Quest for Camelot

“Quest for Camelot,” released in 1998, is still another studio trying to seize the helm of family animation away from Disney. It was from Warner Bros, which made it large with the colorful and funny “Space Jam,” but now looks to regress into copying Disney. The animation isn’t lively, the characters aren’t very interesting, and the songs are tedious.

“Space Jam” and “Anastasia” from Fox were the only non-Disney films to steal some of the gold from Walt’s children. Since allegedly, “Quest for Camelot” cost $100 million and yet lacks the charm of something like “Beauty and the Beast,” maybe it’s time for Warner Bros. to find a different method – maybe animation targeted towards the teenage and adult age range, which does so well in Japan.

“Quest for Camelot,” like countless animated films, is a blueprint with which rapidly new characters are made. We need a young protagonist, and get that in Kayley (Meredith Gordon from “Heroes,” Jessalyn Gilsig), the brave teenage daughter of Lionel (Gabriel Byrne), one of Arthur’s knights. As you guessed, Lionel is killed in the beginning when defending Arthur, voiced by Pierce Brosnan, because the protagonists of animated films must always have only one parents (later, Kayley’s mother (Jane Seymour) is conveniently kidnapped).

We also need a villain (Ruber, the evil and jealous knight (Gary Oldman)), a villain’s evil sidekick (the griffin (Balki from “Perfect Strangers,” Bronson Pinchot)), and a villain’s sidekick who turns good (Bladebeak the chicken (Jaleel White)). We need a young man to help the heroine on her journey (Garrett, the blind forest resident (Cary Elwes)), a hero’s noble friend (silver falcon (Frank Welker)), and the hero’s comic relief (Devon and Cornwall, the two-headed dragon (the late Don Rickles and Eric Idle)). Then have Ruber steal the magic sword Excalibur, and have Kayley and Garrett try to retrieve it, throw in some songs and a lot of animated action, and you have your movie.

Roger Ebert admitted in his review, “I’m not putting the formula down. Done well, it can work, and some version of these ingredients now seems to be required in all feature-length animated films. But “Quest for Camelot” does a fuzzy job of clearly introducing and establishing its characters, and makes them types, not individuals. Their personalities aren’t helped by the awkward handling of dialogue; in some of the long shots, we can’t tell who’s supposed to be speaking, and the animated lip synch is unconvincing. Another problem is the way the songs begin and end abruptly; we miss the wind-up before a song and the segue back into spoken dialogue. The movie just doesn’t seem sure of itself.”

Will kids like it? Ebert answered, “I dunno. I saw it in a theater filled with kids, and didn’t hear or sense the kind of enthusiasm that good animation can inspire. The two-headed dragon gets some laughs with an Elvis imitation. But there’s a running joke in which one head is always trying to smooch the other one, and the kids didn’t seem sure why they were supposed to laugh. There’s also the problem that Ruben is simply a one-dimensional bad guy, with no intriguing personality quirks or weaknesses; he pales beside Rasputin in “Anastasia” or Scar in “The Lion King.” Of the supporting animals, the falcon has no particular personality, and Bladebeak is a character in search of a purpose. Even the vast, monstrous dragon that ends up with Excaliber (as a toothpick) is a disappointment. When the heroes find him in a cave, he doesn’t exude much menace or personality; he’s just a big prop.”

The most interesting character is Garrett, who we find out was rejected from Camelot because he was blind, and now lives in the forest with the falcon. “I stand alone,” he sings, but his friendship with Kayley is the only believable one in the movie. We also find it strange that the plants in his forest are more interesting than most of the animals. There are eyeball plants that snap at people, helicopter plants that give free rides (more could have been made of those), and plants that chomp at ankles and elbows.

Ebert is right when he said, “Really good animation can be exhilarating; I remember the “Under the Sea” sequence from “The Little Mermaid,” and “Be My Guest” from “Beauty and the Beast.” In “Quest for Camelot” there are no sequences that take off and soar, and no rules to give shape to the action scenes (if Excaliber is really all-powerful, how is its power exercised, and why can its bearer be defeated?).” The movie’s fundamental formula is so familiar that there’s no use mentioning a recap unless you have convincing characters and good songs. Ebert asked, “Enormous resources went into the making of this film, but why wasn’t there more stretching and creativity at the screenplay level? Why work so hard on the animation and run the plot on autopilot?”

Don’t see this movie. It was one of the most underwhelming animated movies of the time. The characters are copies (Kayley’s animation is a copy of Belle, Devon and Cornwall are a copy of “Aladdin’s” Genie), the story is not connected with the Arthur legend, they make references to “Taxi Driver” and “Dirty Harry” (as if they think those are the movies kids watch), and there are so many things that are not explained. I know that the forest is enchanted, but that’s just vague, and Ruber gets the potion from some witches, but when did those exist in Camelot. However, other stuff, like Buckbeak change sides, putting Excalibur in the stone heals everyone, but doesn’t heal Garrett’s blindness, are never explained. Don’t you think we deserve that? To add insult to injury, this was John Gielgud’s last film of his career. How come Gary Oldman played obvious villains at the time? This and “Lost in Space” came out the exact same year and Oldman played the obvious villains with the same motives in both films, which makes you wonder. I would just suggest people to go to “Medieval Times” instead of watching this garbage. Avoid this movie because you will be very disappointed by it.

Next week, I will be looking at another musical that I’m not a fan of in “Pierce Brosnan Month.”