The Magic Sword Quest For Camelot (Animated) (Wide Screen) (DVD)

...2 things drew me to the movie firstly there was the 2 headed dragon on the cover, secondly the word "camelot" in the title, you know you're in for a sword swinging, Knight filled adventure when you see the word "camelot" (thats unless it's realated to the lottery, but anyway.....) I had no idea of the plot, would it be musical or straight cartoon, who'd be doing the voices..........I simply took pot luck, bought the film and hoped ...
...for Camelot is based on the novel The King's Damosel which was the third novel in a trilogy of fantasy novels written by Vera Chapman.

"Vera Chapman is a rather interesting character - she was one of the first women to matriculate from Oxford University, she was a druid, married an Anglican vicar and at one point founded the English Tolkien Society. She didn't begin writing until the age off 77, where she produced seven fantasy ... more

When I purchased this film I had actually never heard of it let alone seen it, I'm a huge fantasy fan and love all things dragon related or medieval. Why did I buy it? well 2 things drew me to the movie firstly there was the 2 headed dragon on the cover, secondly the word "camelot" in the title, you know you're in for a sword swinging, Knight filled adventure when you see the word "camelot" (thats unless it's realated to the lottery, but anyway.....) I had no idea of the plot, would it be musical or straight cartoon, who'd be doing the voices..........I simply took pot luck, bought the film and hoped for the best.

Released by Warner in 1998 Quest for Camelot is based on the novel The King's Damosel which was the third novel in a trilogy of fantasy novels written by Vera Chapman.

"Vera Chapman is a rather interesting character - she was one of the first women to matriculate from Oxford University, she was a druid, married an Anglican vicar and at one point founded the English Tolkien Society. She didn't begin writing until the age off 77, where she produced seven fantasy novels before her death in 1996 at the age of 98. All of her works reflected a lifelong interest in paganism, feminism and goddess worship."
-Richard Scheib,http://www.moria.co.nz

THE MAGIC SWORD, QUEST FOR CAMELOT
Kayley is a young girl who dreams of following her father into King Arthurs knighthood. One day at a meeting of the knights of the round table Kayleys father Sir Lionel is killed by fellow knight Ruber. Ruber has been twisted by the desire for more land and attacks Arthur when he is refused, Lionel defends the king but is slain.

Years later Kayley has grown up into a beautiful young woman but she is never able to get over her fathers death. Ruber visits her home taking her and her mother hostage, he plans to attack Camelot but needs Kayleys mothers help to get within the walls. Lady Julianna still has access to the castle despite her husbands earlier death. On the journey to the castle Kayley manages to escape and plans to rescue her mother.

Before she can set off to save her mother Kayley hears that King Arthurs sword Excalibur has gone missing and she sets out to find the sword and return it to the King, she cannot allow the sword to fall into Rubers hands. On her quest to find the sword she enters a forbidden forest and meets a young man called Garrett, he is blind but has come to know the forest and travels it safely with the help of a silver winged falcon. Garrett is reluctant to help Kayley to begin with, he is a hermit and has shunned the world since being blinded as a boy, yet he finds himself swept along with her adventure.

Along the way they encounter the only good dragon, or should I say dragons. Devon and Cornwall are a 2 headed dragon, opposite in personality but nothing without eachother, the downside of being a 2 headed 2 personality dragon is that they argue and by doing so are unable to fly or breath fire. The dragons join the 2 humans as they have to travel accross dragon country and enevitably find themselves completeing the quest with Kayley and Garrett.

Meanwhile Ruber is creating an army of awesome power and prepare to attack Camelot, some of his unusual warriors are sent to retrieve Excalibur in order to turn Ruber into the ultimate weapon, he has a mystical potion that will fuse the sword with him and give him infinate power.

Will Kayley and her friends find the sword? Will Ruber succeed in destroying Camelot? Will Devon and Cornwall ever get along? you'll have to watch the movie and see!

