I too enjoyed this movie. It isn't flawless, but few movies are. The animation is good, if a little bland in the musical numbers, with exception of the splendid witchcraft scene. As for the songs, they aren't actually that bad. My favourites were "The Prayer", "Looking Through Your Eyes", and "If I didn't have you." The other songs were not as good, but not mind numbingly awful. The biggest problem was the singing voices, they didn't match the voice acting. Celine Dion is a very good singer, but her voice is too powerful for Julianna, but it's good they didn't ask someone like Barbara Streisand, another excellent singer with a too-big voice for the character. Same with Andrea Corr. Another problem was the script, which had its ups and downs. The reasons why some children didn't laugh at the two-headed dragon, which was the best character, is because they wouldn't in a million years have understood the pop culture references, though they were funny. As for the voice talents they were a mixed bag. Jessalyn Gilsig and Cary Elwes started off a little bland, and Gary Oldman relishes his role as the villain, if a little over the top at times. On a positive note, Eric idle and Don Rickles were hilarious, and Jane Seymour made a sincere Julianna. Pierce Brosnan was also an interesting choice, but if I were a director, I wouldn't have picked John Gielgud to voice Merlin, although he would have been good if it was live-action. In conclusion, an above average movie, with a story that started off well, but ran out of steam too early. If I wanted to see it again, I would. 7/10 Bethany Cox
90 Reviews
One of the most underrated animated films ever
lisafordeay8 January 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Quest For Camelot(aka The Magic Sword:Quest for Camelot) is a 1998 Warner Bros animated film starring the likes of Pierce Brosnan, Gary Oldman, Cary Elwes,Jane Seymour and the singing talents of Andrea Corr from the Irish band The Corrs,Celine Dion and Bryan White and tells the story of a young girl called Kayleigh voiced by Jessica Hahn who goes on a quest to find the magic sword for Camelot and teams up with a blind man named Garrett voiced by Cary Elwes and a two headed Dragon voiced by Eric Idle and Don Rickle. But will the gang retrieve the sword before the evil Ruber voiced by Gary Oldman can get his hands on the sword?
Overall I loved this film. The animation is gorgeous and the charcthers are great. This film also is famous for the song The Prayer which is sung by Celine Dion and Andrea Boccelli in the film. I havent seen this film since i was a kid so i was happy to track it down in CEX for a euro.
If you haven't seen this film I suggest you try and track it down as it's a very hard film to find.
7/10
B-
Overall I loved this film. The animation is gorgeous and the charcthers are great. This film also is famous for the song The Prayer which is sung by Celine Dion and Andrea Boccelli in the film. I havent seen this film since i was a kid so i was happy to track it down in CEX for a euro.
If you haven't seen this film I suggest you try and track it down as it's a very hard film to find.
7/10
B-
will make you smile and laugh...along with great music
zalieofszann6 August 2005
Warning: Spoilers
I first saw Quest For Camelot when I was ten years old (I saw it in theaters) and it was one of my favorite movies. I'm seventeen now, and yesterday, I watched this movie with my little brother. Of course, it was a lot more immature than it was when I was ten, but I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. This is truly a fun, wholesome movie.
The story centers on Kayley, a young girl who wants to become a knight in Camelot. When King Arthur's sword Excalibur is stolen by the evil Sir Ruber, and then lost in the Forbidden Forest, Kayley sets off to recover the sword and save Camelot. Her quest is also crucial because Ruber had killed her father ten years before, and has now taken her mother hostage. In the Forbidden Forest, Kayley is joined by Garrett, a blind hermit who doesn't welcome her company at first, and his falcon Ayden. They are also joined by Devon and Cornwall, an odd and bickering two headed dragon, while being followed by Ruber and his metal minions.
This a movie that is a cute relief to many Disney movies, and I love the music in it much more than most Disney sing-along songs. While some songs are simply silly and fun, like "If I Didn't Have You" sung by Devon and Cornwall (which I laughed all the way through due to its nudges at 20th century pop culture), many of the songs express morals and feelings that the audience can take to heart. "United We Stand" is sung by the knights of the round table, saying that "no one shall be greater than all", something that the villain Ruber doesn't like very much. "I Stand Alone" tells how Garret does not trust the world around him, having been shunned for his blindness, yet at the same time, he is opening his world to Kayley. And my very favorite song is "Looking Through Your Eyes", the love song between Kayley and Garrett, which is honest due to the fact that neither let Garrett's blindness stand in their way.
The emotions in Quest For Camelot are also real because although there are plenty of funny moments, these are balanced by dark and serious moments. These include Kayley's father's death scene, his funeral, and Ruber's witchcraft scene. Ruber's song is creepy and dark, and seriously scared me when I was younger. And one scene that really jerks the tears for me is when Kayley and her friends reach the end of the forest, with Excalibur in hand. Garrett tells Kayley to go on without him, because he does not "belong in that world", and thinks that he doesn't deserve to love Kayley. After he leaves, Kayley says "but you belong in mine" before going on. It's really pure of heart, and made me sad. Or maybe I'm just a sap. Oh well.
All in all, I think that everyone should give this movie a try, even teenagers. Heck, I'm a teen and I love this movie. I won't pretend to be "too old" for a cartoon sing-along movie. (In fact, I love these songs so much that they stay in my head forever and drive me crazy) Quest For Camelot may not be the best made movie, and yes, it does have plenty of flaws, but if you look past that, you're guaranteed to laugh and smile, and it leaves you with a good feeling at the end.
The story centers on Kayley, a young girl who wants to become a knight in Camelot. When King Arthur's sword Excalibur is stolen by the evil Sir Ruber, and then lost in the Forbidden Forest, Kayley sets off to recover the sword and save Camelot. Her quest is also crucial because Ruber had killed her father ten years before, and has now taken her mother hostage. In the Forbidden Forest, Kayley is joined by Garrett, a blind hermit who doesn't welcome her company at first, and his falcon Ayden. They are also joined by Devon and Cornwall, an odd and bickering two headed dragon, while being followed by Ruber and his metal minions.
