THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING (2019) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

the kid who would be king (2019) movie

Genre              |   Fantasy Adventure

Classification   |   PG

Running time   |   120 minutes

Released         |   17 January 2019

cast

Rebecca Ferguson ... Morgana
Tom Taylor ... Lance
Patrick Stewart ... Merlin
Louis Ashbourne Serkis ... Alex
​Angus Imrie ... Young Merlin

director

Joe Cornish

writer

​Joe Cornish ... (written by)

cinematographer

​Bill Pope

music

​Electric Wave Bureau

film editor

Jonathan Amos
Paul Machliss

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box office result

Worldwide               $​32,140,970

Australia                 $​1,353,644

North America        $​16,790,790

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the best dialogue

Alex: [examining Excalibur] There's something written on the guard. Put it into Google Translate.
Bedders: It means "Sword of Arthur". What if it's the Sword in the Stone?

Bedders: Where did you learn how to drive?
Kaye: Mario Kart

Alex: Who will join us?
[no one responds]
Young Merlin: How humiliating.
Principal: This is instead of lessons today!
[the students cheer]

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THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING (2019) MOVIE IMAGES

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Posters

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THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING (2019) STORY SYNOPSIS

​Old-school magic meets the modern world when young Alex stumbles upon the mythical sword Excalibur. He soon joins forces with a band of knights and the legendary wizard Merlin when the wicked enchantress Morgana threatens the future of mankind.

THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING (2019) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 16 January 2019

Pop ​Movee Rating

Arthurian legend and Grail quest movies have, generally, been rooted times long past; mining the blurred line between fact and fantasy as knights in shining armour traverse the perennially mist-covered English countryside of the Dark Ages battling mystical forces who seek to enslave the realm in a pall of metaphorical darkness.

Besides the cult comedy of 1975’s MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, the quintessential King Arthur film is John Boorman’s 1981 epic EXCALIBUR. That film captures the “Twilight Zone” mise-en-scene that takes the viewer into a world where it’s easy to imagine the possibility of magic at a time when science didn’t govern the rules of man’s existence. The likes of Helen Mirren, Nicol Williamson, Nicholas Clay, Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne and Patrick Stewart provide an all-star ensemble as Nigel Terry’s Arthur embarks upon a multi-odyssey journey to uncover the meaning behind his ascension as King and Ruler.

The mixture of fact and fiction surrounding Arthurian legend makes for grand entertainment and anytime a new film touches upon the subject, it ignites debate about the historical legitimacy of King Arthur...

Did Arthur Pendragon really exist?

Was he the British King who defended Britain against Saxon invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries?

Are the various histories written over the course of the last thousand years even reliable?

In THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING filmmaker Joe Cornish takes the common conceits of Arthurian legend, mixes in a sprinkling of HARRY POTTER and adds a dash of Monty Python humour to serve up a family-friendly slice of entertainment that will, at the very least, keep kids entertained for the most part of its 120 minute running time and - possibly - have them inquire a little more deeply into the wondrous mythology of Arthur, Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table. With any luck, it may even get them interested in doing a bit of real research into British history!

THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING owes its existence to the ongoing passion of HARRY POTTER fans and their desire to engage with films that explore the existence of a parallel universe where magic really does happen but is seldom witnessed by those not from within the Wizarding world itself. The central character of this film is no Harry Potter, but there are enough similarities with the HP Universe to make THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING appealing enough for Potter fans to give it a look.

Cornish, who wrote & directed the film, is not quite as discreet as J.K. Rowling… THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING has no problem mixing the magic and fantasy of Arthurian legend with its contemporary characters and settings. Indeed, the film’s finale is entirely reliant upon such alchemy for it to deliver the required “spectacular” pay-off viewers of all ages would expect from a fantasy genre film.

At the film’s centre is young Alex, played by Louis Ashbourne Serkis. Some keen-eyed movie buffs may see the name “Serkis” and make a connection to Andy Serkis, the actor who has almost single-handedly lifted motion-capture performance to a rare artform with his portrayal of characters like Gollum in Peter Jackson’s THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy and Caesar in the last three PLANET OF THE APES movies. Louis is Andy’s son and a long hard look at the young man will reveal more than just a few facial similarities between the two…

Unlike J.K. Rowling’s Harry, Cornish doesn’t make Alex an orphan. Alex lives with his mother in suburban London; his parents having separated when he was a baby. He’s a young kid who works hard to try and get good grades at High School but he and his best friend “Bedders”, played by Dean Chaumoo, endure a daily ritual of bullying from older students Lance and Kaye, played by Tom Taylor and Rhianna Dorris.

Lance and Kaye’s bullying is the catalyst for Alex to discover his destiny, the pair forcing him and “Bedders” into a building construction site in their desperate effort to avoid yet another confrontation. Alex races onto the site and, in his effort to avoid being caught, falls several feet to the ground. A large pile of dirt breaks his fall, but he’s knocked unconscious for a short period. Lance and Kaye look down to see Alex lying prone in the dirt, but, instead of helping him, turn on their heels and high-tail it out of there! Alex awakens and soon finds a sword imbedded in a rock. To his surprise, he’s able to draw the sword from the stone...

From the moment that Alex pulls the sword out, Cornish gets to work on his version of the “Holy Grail” quest. In Arthurian legend, The Holy Grail has ranged from being a bowl, a cup and a stone. Irrespective of its form, it’s significant because of its power to bring happiness and eternal youth to those who came into its presence. Over the course of time, the term “Holy Grail” has become part of the vernacular to describe a task or mission of great difficulty. In THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING, Alex’s search for his father, comprising the middle section of the film, is the equivalent of such a quest.

Along the way, Cornish utilizes important Arthurian characters to keep both the narrative and plot moving along…

Angus Imrie delivers the most impressive of the film’s performances with his take on a young version of Merlin the Magician. Where younger cast members Serkis and Chamuoo appear a little tentative at times, Imrie throws himself into the craziness of his character; a 1,500 year old Wizard bouncing around in the body of a teenage boy! Imrie’s performance is full of energy and his presence helps to lift his younger cast members.

Patrick Stewart plays an older version of Merlin, while Rebecca Ferguson is Morgana, the diabolical enchantress who seeks to enslave humanity. Stewart and Ferguson’s screen time is limited and, without sounding cynical, their presence seems to be motivated by a requirement for Cornish to have a couple of “name” actors attached to the project in order to secure production funding. Stewart appears in a total of four scenes, while Ferguson’s Morgana is, for the most past,  played under a combination of heavy make-up and CGI.

To his credit, Cornish doesn’t rely too heavily upon the presence of either Stewart of Ferguson for the film’s story to work. Cornish uses his younger cast members to drive the story, allowing Alex to understand his place in the scheme of the universe. As their adventure morphs from Alex’s quest to understand his father’s lack of involvement in his life into a genuine fantasy adventure, whereby the Kingdom must be defended against a supernatural evil, THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING kicks up into high gear.

While the finale feels like it’s been lifted from one of Peter Jackson’s Tolkien films, the story threads pull together in a coherent manner that close off the narrative in an emotionally satisfying way for the viewer. Sure, there’s scope for more adventures, but, in and off itself, THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING performs its own little piece of magic, existing as a heartfelt movie that uses more than just comic books and pop culture as inspiration for its existence.

THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING MOVIE (2019) USEFUL LINKS

The Kid Who Would Be King - Wikipedia
​The Kid Who Would Be King (2019) - IMDb
​The Kid Who Would Be King (2019) - Rotten Tomatoes
​The Kid Who Would Be King | Fox Movies - 20th Century Fox​

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