CAST
Jessalyn Gilsig ... Kayley (voice)
Andrea Corr ... Kayley (singing voice)
Cary Elwes ... Garrett (voice)
Bryan White ... Garrett (singing voice)
Gary Oldman ... Baron Ruber (voice)
Don Rickles ... Cornwall, Two-Headed Dragon (voice)
Eric Idle ... Devon, Two-Headed Dragon (voice)
Jane Seymour ... Lady Juliana (voice)
Céline Dion ... Lady Juliana (singing voice)
Pierce Brosnan ... King Arthur (voice)
Jaleel White ... Bladebeak (voice)
Steve Perry ... King Arthur (singing voice)
John Gielgud ... Merlin (voice)
Bronson Pinchot ... The Griffin (voice)
Gabriel Byrne ... Sir Lionel (voice)

CREDITS
Directed by
Frederik Du Chau

Written by
Vera Chapman
Kirk De Micco
William Schifrin
Jacqueline Feather
David Seidler

Original Music by
Patrick Doyle

DVD & OTHER INFORMATION
Certficate:U, suitable for the whole family
Run time: 86 min
Language:English
Color:Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:Dolby Digital

The Magic Sword is not widely available in shops and only larger stores of Virgin and HMV are likely to stock it now, I did once upon a time see it on offer in Woolworths and Asda(in their bargain bin sections) It's RRP is £15.99. It is readily available online Play.com has it from £3.49 Amazon has it Used from 99p, it will also be available from other online stores and possibly even Ebay but with it starting at 99p on Amazon you're not likely to find it much cheaper.

The Magic sword-Quest for Camelot was originally released on video and later on DVD. There are console games available most noticably Quest For Camelot on the Nintendo Gameboy Colour/Advance(which is available for pennies online)

SPECIAL FEATURES
Sadly the special features are limited to scene selection and subtitles.

MY OPINION
While the storyline verges on silly at times, what with the fate of all of Camelot in the hands of a girl, a blind man and a 2 headed drogon who arges with himself, I still enjoy the movie, afterall fantasy cartoons are about escapism and being able to do things that would never happen in real life. As a girl I would have loved to have been a knight despite it being totally impossible as they were no longer around and I was a girl, it allowed me to see Kayleys point of view, just because she was a girl didnt mean she was worth less than the boys.

The animation is brightly coloured and vivid, there are no special effects and no 3d wizardry, its hand painted cells at its best. (Although my other half did watch it once when he was sick and it gave him hallucinations and wierd dreams! so maybe its a little too vivid)

The characters are unfortunately a little cliche- the girl who wants to follow in her fathers footsteps, the unsociable hermit, the evil bad guy who wants to take over the world........Merlin and Arthur put in brief appearances but not enough to warrant the voice talents of Pierce Brosnan(Arthur) and Sir John Gielgud(Merlin) Griffon is one of the best characters, he is indeed a griffon however he's not very well sighted and continuously fails in his attempts to retrieve the sword, theres also the hilarious Bladebeak, a cross between a chicken and an axe, the victim of one of Grubers experiments. There's great interaction between Devon and Cornwall and the voices of Eric Idle and Don Rickles really bring the characters to life.

Some of the songs are really beautiful. "In my fathers shoes" sang by Kayley years after her fathers death is a really moving song, allowing you to feel the heartache of her loss. "Without you" by Devon and Cornwall is at the other end of the scale to the previously mentioned song, it is a comedy number filled with lyrics saying what they'd be able to achieve if they were seperated from eachother, the animation that accompanies this song is hilarious and sees the dragons wearing oriental costume, dressed up as Elvis and in other such bizzarre situations. The music is well written if a little predictable, each main character is given a song detailing their current situation for example a captured Julianna sings of her wish for her daughters safety while Garrett sings about not wanting peoples help and managing on his own.

I find it dissapointing that there are no special features, unlike many Disney dvds along the same theme this one by Warner lacks any bonuses, it would have been nice to have an audio commentary, a special interactive game, an art gallery........just something a little extra that would enhance the dvd experience.

There are some good lessons to learn from the movie, like living with differences both in physical appearance and interests, striving to do whats right, the power of friendship. Its another one of those films laced with morals in an almost subliminal attempt to make our movie watching youngsters into good citizens. I dont mind movies doing this, there'd be little point in a story if there weren't lessons in it somewhere.

Despite all the negative things I seem to have said about the film, I really do enjoy it. Its a piece of lighthearted fun at the end of the day, yes the chracters face danger and are tested but it's typical in a cartoon and ends happily, no one really wants to see the bad guys destroy Camelot and kill Arthur(do they?) I'd happily let my children sit down and watch it, although i've not done so yet I know my son would love the crazy antics of Devon and Cornwall and the bright animation.

I recommend this movie as a fun family film, if you're a strict Arthur fan who likes to stick to the "history" then this wont be the movie for you.

 

...less