This a movie that is a cute relief to many Disney movies, and I love the music in it much more than most Disney sing-along songs. While some songs are simply silly and fun, like "If I Didn't Have You" sung by Devon and Cornwall (which I laughed all the way through due to its nudges at 20th century pop culture), many of the songs express morals and feelings that the audience can take to heart. "United We Stand" is sung by the knights of the round table, saying that "no one shall be greater than all", something that the villain Ruber doesn't like very much. "I Stand Alone" tells how Garret does not trust the world around him, having been shunned for his blindness, yet at the same time, he is opening his world to Kayley. And my very favorite song is "Looking Through Your Eyes", the love song between Kayley and Garrett, which is honest due to the fact that neither let Garrett's blindness stand in their way.
The emotions in Quest For Camelot are also real because although there are plenty of funny moments, these are balanced by dark and serious moments. These include Kayley's father's death scene, his funeral, and Ruber's witchcraft scene. Ruber's song is creepy and dark, and seriously scared me when I was younger. And one scene that really jerks the tears for me is when Kayley and her friends reach the end of the forest, with Excalibur in hand. Garrett tells Kayley to go on without him, because he does not "belong in that world", and thinks that he doesn't deserve to love Kayley. After he leaves, Kayley says "but you belong in mine" before going on. It's really pure of heart, and made me sad. Or maybe I'm just a sap. Oh well.
All in all, I think that everyone should give this movie a try, even teenagers. Heck, I'm a teen and I love this movie. I won't pretend to be "too old" for a cartoon sing-along movie. (In fact, I love these songs so much that they stay in my head forever and drive me crazy) Quest For Camelot may not be the best made movie, and yes, it does have plenty of flaws, but if you look past that, you're guaranteed to laugh and smile, and it leaves you with a good feeling at the end.
Heart is in the right place, but flawed...
Shawn Fumo3 April 2002
I am going to agree with the majority of the other posters here. There is a lot of good elements in this movie, but it is all put together as much more of a cliche then it had to be.
It seemed like there were too many singing scenes and they were too abrupt and not integrated into everything. Every time one started, I couldn't wait for it to be over so we could get back to the story. And as others mentioned, the singing voices were too different from that of the characters themselves. Imagine if they had used the time during the songs to actually give more plot and character development.
Everyone seemed too two-dimensional. As someone else pointed out, how did the bad guy even get to the round table in the first place? He was charming in his own way, but too cookie-cutter.
As others mentioned, the animation is very hit-or-miss. The backgrounds and overall mood are very well done, but a lot of the characters were just not animated well, the hawk was frequently deformed, etc. It stood out badly due to the quality of everything around it. Take a look at something like Princess Mononoke to see characters animated on a limited budget that meshes much better with everything else, with a lot more visual style.
It seems like it would have a feminist bent, but then she is still rescued most of the time, and the dress scene at the end seems especially absurd in the context of everything else.
Some of the comedy elements were cute, but I did dislike all of the movie references and everything. Since everything else seems centered in the world, it seems out of place.
Like the Black Cauldron, this was an OK movie that could have been a lot better. But at least BC didn't have all that singing. Sword in the Stone also worked a lot better while being in a similar vein.
If you want an American animated movie that is really consistent with its own world, animated well, has good characters, etc. check out the Secret of Nimh. You can get it really cheap on DVD now. Seeing Quest for Camelot the day after Nimh, there really is no comparison...
It seemed like there were too many singing scenes and they were too abrupt and not integrated into everything. Every time one started, I couldn't wait for it to be over so we could get back to the story. And as others mentioned, the singing voices were too different from that of the characters themselves. Imagine if they had used the time during the songs to actually give more plot and character development.
Everyone seemed too two-dimensional. As someone else pointed out, how did the bad guy even get to the round table in the first place? He was charming in his own way, but too cookie-cutter.
As others mentioned, the animation is very hit-or-miss. The backgrounds and overall mood are very well done, but a lot of the characters were just not animated well, the hawk was frequently deformed, etc. It stood out badly due to the quality of everything around it. Take a look at something like Princess Mononoke to see characters animated on a limited budget that meshes much better with everything else, with a lot more visual style.
It seems like it would have a feminist bent, but then she is still rescued most of the time, and the dress scene at the end seems especially absurd in the context of everything else.
Some of the comedy elements were cute, but I did dislike all of the movie references and everything. Since everything else seems centered in the world, it seems out of place.
Like the Black Cauldron, this was an OK movie that could have been a lot better. But at least BC didn't have all that singing. Sword in the Stone also worked a lot better while being in a similar vein.
If you want an American animated movie that is really consistent with its own world, animated well, has good characters, etc. check out the Secret of Nimh. You can get it really cheap on DVD now. Seeing Quest for Camelot the day after Nimh, there really is no comparison...
The style and the quality is low and out-of-date even in the norms of 1998, but still worth watching for fun
CihanVercan26 April 2010
Back in the days when there is no such Oscar category as "The Best Animated Feature of the Year" , animations were for family use only. It's obvious that by 2001, adult themed animations began running off readily. Looking at the year 1998, alongside of Antz, Mulan, and Toy Story 2 ; Quest for Camelot was another successful blockbuster hit in the animation genre.
It's an adaptation to Vera Chapman's novel "The King's Damosel", the writer of which is the founder of the J.R.R. Tolkien Society of Great Britain. Though, most fun and joyful parts of the novel are missing in this film. The basic formula of creating a Swashbuckler Adventure out of a heroic journey story has been applied again just like The Mummy, Robin Hood, Indiana Jones, Conan the Barbarian and so on.
What's so good and staying within living memory? 1/First of all, it's very entertaining for everyone who like Swashbucklers. Must be rated "E". 2/A sense of Tim Burton style singing dialogues. 3/All the cruel and bloodthirsty fantasy world creatures are pleasant looking: Dragons, Drakels, Ogres, and the very special Two-Headed Dragon. 4/The Dark Jungle with Necromancer Trees. 5/The lost sword of Excalibur. 6/The legend of the Three Circles. 7/The story is centring on a girl who wants to be a knight! Praise for Hayao Miyazaki 8/The first time when Garrett and Kayley meet the two-headed dragon: -Garrett:What are you? -Dragon:We're the reason cousins shouldn't marry. 9/The back story of a blind farmer, and his success story becoming a knight 10/The blind farmer's silver winged falcon, and all the scenes that it's fighting with either dragons or ogres.
