is portrayed by Lois Ashbourne Serkis, the son of Andy Serkis, who is well-known for his motion-capture work in Lord of the Rings, Planet of the Apes, and Star Wars franchises).
Serkis is the most convincing of the young cast members and does a great job showing a variety of genuine emotion throughout the film. The remainder of the cast- Dean Chaumoo, Rhianna Doris, and Tom Taylor -are rather one-dimensional with very limited character arcs. The character of Merlin is portrayed by two actors, one young and one old (Angus Imrie and Patrick Stewart respectively), and is the character that brings the excitement to the film; likely due to them being the one character that has experience built into their character development.
Patrick Stewart's presence is quite an odd one, for sure. In so few scenes, it comes across more like a glorified cameo, putting forward a performance of such frenetic energy that he might well have drawn inspiration from Christopher Lloyd's Doc from the Back to the Future franchise. With a knowledge of magic, Merlin uses it not with verbal spells, but with hand signals, giving his out-of-place character an even quirkier appearance. Stewart's wisdom combined with Imrie's comical youthfulness create an interesting dichotomy.
The villain (portrayed by Rebecca Ferguson) certainly looks great, but overall has a limited time on screen, instead, the film uses some rather generic (though admittedly cool-looking) CGI bad guys to maintain the threat level without Ferguson's presence. With so little to do in the film, most what she does is provide exposition, in the opposite way that film is meant to work; telling us instead of showing us. It's because of this, that her motives are weak and uninteresting, and Ferguson's character ends up looking like a thrift-store Hela wannabe (there are some certain similarities to the plot of Marvel's Thor: Ragnarok).
Visually, the film is done amazingly well. The cinematography is stunning, with some gorgeous, vibrant shots of British landscapes. The CGI, while not top-of-the-line, is done well for a kids movie and creates some great action scenes.
The big downfall for the film really comes from its length. It builds up towards a false climax and then carries on into the third act. This misdirection works against the film, with its already long runtime leading to most viewers "clocking out" and losing interest in the final act. It is unfortunate as the final act has some brilliant action scenes, and is heavily reminiscent of Home Alone. If they had only ended one scene differently, the anticipation and tension would have built and carried the film through.
Overall, the film has a good message, that looks at the value of friends and family, unity over division, and has some good action scenes that would no doubt have the kids wanting to have swordfights in the yard. But the pacing and length of the film, unfortunately, make the film drag to the point that kids start to lose interest. And that was the whole point wasn't it? To keep them quiet and content.
Might be best to wait until it comes out on DVD.
Patrick Stewart's presence is quite an odd one, for sure. In so few scenes, it comes across more like a glorified cameo, putting forward a performance of such frenetic energy that he might well have drawn inspiration from Christopher Lloyd's Doc from the Back to the Future franchise. With a knowledge of magic, Merlin uses it not with verbal spells, but with hand signals, giving his out-of-place character an even quirkier appearance. Stewart's wisdom combined with Imrie's comical youthfulness create an interesting dichotomy.
The villain (portrayed by Rebecca Ferguson) certainly looks great, but overall has a limited time on screen, instead, the film uses some rather generic (though admittedly cool-looking) CGI bad guys to maintain the threat level without Ferguson's presence. With so little to do in the film, most what she does is provide exposition, in the opposite way that film is meant to work; telling us instead of showing us. It's because of this, that her motives are weak and uninteresting, and Ferguson's character ends up looking like a thrift-store Hela wannabe (there are some certain similarities to the plot of Marvel's Thor: Ragnarok).
Visually, the film is done amazingly well. The cinematography is stunning, with some gorgeous, vibrant shots of British landscapes. The CGI, while not top-of-the-line, is done well for a kids movie and creates some great action scenes.
The big downfall for the film really comes from its length. It builds up towards a false climax and then carries on into the third act. This misdirection works against the film, with its already long runtime leading to most viewers "clocking out" and losing interest in the final act. It is unfortunate as the final act has some brilliant action scenes, and is heavily reminiscent of Home Alone. If they had only ended one scene differently, the anticipation and tension would have built and carried the film through.
Overall, the film has a good message, that looks at the value of friends and family, unity over division, and has some good action scenes that would no doubt have the kids wanting to have swordfights in the yard. But the pacing and length of the film, unfortunately, make the film drag to the point that kids start to lose interest. And that was the whole point wasn't it? To keep them quiet and content.
Might be best to wait until it comes out on DVD.