Movie Review - The Kid Who Would Be King

The legend of King Arthur and the sword-in-the-stone has been told numerous times. It is one of the classic stories in British culture. This film adapts that legend into a modern and contemporary setting with modern and contemporary characters. The fundamental of which is that war and conflict will become peace and balance because one man was chosen to be the good leader that we all need. This fundamental story is as old as the Bible. Variations on that theme have been expressed in films like Star Wars and those of Harry Potter. This film even calls out those films, but its own self-awareness isn't enough to get it over the copycat feeling here.

Writer-director Joe Cornish is going back to the well of what made him famous. Cornish is known more for a fantastic film called Attack the Block (2011), his directorial debut, in which a group of kids or young people have to defend against attacking monsters. Cornish has essentially done the same thing here. Except, instead of the monsters being aliens from above, the monsters here are mythical beings from below, all set to the premise of King Arthur. That slight difference is also not enough to make this not feel like a copycat.

What would have helped is similar to what Ava DuVernay did for A Wrinkle in Time (2018) and that's leaning into the diversity and switching up the ethnicity of who the lead role is. The DuVernay comparison is apt because like DuVernay, Cornish is adapting an already-established and well-known story. However, he could have been as bold as he was with Attack the Block, which had the then-unknown John Boyega as the lead. Putting a young black boy as the lead is in itself a subversion, especially in a Hollywood flick, be it a child-adventure or even horror, as the recent Get Out proved. Cornish, however, doesn't go with a person of color as his lead. As it stands, his lead is a pudgy, white kid. This pudgy white kid is the so-called, chosen one. While the kid isn't the typical body-type that we get in lead roles, he's still not that uncommon for the average boy his age.

Louis Ashbourne Serkis stars as Alexander Elliott, the 12-year-old who attends Dungate Academy in London, England. He lives with his single mother. He has a best friend who gets bullied. One day, he discovers the sword in the stone. When he pulls it out, he learns he's been chosen to stop an evil witch who wants to enslave all of Great Britain.

It's funny because the witch here reminded me of the witch in Suicide Squad (2016). It's funny because like in that comic book film, Alexander or Alex has to turn the bad guys into good guys. In other words, he has to get the bullies to fight along side him. This idea is actually not a bad one. The idea of turning enemies into allies is a good message here. Unfortunately, there's no follow-through. One would assume that the ultimate conclusion would be to turn the evil witch into a good one. However, that's not the case. Apparently, there is no redemption for a witch.

Dean Chaumoo plays Bedders, the best friend to Alex. Rhianna Dorris plays Kaye, one of the bullies. Both these teens are people of color. Bedders seems like he's Indian or of Southeast Asian descent. Kaye seems like she's black, so arguably there is diversity here. They are given interesting things to do either verbally or physically, but, we never learn more about them. They're still functionally just side-kicks in this plot. We don't even learn their last names.

The only character whose home-life or life beyond this plot that matters is that of Alex, again the plain, white kid. The movie attempts to impart that Alex is the sole savior of the land. He needs a team. He needs his knights. He needs other people. The movie wants to impart that it's not all about Alex, but, at the same time, he's the only one who can pull the sword from the stone. It's never clear why Alex can pull the sword and not Bedders.

Angus Imrie plays Merlin, the wizard who helps Alex and his team. He's also the younger version of Patrick Stewart who plays Merlin as an old man. He's a fun and funny jolt of energy to the film. He's definitely the comic relief. He's comparable to Robin Williams' character in Aladdin (1992) but no where near as comedic. Merlin is entertaining though, even in his exposition dumping role.

This movie is in general entertaining on basic levels that even something like A Wrinkle in Time isn't. The action scenes are better but not by much. There were moments that were reminiscent of The Goonies (1985) or Home Alone (1990), but this film will not enter the lexicon of American cinema as those aforementioned films have.

Rated PG for action violence, scary images, bullying and language.
Running Time: 2 hrs.