What's not to like and to forget? 1/The overall animation quality is only as good as a computer game except the music. 2/Some scenes and sequences are giving homage to Star Wars, Indiana Jones and even the Taxi Driver; and those homages are stomach aching. 3/King Arthur is very weak, he is half the size of Merlin and shorter than Kayley 4/Merlin is not the Merlin as we know him, he's afraid to cast spells, and not able to protect Arthur's castle 5/The moment when King Arthur grabs the Excalibur from the stone, he seems like a 4-year-old kid pretending that he's He-Man and the people around him are the Masters of Universe 6/The fact that King Arthur is Pierce Brosnan's worst voice acting ever 7/Character development and back stories of the characters are very weak except Garrett's character 8/Visual Effects are awful 9/Over 350 animators have worked to create this animation, but it's still not "animating" what needs to be animated, 'cause the action sequences and the human movements/reflexes are dreadful 10/Sound Effects are not synchronized properly
Give it a shot, this is at least worth watching, catch it on Youtube.
It's an adaptation to Vera Chapman's novel "The King's Damosel", the writer of which is the founder of the J.R.R. Tolkien Society of Great Britain. Though, most fun and joyful parts of the novel are missing in this film. The basic formula of creating a Swashbuckler Adventure out of a heroic journey story has been applied again just like The Mummy, Robin Hood, Indiana Jones, Conan the Barbarian and so on.
What's so good and staying within living memory? 1/First of all, it's very entertaining for everyone who like Swashbucklers. Must be rated "E". 2/A sense of Tim Burton style singing dialogues. 3/All the cruel and bloodthirsty fantasy world creatures are pleasant looking: Dragons, Drakels, Ogres, and the very special Two-Headed Dragon. 4/The Dark Jungle with Necromancer Trees. 5/The lost sword of Excalibur. 6/The legend of the Three Circles. 7/The story is centring on a girl who wants to be a knight! Praise for Hayao Miyazaki 8/The first time when Garrett and Kayley meet the two-headed dragon: -Garrett:What are you? -Dragon:We're the reason cousins shouldn't marry. 9/The back story of a blind farmer, and his success story becoming a knight 10/The blind farmer's silver winged falcon, and all the scenes that it's fighting with either dragons or ogres.
What's not to like and to forget? 1/The overall animation quality is only as good as a computer game except the music. 2/Some scenes and sequences are giving homage to Star Wars, Indiana Jones and even the Taxi Driver; and those homages are stomach aching. 3/King Arthur is very weak, he is half the size of Merlin and shorter than Kayley 4/Merlin is not the Merlin as we know him, he's afraid to cast spells, and not able to protect Arthur's castle 5/The moment when King Arthur grabs the Excalibur from the stone, he seems like a 4-year-old kid pretending that he's He-Man and the people around him are the Masters of Universe 6/The fact that King Arthur is Pierce Brosnan's worst voice acting ever 7/Character development and back stories of the characters are very weak except Garrett's character 8/Visual Effects are awful 9/Over 350 animators have worked to create this animation, but it's still not "animating" what needs to be animated, 'cause the action sequences and the human movements/reflexes are dreadful 10/Sound Effects are not synchronized properly
Give it a shot, this is at least worth watching, catch it on Youtube.
Enjoyable but flawed Arthurian Adventure
FilmFlaneur17 October 2000
This is a film that I have watched several times now with the kids and find myself enjoying it more each time.
Previous comments have compared it unfavourably to Disney but this seems unfair - it is clearly a separate product, darker and more cynical than the works of that other company. The song by dragons Devon and Cornwall - 'Without You'- stands in stark contrast to, say, the sentiments of 'You and Me Together' in Disney's Oliver and Company. Neither could I imagine Ruber, with his particular vein of sarcastic villainy, appearing in the products of that more family centred studio.
The weakest individual moment, for me at least, is anachronistic. Devon and Cornwall sing about their mutual hostility, and their song is animated with some twentieth century props and in-jokes. This is a jarring note in a film which otherwise tries to maintain some sort of historical integrity. It is funny but creates a disruption that is hard to forget. (More acceptable is the 'Do you feel clucky?' line later on)
There has been some criticism of the animation quality, and it does seem to vary. Some of the movements of animals, in particular, seem jumpy at a distance. However balancing out these weaknesses are such scenes as the evocation of a cold morning, when Kayley hears of her father's death, and Ruber's splendid witchcraft scene.
Overall the film suffers from being underwritten - one wishes more time was taken in filling out character and incident before the final attack on Camelot. Cayley and Garrett fall in love too easily, while Devon and Cornwall (delightfully witty and charming creations) have too little to do. And what happens to Merlin? He's reduced to flying a bird. It's a shame as other supporting characters, like the Gryphon and the axe chicken are very well judged, and completely memorable. More unforgivable is the character of King Arthur, who is just bland.
On the plus side, this is still a good film, utterly free of pretension. Ruber's magical creation of his henchman is a highlight, a demoniac sequence that is quite thrilling, a brilliant musical set piece that moves the plot forward, sparking huge suspense. His creations are delightfully original in themselves, frightening and intriguing in equal measure. Watching it again I was reminded of how little of this quality of real wonder appears in another non-Disney animation, Prince of Egypt - a much more favourably received work, and far more earnest in tone.
This Arthurian adventure can be quite revealing in comparison when taken this as an unofficial sequel to The Sword in The Stone, throwing stereotypical Disney values and methods into greater relief. In its own right it is very enjoyable in any case, although it could have been even better with some extended work on the script.
Previous comments have compared it unfavourably to Disney but this seems unfair - it is clearly a separate product, darker and more cynical than the works of that other company. The song by dragons Devon and Cornwall - 'Without You'- stands in stark contrast to, say, the sentiments of 'You and Me Together' in Disney's Oliver and Company. Neither could I imagine Ruber, with his particular vein of sarcastic villainy, appearing in the products of that more family centred studio.
