20th Century Fox
As I was watching The Kid Who Would Be King, the young boy playing Alexander looked a bit familiar. After I got home I scrolled through IMDB to find out that the actor, Louis Ashbourne Serkis, is the son of actor/director Andy Serkis. His son has previously provided motion capturing for his dad’s movie, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle. Talent runs in the family.
The Kid Who Would Be King is a take on the classic King Arthur story with a new twist. Alex stumbles upon the mythical sword Excalibur. He soon unites his friends and enemies, and they become knights with the legendary wizard Merlin. Together, they must fight off Morgana, who is determined to obtain Excalibur.
Joe Cornish, who previously directed Attack the Block, adds his own flair to the classic story of King Arthur. Cornish took a long break between that film and his newest movie. Both movies center around a group of young individuals trying to save the world. Attack the Block was an enjoyable movie that starred John Boyega, who is now known for his role as Finn in the most recent Star Wars movies.
Instead of making Alex someone who is a descendant of King Arthur, Cornish is perfectly happy with writing Alex as a normal kid. This will inspire young boys and girls to do extraordinary things, since Alex was chosen to pull the sword out of the stone for his honor and bravery. Alex is someone you can root for and the writers provide many crowd-pleasing moments for him. Alex’s upbringing is similar to Rey from Star Wars, which Alex mentions in the film. Both Rey and Alex believed their parents were more important than they were. They both had to learn that they were ordinary but meant to do something extraordinary.
The best character in the movie is Merlin, who can change his appearance just by a violent sneeze. He bounces around from the young version of himself, an owl and his true form, old Patrick Stewart. Most of the time Merlin is played by the young Angus Imrie, which continued the new twist on the medieval story by relying on young stars to carry the film.
Early on in the film Alex is bullied by two students older than him at his school. Rhianna Doris and Tom Taylor star as the two students who think they run the school and often encounter Alex defending his friends against their bullying. They eventually join Alex in his quest to defeat Morgana but it isn’t an easy journey for group. The two older students have to show their worth and loyalty to Alex since they betray him several times throughout the film. I like the realistic approach that everything isn’t perfect right away for the group and they have to work things out and understand each other in order to work together as a team. This adds a lot to Alex’s character that he is willing to give people second chances after they don’t prove themselves many times.
The film never puts the characters in peril and Alex and the students at Dungate Academy overpower Morgana very easily. The PG film feels safe when it comes to challenges Alex faces in the film. The climactic moment for the film felt like it came way to early and after Alex’s battle with Morgana, I lost interest in the film since I already saw the main part of Alex’s journey.
I found plenty things to enjoy with The Kid Who Would Be King. The film has a fun sense of adventure and relies heavily on the young stars to carry the film and they succeed at providing many fun moments. Merlin is the standout with his weird hand gestures as he creates magic. Joe Cornish is great at directing a young cast and leading them in the right direction to saving the world. I hope he doesn’t wait another 8 years to release another movie.
The Kid Who Would Be King has a run time of 2 hours and is rated PG for fantasy action violence, scary images, thematic elements including some bullying, and language.
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