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The Kid Who Would Be King

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firewriter Since: Dec, 2016
#1: Jan 25th 2019 at 9:51:31 AM

https://consequenceofsound.net/2019/01/film-review-the-kid-who-would-be-king/

I've only heard about this movie, and really expected nothing. However, I have been hearing good word to mouth and wondering if I should go see it. Also Patrick Stewart is there as Merlin-man does he love doing family pictures.

Ultimatum Disasturbator from The Wiggle Room (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#2: Jan 25th 2019 at 9:52:43 AM

What's this film about?

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
firewriter Since: Dec, 2016
#3: Jan 25th 2019 at 10:07:23 AM

It's apparently about a kid who finds King Author's sword, Excalibur. And he has to assemble a group of friends to take on Morgan Le Fay.

theLibrarian Since: Jul, 2009
#4: Jan 25th 2019 at 11:03:35 AM

Yeah, that's what I'm getting too. Since it's out today I wonder how it is.

firewriter Since: Dec, 2016
#5: Jan 25th 2019 at 11:26:18 AM

This seems to be a family film with actual effort into it.

theLibrarian Since: Jul, 2009
#6: Jan 25th 2019 at 2:22:21 PM

According to Wikipedia its RT score is 85, which surprised me greatly cuz I thought despite looking interesting that this would be awful.

Ultimatum Disasturbator from The Wiggle Room (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#7: Jan 25th 2019 at 2:23:34 PM

It sounds they didn't market the film very well

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
InkDagger Since: Jul, 2014
#8: Jan 25th 2019 at 2:24:56 PM

[up][up]It looked pretty awful and my group, every time a trailer came on in theaters, would be kind of lost if it were something we'd have been into as children or not.

Also 'From the Producers of Percy Jackson' left a really bad taste in everyone's mouth.

theLibrarian Since: Jul, 2009
#9: Jan 25th 2019 at 2:51:41 PM

I saw a trailer for it in the last few movies I've been to so I got to see it a lot, but yeah, I've only recently been seeing You Tube ads for it.

And yeah, "Percy Jackson" was not the best way to market it either since those movies bombed and were awful besides.

Kaiseror Since: Jul, 2016
#10: Jan 25th 2019 at 7:43:56 PM

Something i'm confused about is why they have Merlin played for much of the movie by a young guy when his older form is Patrick Stewart...he's Patrick Stewart! People would see the movie just for him, so I would feature him as much as possible.

Karxrida from Eureka, the Forbidden Land Since: May, 2012 Relationship Status: I LOVE THIS DOCTOR!
#11: Jan 25th 2019 at 8:00:41 PM

All the trailers I saw for this movie made it come across as dumb, but harmless. Interesting to see that it's reviewing well.

jamespolk Since: Aug, 2012
#12: Jan 25th 2019 at 9:46:27 PM

So, Harry Potter as Arthur, King of the Britons. Well, ok.

Anddrix Since: Oct, 2014
#13: Jan 25th 2019 at 10:35:57 PM

Also 'From the Producers of Percy Jackson' left a really bad taste in everyone's mouth.

Wow, the marketing for it in the US must be very different from the UK marketing because this is the first time I'm hearing of any connecting between this film and Percy Jackson films.

Also this is a British film involving King Arthur, why is it being released in the US almost a month before the UK release.

jamespolk Since: Aug, 2012
#14: Jan 26th 2019 at 12:03:14 AM

It's from the Percy Jackson people? So a ripoff of a ripoff? Awesome. I always got a kick out of how even the covers to the Percy Jackson books were drawn to look like Harry Potter covers.

firewriter Since: Dec, 2016
#15: Jan 26th 2019 at 12:03:43 AM

I foresee Cult Classic headed in this movie's direction.