The weakest individual moment, for me at least, is anachronistic. Devon and Cornwall sing about their mutual hostility, and their song is animated with some twentieth century props and in-jokes. This is a jarring note in a film which otherwise tries to maintain some sort of historical integrity. It is funny but creates a disruption that is hard to forget. (More acceptable is the 'Do you feel clucky?' line later on)
There has been some criticism of the animation quality, and it does seem to vary. Some of the movements of animals, in particular, seem jumpy at a distance. However balancing out these weaknesses are such scenes as the evocation of a cold morning, when Kayley hears of her father's death, and Ruber's splendid witchcraft scene.
Overall the film suffers from being underwritten - one wishes more time was taken in filling out character and incident before the final attack on Camelot. Cayley and Garrett fall in love too easily, while Devon and Cornwall (delightfully witty and charming creations) have too little to do. And what happens to Merlin? He's reduced to flying a bird. It's a shame as other supporting characters, like the Gryphon and the axe chicken are very well judged, and completely memorable. More unforgivable is the character of King Arthur, who is just bland.
On the plus side, this is still a good film, utterly free of pretension. Ruber's magical creation of his henchman is a highlight, a demoniac sequence that is quite thrilling, a brilliant musical set piece that moves the plot forward, sparking huge suspense. His creations are delightfully original in themselves, frightening and intriguing in equal measure. Watching it again I was reminded of how little of this quality of real wonder appears in another non-Disney animation, Prince of Egypt - a much more favourably received work, and far more earnest in tone.
This Arthurian adventure can be quite revealing in comparison when taken this as an unofficial sequel to The Sword in The Stone, throwing stereotypical Disney values and methods into greater relief. In its own right it is very enjoyable in any case, although it could have been even better with some extended work on the script.
Good action, mixed animation
pkos16 December 1998
Quest for Camelot is the first attempt to a full animated feature by Warner Bros, and it shows.
This story of a young girl that dreams to become a knight and ends up saving the kingdom is a mixed dish of great and poor animation.
Oddly, the two main characters Kayley and his blind friend Garret are the worst: their animation is unnatural and the character design is unappealing. But the rest of the cast more than make up for them. Ruber, the evil knight and especially his gryphon Griffin are awesome, scary and funny at the same time. Bladebeak, a chicken transformed in a killing machine is hilarious.
But the best of the bunch is the odd couple Devon and Cornwall, a two headed dragon that looks straight out of Warner's Looney Tunes. This wacky character literary steals the scene: the movie really starts flying when we first meet him and keeps getting better.
The plot is original and fast paced, packed with wonderful action sequences and (luckily) few songs, all pretty decent.
The CG is sometime effective and sometimes poorly integrated, (the stone ogre is the worst example).
I heard a lot of bad things about this movie, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that is not half as bad as they say. Pity that it did poorly at the box office, it deserved much more.
I'm looking forward to the next movie from Warner, if they can fix some of the problem they had with this one, Disney may find another competitor.
This story of a young girl that dreams to become a knight and ends up saving the kingdom is a mixed dish of great and poor animation.
Oddly, the two main characters Kayley and his blind friend Garret are the worst: their animation is unnatural and the character design is unappealing. But the rest of the cast more than make up for them. Ruber, the evil knight and especially his gryphon Griffin are awesome, scary and funny at the same time. Bladebeak, a chicken transformed in a killing machine is hilarious.
But the best of the bunch is the odd couple Devon and Cornwall, a two headed dragon that looks straight out of Warner's Looney Tunes. This wacky character literary steals the scene: the movie really starts flying when we first meet him and keeps getting better.
The plot is original and fast paced, packed with wonderful action sequences and (luckily) few songs, all pretty decent.
The CG is sometime effective and sometimes poorly integrated, (the stone ogre is the worst example).
I heard a lot of bad things about this movie, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that is not half as bad as they say. Pity that it did poorly at the box office, it deserved much more.
I'm looking forward to the next movie from Warner, if they can fix some of the problem they had with this one, Disney may find another competitor.
A lot of things wrong with this movie, although its not all bad...
silverfox777111 June 2007
Warning: Spoilers
I was really disappointed with this movie. Unlike allot of animated movies, I'd never seen it as a kid, but the story sounded really interesting, so I thought I'd give it a watch.
The movie started off really well, they did a really good job of setting the story off, its when the real plot starts that the movie starts to become well, boring and pointless. Everything happens WAY to fast, things happen without reason. For example, the relationship between Kayley and Garrett - where did that come from? One second they hate each other, then after spending, what - a couple of days together? their in love. They only fell in love because in a movie like this the main male and female characters typically fall in love, there's no development to their relationship, it only happens because its expected. Why does Ruber want to take over Camelot? Little motive towards the main villains actions make for a really poor villain, kids movie or not. Why is he even a knight of the round table anyway? By the looks of it, he only ever cared for himself, so how did he ever manage to get to that position - you don't need to be a great judge of character to see that's a bad guy. Devon and Cornwall were incredibly useless, I mean, I know all kids movies have the annoying sidekicks - I hated sidekicks when I was a kid - but they didn't do anything. They saved Garrett a ten minute run to Camelot because they miraculously learned to fly. Don't get me started on the hammer chicken thing I still don't get what that was about. Plus, was I the only one who thought that Lionel died a bit to easily? I had to go back and see what killed him, only to find that he gets thrown across the table. He's supposed to be Arthur's most trusted knight, is he really that weak?
Now, the characters. I've already gone into the Ruber, Devon and Cornwall. Kayley was a terrible main character. She didn't really do anything productive. I was expecting her to be a really great lead character, but in the end all she did was get captured and needed rescuing by Garrett and those useless dragons. Garrett was a great character though, as was Juliana, Arthur and Lionel.
Most of the songs were great, especially "The Prayer," "On my Father's wings" and "I stand alone." Its ashamed that the characters voices don't fit with the singing voices. The animation was average. The voice acting was pretty good to.
I know its just a kids movie, but there's still no excuse to some of the things I brought up. It seems that Warner Brothers just wanted to create a Disney-like movie, but missed a lot of the key things that makes Disney movies great. I'd give it 5/10.
The movie started off really well, they did a really good job of setting the story off, its when the real plot starts that the movie starts to become well, boring and pointless. Everything happens WAY to fast, things happen without reason. For example, the relationship between Kayley and Garrett - where did that come from? One second they hate each other, then after spending, what - a couple of days together? their in love. They only fell in love because in a movie like this the main male and female characters typically fall in love, there's no development to their relationship, it only happens because its expected. Why does Ruber want to take over Camelot? Little motive towards the main villains actions make for a really poor villain, kids movie or not. Why is he even a knight of the round table anyway? By the looks of it, he only ever cared for himself, so how did he ever manage to get to that position - you don't need to be a great judge of character to see that's a bad guy. Devon and Cornwall were incredibly useless, I mean, I know all kids movies have the annoying sidekicks - I hated sidekicks when I was a kid - but they didn't do anything. They saved Garrett a ten minute run to Camelot because they miraculously learned to fly. Don't get me started on the hammer chicken thing I still don't get what that was about. Plus, was I the only one who thought that Lionel died a bit to easily? I had to go back and see what killed him, only to find that he gets thrown across the table. He's supposed to be Arthur's most trusted knight, is he really that weak?
Now, the characters. I've already gone into the Ruber, Devon and Cornwall. Kayley was a terrible main character. She didn't really do anything productive. I was expecting her to be a really great lead character, but in the end all she did was get captured and needed rescuing by Garrett and those useless dragons. Garrett was a great character though, as was Juliana, Arthur and Lionel.
Most of the songs were great, especially "The Prayer," "On my Father's wings" and "I stand alone." Its ashamed that the characters voices don't fit with the singing voices. The animation was average. The voice acting was pretty good to.
I know its just a kids movie, but there's still no excuse to some of the things I brought up. It seems that Warner Brothers just wanted to create a Disney-like movie, but missed a lot of the key things that makes Disney movies great. I'd give it 5/10.
Nice Variation on Old Legend
Cylex16 September 2001
I caught this film on video because the trailer wasn't too good. But it did have Eric Idle voicing Devon so I gave it a chance. I loved it. The dragon stole most of the scenes, but the other characters weren't bad either. Kayley & Garrett made a good couple and it was refreshing to see a romance that wasn't based on looks or riches. I wanted them to be together. Bladebeak was amusing and Aydon (voiced by the excellent Frank Welker) was good to watch. Rubere was deliciously villainous. The weakest characters were Arthur & Merlin but the film wasn't really about them so it didn't matter.
The best scenes were set in the Forbidden Forest where we witness all kinds of weird and wonderful flora and fauna. There are good songs (I Stand Alone, Through Your Eyes & On My Father's Wings especially.) I also cried at several points. Ignore the bad press. Watch it. 9/10
The best scenes were set in the Forbidden Forest where we witness all kinds of weird and wonderful flora and fauna. There are good songs (I Stand Alone, Through Your Eyes & On My Father's Wings especially.) I also cried at several points. Ignore the bad press. Watch it. 9/10
Its An Adventure Instead of a Quest
TEAQUIEMORO12 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
When I first saw it as a little kid I saw this movie and it was perfect to me, but later on when I saw it in this century this movie didn't have the same exciting anymore.It was a bit more different,right now I would have to say not to see this movie anymore and to others.This was a waste of time and money,now I understand why he hated because this was a kiddy,boring,unfansty world.It is not great anymore,just because it has an Oscar dos-en't mean it is all that great.Now we look up to other movies than that worthless movie,it went from so-so to worse.They have to stop showing this movie,it is not funny anymore,take my advise if you've seen it the first time don't waste your money on this again,get something better than that crap.
On second thought, let's not go to Camelot. It is a silly place.
Avwillfan8923 October 2013
Warning: Spoilers
I watched this when I was little and I found it mildly amusing. When I watched it again when I got older, I saw that there was simply no good plot or interesting characters in it.
Kayley longs to be a knight like her late father, and is well on her way to becoming the adventurous fighting female warrior that she always wanted. Unfortunately in the end, she is kidnapped and becomes the stereotypical damsel in distress who longs for her knight in shining armor, Garrett, the blind hero, to come in and save her. Why can't it ever be the other way around?
Ruber, the villain, has no depth, no personality other than the fact that he is evil and selfish, and has no complexity, meaning or explanation as to why he does the things he does. The only grudge he has for the king is that that he just simply wouldn't give him all the land. Despite being voiced by Gary Oldman, and having a few witty lines he just becomes silly and not very threatening.
As for the two headed dragon, they have absolutely no business being in the movie other than comic relief, which is a very weak aspect of storytelling.
One a positive note, the music and the songs are very good. Andrea Corr plays Kayley's singing part and Celine Dion play's Juliana's. But other than that, it really is nothing special.
4 out of 10.
Kayley longs to be a knight like her late father, and is well on her way to becoming the adventurous fighting female warrior that she always wanted. Unfortunately in the end, she is kidnapped and becomes the stereotypical damsel in distress who longs for her knight in shining armor, Garrett, the blind hero, to come in and save her. Why can't it ever be the other way around?
Ruber, the villain, has no depth, no personality other than the fact that he is evil and selfish, and has no complexity, meaning or explanation as to why he does the things he does. The only grudge he has for the king is that that he just simply wouldn't give him all the land. Despite being voiced by Gary Oldman, and having a few witty lines he just becomes silly and not very threatening.
As for the two headed dragon, they have absolutely no business being in the movie other than comic relief, which is a very weak aspect of storytelling.
One a positive note, the music and the songs are very good. Andrea Corr plays Kayley's singing part and Celine Dion play's Juliana's. But other than that, it really is nothing special.
4 out of 10.
An underrated good quality cartoon film.
Mightyzebra30 August 2007
Genre: Cartoon, Camelot, Adventure with female knight in training.
Main characters: Kayley, Garret, Devon and Cornwall.