Gaon Smoking Snake from Grim Up North Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#16: Jan 26th 2019 at 7:18:31 AM

[[quoteblocked]]It's from the Percy Jackson people? So a ripoff of a ripoff?[[/quoteblocked]]

Well, I haven't even seen this film, but I can't say I see any plagiarism at work. The only similarity is the broad premise of "regular kid and magic elements", but they're note even around the same mythology (Harry Potter was a hodge-podge of clichéd fantasy elements, Percy Jackson was Greek mythology, this seems to be pop cultural Arthurian myths with a dash of more general Breton/Saxon).

"All you Fascists bound to lose."
KJMackley Since: Jan, 2001
#17: Jan 26th 2019 at 7:31:23 AM

Truthfully, we haven't gotten a lot of kid oriented fantasy movies recently. The Harry Potter movies became more older teen/adult oriented around Goblet of Fire and the Percy Jackson series aged up the characters to appeal to the contemporary HP films. The Marvel movies are mostly adult-oriented with kid appeal. The House With a Clock in Its Walls was amusing enough, but the thing that interests me with The Kid Who Would Be King is that it actually looks like a relatively sincere Epic Movie with all the tropes involved but aimed towards kids and a few post-modern winks.

Anddrix Since: Oct, 2014
#18: Jan 26th 2019 at 9:13:08 AM

[up][up][up][up]@jamespolk

It's from the Percy Jackson people?
Actually the Percy Jackson people are only producing it, the film's written and directed by Joe Cornish - the guy who wrote and directed Attack the Block and co-wrote The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of The Unicorn and Ant-Man.

Punisher286 Since: Jan, 2016
#19: Jan 26th 2019 at 10:28:24 AM

Rebecca Ferguson is playing the villain as well.

TargetmasterJoe from Velocitron Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: I like big bots and I can not lie
#20: Jan 26th 2019 at 1:38:27 PM

the film's written and directed by Joe Cornish - the guy who wrote and directed Attack the Block and co-wrote The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of The Unicorn and Ant-Man.

That...is actually very surprising to hear considering the marketing and January release.

Discar Since: Jun, 2009
#21: Jan 26th 2019 at 3:50:00 PM

Yeah, the advertising on this has been lackluster at best. Someone clearly has no faith in it.

I found the trailer entertaining, but not enough to see the movie. Now that I've heard it's good, maybe I'll go see it if I can find enough free time.

Writing a post-post apocalypse LitRPG on RR. Also fanfic stuff.
theLibrarian Since: Jul, 2009
#22: Jan 26th 2019 at 6:01:01 PM

Same here, though familial health troubles will likely keep me from doing it.

InkDagger Since: Jul, 2014
#23: Jan 26th 2019 at 6:04:11 PM

[up][up][up] Correct. I did not mean to imply everyone on the film is from Percy Jackson, only the prodcuers are. And since it was an advertising point and most people really hate the Percy Jackson movies, I don't know who thought that was a good idea?

KJMackley Since: Jan, 2001
#24: Jan 31st 2019 at 12:41:07 AM

So the movie really is pretty good. It does fall into some generic cliches (many of which are invoked due to the Arthurian lore they are replicating, but they still played a Disappeared Dad completely straight and psychoanalyzed the bullies to simplicity0) but what most impressed me was the action and visuals. You're obviously limited when it comes to dealing with 12 year olds and stunts, but most of the time there was a genuine sense of danger and excitement. One fun thing was they said each night up until the climax they would have to fend off skeletal warriors seeking to take Excalibur, and each time was more dangerous than the last. So it not only served to escalate the action but each sequence felt different. Patrick Stewart and Rebecca Ferguson help anchor the film with performances that fit well with the overall tone (Morgana in her first few scenes is surprisingly creepy for a PG movie).

The one line I thought was really surprising was the kids talking about Alex being the rightful King and they mention the potential conflict with the current royal family.

theLibrarian Since: Jul, 2009
#25: Jan 31st 2019 at 8:32:48 PM

Oh yeah, that's right, normally fantasy stuff wouldn't go into that.

And Arthurian legend is a big part of English culture but it's often seen as just that; Legend.

Plus I doubt the royals would hand off the crown to a child.


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