Actors: Lots of famous ones here! There is Cary Elwes (Garret), Eric Idle (Devon), Gary Oldman (Ruber), Jane Seymour (Juliana), Don Rickles (Cornwall), Pierce Brosnan (King Arthur), John Gielgud (Merlin).
What happens: Kayley is the daughter of Sir Lionel, one of the knights at the Round Table. The young girl dreams of following in her father's footsteps as a knight. Then, disaster strikes. Lionel is killed :-( and Kayley as well as others mourn for him. Kayley dreams on of becoming a knight...
My thoughts: This film had good potential. It had good animation, good, heartwarming songs, good characters and lots of good actors. They released it and (on IMDb especially) it sort of flopped like a deflated balloon. What happened?
Well, I don't know personally. I suppose a lot of people don't like this film for a number of reasons. Yes, the film isn't perfect, but it's CERTAINLY enjoyable and good to watch! It's also good for the children, they are likely to enjoy at least one aspect of the film and want to watch on (just like me when I was younger). They may enjoy the songs, they may enjoy the actors, they may enjoy the characters or the excitement, or they may enjoy the humour. They are most likely NOT to be disappointed.
Adults are most likely to like the actors. Monty Python fans will hopefully not be disappointed by the performance of Eric Idle. Also here is Jane Seymour (but not Henry the Eighth's wife OBVIOUSLY! :-) )
Why this film has gone down so badly is a mystery to me. I hope those of you who have never watched it before will enjoy it as much as I do.
Recommended to: Families who like cartoon films, people who like any of the actors I mentioned earlier and people who just like the sound of the film in general - enjoy! :-)
Main characters: Kayley, Garret, Devon and Cornwall.
Actors: Lots of famous ones here! There is Cary Elwes (Garret), Eric Idle (Devon), Gary Oldman (Ruber), Jane Seymour (Juliana), Don Rickles (Cornwall), Pierce Brosnan (King Arthur), John Gielgud (Merlin).
What happens: Kayley is the daughter of Sir Lionel, one of the knights at the Round Table. The young girl dreams of following in her father's footsteps as a knight. Then, disaster strikes. Lionel is killed :-( and Kayley as well as others mourn for him. Kayley dreams on of becoming a knight...
My thoughts: This film had good potential. It had good animation, good, heartwarming songs, good characters and lots of good actors. They released it and (on IMDb especially) it sort of flopped like a deflated balloon. What happened?
Well, I don't know personally. I suppose a lot of people don't like this film for a number of reasons. Yes, the film isn't perfect, but it's CERTAINLY enjoyable and good to watch! It's also good for the children, they are likely to enjoy at least one aspect of the film and want to watch on (just like me when I was younger). They may enjoy the songs, they may enjoy the actors, they may enjoy the characters or the excitement, or they may enjoy the humour. They are most likely NOT to be disappointed.
Adults are most likely to like the actors. Monty Python fans will hopefully not be disappointed by the performance of Eric Idle. Also here is Jane Seymour (but not Henry the Eighth's wife OBVIOUSLY! :-) )
Why this film has gone down so badly is a mystery to me. I hope those of you who have never watched it before will enjoy it as much as I do.
Recommended to: Families who like cartoon films, people who like any of the actors I mentioned earlier and people who just like the sound of the film in general - enjoy! :-)
A decent family animation feature
ronchow-224 December 2005
I have DVD's of both 'Sword in the Stone' and 'Quest for Camelot'. They are different films by different producers. Both are decent family films in my opinion.
My 6-six old watched it once it a while and enjoyed it every time. I got to watch glimpses of it over time but finally watched it from start to finish, once. Despite its shortcomings, I find it to be an enjoyable animation film. You either like the sound track or you don't. But the animation is watchable and there are moments of tenderness, sadness, humour and hope.
Ignore the fact it does not come from Disney. Put aside your bias from negative reviews. The 1.5 hours will go pretty fast.
My 6-six old watched it once it a while and enjoyed it every time. I got to watch glimpses of it over time but finally watched it from start to finish, once. Despite its shortcomings, I find it to be an enjoyable animation film. You either like the sound track or you don't. But the animation is watchable and there are moments of tenderness, sadness, humour and hope.
Ignore the fact it does not come from Disney. Put aside your bias from negative reviews. The 1.5 hours will go pretty fast.
Boring
raven_blood8811 October 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Well, I finally saw it. And boy, it was nothing to sneeze at.
(**Spoilers**) Now, I tried to give it a chance, I really did. Being a big fan of animated musicals, I tend to enjoy films of this genre. But sadly, the effort was wasted in this misshapen heap of a story. Now, for the positive side, I must say I thought the two-headed dragon was hilarious... Eric Idle and Don Rickles were simply perfect picks for their voices. However, the main characters were bland, and lacked a proper chemistry. Kayley was drastically out of place with the story. Her whole, "I wanna be a warrior" rant reminded me of Taran from "The Black Cauldron." Ladies were not knights, and did not sit with the men at the Round Table. And NO woman dressed like she did at that time. Garrett was the most boring, angsty piece of wood, it hurt. And, to top it all off, the two main characters fell in love in less than a day. (I'm sorry, but even for an animated film, that was way too rushed, considering how they got along in the first place. Ruber, the villain, was a lame, inept villain, who lacked a good motive. It was lame.
The singing voices for the characters (not counting Devon and Cornwall (the two-headed dragon), and Ruber (the villain), who did their own singing) were all obviously different. And the songs came out of nowhere. I mean, one minute we have Kayley's dad telling her about Camelot, the next, the knights are parading and singing to Aurthur's castle. Yeah, that *TOTALLY* happens in real life. I know animated musicals have songs, but they're usually better done, and fit in with the storyline. The animation smelled... and I often saw re-used clips about three times over. And the colors were so washed out, it hurt.
And the plot... hoo boy! Did these people even try and base it on the book it supposedly originated from? Now, I never read the book, but I read its summary, and the characters are barely anything like this. The plot is weak, watered down, and lame. I know the book was adult, but they could've made a kid-safe version of it. And Arthur and Merlin are in this for all of ten minutes, max.
The only *really* catchy song in the film was "If I Didn't Have You", and the only really beautiful song was "The Prayer." This is sad because there were other songs scattered throughout the film. So yeah, this film tried so hard to be a Disney-clone, yet it couldn't hold the candle to other really good non-Disney films, like "The Swan Princess", "Thumbelina", "Anastasia", "Balto", and "Prince of Egypt."
Case in point, don't waste your time. It's quite forgettable.
(**Spoilers**) Now, I tried to give it a chance, I really did. Being a big fan of animated musicals, I tend to enjoy films of this genre. But sadly, the effort was wasted in this misshapen heap of a story. Now, for the positive side, I must say I thought the two-headed dragon was hilarious... Eric Idle and Don Rickles were simply perfect picks for their voices. However, the main characters were bland, and lacked a proper chemistry. Kayley was drastically out of place with the story. Her whole, "I wanna be a warrior" rant reminded me of Taran from "The Black Cauldron." Ladies were not knights, and did not sit with the men at the Round Table. And NO woman dressed like she did at that time. Garrett was the most boring, angsty piece of wood, it hurt. And, to top it all off, the two main characters fell in love in less than a day. (I'm sorry, but even for an animated film, that was way too rushed, considering how they got along in the first place. Ruber, the villain, was a lame, inept villain, who lacked a good motive. It was lame.
The singing voices for the characters (not counting Devon and Cornwall (the two-headed dragon), and Ruber (the villain), who did their own singing) were all obviously different. And the songs came out of nowhere. I mean, one minute we have Kayley's dad telling her about Camelot, the next, the knights are parading and singing to Aurthur's castle. Yeah, that *TOTALLY* happens in real life. I know animated musicals have songs, but they're usually better done, and fit in with the storyline. The animation smelled... and I often saw re-used clips about three times over. And the colors were so washed out, it hurt.
And the plot... hoo boy! Did these people even try and base it on the book it supposedly originated from? Now, I never read the book, but I read its summary, and the characters are barely anything like this. The plot is weak, watered down, and lame. I know the book was adult, but they could've made a kid-safe version of it. And Arthur and Merlin are in this for all of ten minutes, max.
The only *really* catchy song in the film was "If I Didn't Have You", and the only really beautiful song was "The Prayer." This is sad because there were other songs scattered throughout the film. So yeah, this film tried so hard to be a Disney-clone, yet it couldn't hold the candle to other really good non-Disney films, like "The Swan Princess", "Thumbelina", "Anastasia", "Balto", and "Prince of Egypt."
Case in point, don't waste your time. It's quite forgettable.
a great, funny, wholesome movie for everyone!!!
rioascjcorr1019 February 2000
I practically wanted to see this movie mainly because The Corrs were in it, I mean The Corrs are featured on its soundtrack, but after seeing it, I really enjoyed it. it's a really great movie I recommend for everybody to watch. Not only that it provides great music and entertainment, it teaches us lessons as well. It also feautures Camelot as a very wonderful place, outlining the story in the original Camelot story but excellently rearranging some things and placing additional characters and somehow revamping the plot but is very enjoyable and amusing, I must say, especially the part when "If I Didn't Have You" was sung by the two very amusing dinosaurs.Also the excellent songs feautured in the soundtrack which really suited the movie very well. An excellent movie for the family, a story with lessons to learn and very enjoyable indeed both for the children, the family, and also for young at hearts as well.
"We are the reason why cousins should never marry."
DarthBill23 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Plot in a nutshell - Baron Ruber (voice of Gary Oldman) wants all the power & wealth in the land, is thus expelled from the Round Table for it, and vows revenge on King Arthur (voice of Bond star Pierce Brosnan) and all who inhabit his realm. Years later, Ruber steals the sword Excalibur and plunges Camelot into chaos. The only hope is Kayley (voice of Jessalyn Gilsig), the plucky, super cute farm girl tomboy teen-aged daughter of a Round Table knight Ruber killed years ago, who manages to rope a blind forester/former stable boy named Garrett (voice of Cary Elwes) and a two-headed dinosaur/dragon mutant (voiced by Don Rickles and Eric Idle) into helping her retrieve Excalibur. Comedy, chaos and mayhem ensues.
Maybe not the best animated feature ever made, but still enjoyable in its old fashioned Disney kind of way. Combination of traditional hand-drawn animation set against CGI backgrounds makes for a beautifully uneven visual feast. Characters are fairly likable and good-natured enough not to annoy anyone.
Based on the book "The King's Dam0sel" by the late Vera Chapman.
Maybe not the best animated feature ever made, but still enjoyable in its old fashioned Disney kind of way. Combination of traditional hand-drawn animation set against CGI backgrounds makes for a beautifully uneven visual feast. Characters are fairly likable and good-natured enough not to annoy anyone.
Based on the book "The King's Dam0sel" by the late Vera Chapman.
Interesting little movie
mastertiger11 January 2005
I finished watching this cute little title not 10 minutes ago, and I jumped on here to read what others had to say about it. Yeah it was formulaic, yeah you could see the ending coming miles away like every other happy-ending movie out there, but a few things I read struck me as odd. And yes, Feuer und Flamme (Devon and Cornwall in English) were great as an Abbott and Costello-type team. But that's what you get when cousins marry, they said. I was about to laugh my arse off...
Now back to earlier posts. Take the voices, for example. Someone posted that the voices didn't quite match in speaking/singing roles. In the version I saw, it would greatly depend on the language you're viewing it in. The German version had almost identical voices for Kayley speaking (Nana Spier) and singing (Nena). I had to listen twice to see if it actually WAS Nena, because I know her voice the instant I hear it. Sure enough, it was. Garrett's voices weren't too far off the mark either, with Hartmut Engler singing.
what was weird was reading the English script as subtitles while listening in German. I'll try the other way round tomorrow or just stick with straight English for the next viewing. Perhaps then I could judge better the said inaccuracy of the voice match-ups. I still don't think Andrea Corr could do the song justice. Nena sounds so much better.
Now back to earlier posts. Take the voices, for example. Someone posted that the voices didn't quite match in speaking/singing roles. In the version I saw, it would greatly depend on the language you're viewing it in. The German version had almost identical voices for Kayley speaking (Nana Spier) and singing (Nena). I had to listen twice to see if it actually WAS Nena, because I know her voice the instant I hear it. Sure enough, it was. Garrett's voices weren't too far off the mark either, with Hartmut Engler singing.
what was weird was reading the English script as subtitles while listening in German. I'll try the other way round tomorrow or just stick with straight English for the next viewing. Perhaps then I could judge better the said inaccuracy of the voice match-ups. I still don't think Andrea Corr could do the song justice. Nena sounds so much better.
Not Disney, to be sure, but not bad, either!
Costu-28 November 1999
Frankly, I enjoyed this film -- despite the ineffective animation (at times), the feminist spin on the Arthurian legend, the rampant anachronisms, and the occasional intrusion of rather bland musical numbers. The story kept my attention, and I particularly liked the contributions of Cary Elwes, Pierce Brosnan, Jane Seymour, and, as that quirky two-headed dragon, Eric Idle and Don Rickles (an inspired pairing, if there ever was one!). It's no "Beauty and the Beast," but I can think of worse ways to spend an hour or so...
I remember this being better
daisukereds5 March 2020
This is what results from copying something inspiring and well made, when you don't know what you are doing yourself. It's not smooth in anything it does.. The music just starts instead of having a proper transition (a lesson that could have been learned from Disney's Mermaid, almost 10 years prior). The characters are not well written or developed, and the plot is overwhelmingly simple and uninteresting.
Still, you can see the production value, and quality of what they created. The animations, effects and sound editing are all great. It just needed a project lead with more experience and a better vision, or more time and decent feedback.
Still, you can see the production value, and quality of what they created. The animations, effects and sound editing are all great. It just needed a project lead with more experience and a better vision, or more time and decent feedback.
A Kingdom for a Sword!!
treakle_197811 May 2019
This beautiful animated movie with great characters,music and direction tells a story of Sword and a place called Camelot. The villain is very good along with his henchmen. Leann rimes version of looking through your eyes is amazing!!
Relax, It's just a cartoon!
kmw205131 January 2007
While reading certain comments for this movie, I've come across a similar theme as with other animated films. It gets picked apart for lack of character depth and so-so animation,etc,etc. However they all come to the same conclusion that kids will probably like it. OK...is that not the point with 90% of ALL animated films whether they be hand drawn or CGI, let's get down to it- they're cartoons!! They ARE for kids.
As for this movie , I have yet to meet a child under 12 who didn't like it. As a parent I thought it was pretty good. Not quite up to speed with most Disney movies, but it didn't drive me from the room or make me want to force my kids to turn it off. For a cartoon I'd give it a 7/10.
As for this movie , I have yet to meet a child under 12 who didn't like it. As a parent I thought it was pretty good. Not quite up to speed with most Disney movies, but it didn't drive me from the room or make me want to force my kids to turn it off. For a cartoon I'd give it a 7/10.
Uh... great cast, no plot.
ynque7 October 1999
I will not waste many words describing this film. With a cast including such silver-screen greats as Jane Seymour, John Gielgud, Cary Elwes, Pierce Brosnan, et al., one would expect this film to have been worth watching.
It isn't.
It's not as bad as, say, The Swan Princess or Thumbelina, but there are better ways you could use your time.
It isn't.
It's not as bad as, say, The Swan Princess or Thumbelina, but there are better ways you could use your time.
A very, very good Arthurian movie
ja_kitty_7118 September 2007
I was shocked, surprised, and flabbergasted by the negative reviews I would see on the web. I thought that this film was a very, very good Arthurian movie, along with Walt Disney's classic "The Sword in the Stone" and the musical "Camelot," starring Richard Harris and Vanessa Redgrave.
The storyline of this movie is engaging, the music is exceptional, and the voice actors are brilliantly chosen-these elements make for a cinematic experience that I truly appreciate. I love Kayley, and her desire to carry on the tradition of her father in the excellent song On My Father's Wings was a great scene in the film. I also love the song "The Prayer." The song became popular among artists like the Celtic Woman. I don't understand why a popular song would come from a film that people thought was awful.
The storyline of this movie is engaging, the music is exceptional, and the voice actors are brilliantly chosen-these elements make for a cinematic experience that I truly appreciate. I love Kayley, and her desire to carry on the tradition of her father in the excellent song On My Father's Wings was a great scene in the film. I also love the song "The Prayer." The song became popular among artists like the Celtic Woman. I don't understand why a popular song would come from a film that people thought was awful.
nice idea, cute little details, but alas ... that music!
Linda-126 April 1999
It's the love for details, that makes this film worth seeing: all those little creatures, hairy eyes, scary claws of plants and things, that create a fairy world. I would have really enjoyed the atmosphere, if the constant musical intermezzos wouldn't have spoiled a good deal of it. (Though I laughed out loud when the two headed dragon turned "Sonny and Cher" :-)
I can't believe it's not Disney!
IonicBreezeMachine19 May 2020
In the 90s to try and counter the Disney Renaissance, Warner Brothers impotently tried to get a piece of the animated pie. Their attempts range from ill advised star vehicles like the mostly forgotten Rover Dangerfield or in most cases trying to ape the Disney Princess formula that had become the flavor of the month with the Little Mermaid's success coloring the creative direction for the duration of the 90s. Along with Swan Princess and Thumbelina, Quest for Camelot basically took the modern Disney princess archetype and shoe horned it into a very loosely interpreted Arthurian legend inspired fairy tale where there is clear money put into not only the animation but also the voice cast featuring a veritable who's who of contemporary talent(many of whom are wasted in thankless supporting roles). The story was obviously not a priority here as it takes the bare bones of what's expected in an animated film of this decade and feels like the paint by numbers equivalent of what studios think will make a successful animated movie. The biggest insult about this movie is this had a massive marketing push, while other WB animated projects like Cats Don't Dance and Iron Giant were quietly dumped with barely a fraction of the marketing budget.
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