18 – The Sword in the Stone
Disney has had a tendency so far to
make a not so great movie after making a really great one. Alice
in Wonderland was followed by
the unfocused Peter Pan. The
awesome Lady and the Tramp was
followed by the absolutely awful Sleeping Beauty. So
the question I had after watching One Hundred and One Dalmatians
was “would Disney be able to top it next time?” The answer to
that question is a resounding “not really, but it's not so bad, I
guess.”
The
story of the Sword in the Stone is incredibly famous. We all know
about King Arthur so I was curious to see how they'd adapt that
story. The first character we are introduced to is the Wizard Merlin.
You get the feeling that he's a bit clumsy and he looks very old and
strange. One of this movie's big themes is that looks can be
deceiving. Throughout the movie you get hints at his brilliance which
all culminate in a really cool Wizard's Duel. You see that he's
awesome from his visions of the future and the incredible spells he
can conjure up. He thinks that wisdom and education are more
important than strength, another big theme in the movie.
When
he meets Arthur, he decides to teach him how to use his mind to solve
problems, something that Arthur has never really done before. He does
this with various lessons, many of which involve turning Arthur into
some kind of animal. These situations always end up getting dangerous
but I really liked that Merlin let Arthur figure out how to get out
of those situations himself. If he just turned Arthur back or got
them out of the situation, then Arthur wouldn't learn anything and
those lessons would be meaningless. The only problem I have with
Merlin isn't even really a problem with Merlin. He has a talking owl
called Archimedes that just steps into annoying territory a bit too
often. He's very snarky and I just didn't really see much of a point
in his inclusion. He only helps when Merlin turns Arthur into a bird
but even then Merlin could have taught Arthur himself.
When
we meet Arthur he's out hunting with Kay, his foster brother. Even
without him speaking you get a good idea of who he is. He's very
scrawny and looks quite weak. He's also very clumsy and definitely
doesn't seem like someone who could become a hero. Again, looks can
be deceiving, although we don't really get to see him really step
into that hero role in this movie. We also don't get a very good idea
of his own dreams or wishes since he just tends to do what his foster
father and Merlin tell him to do. I really wish he would show that he
was more independent near the end of the movie. He does start showing
some personality as he gets smarter from Merlin's lessons but it's
really only for one scene.
I
think the closest things to villains in this story are Arthur's step
father and brother, Sir Ector and Sir Kay. This is an interesting
case because they don't mean to be trying to stop Arthur from doing
great things but think they're actually looking out for him by
pushing him to be stronger. They definitely don't do it because
they're evil like Cinderella's step family. They're just
representative of people who are ignorant about things they don't
understand. Ignorance often leads to fear of things they don't
understand.
The
more traditional antagonist is Madam Mim. She gets introduced very
late in the story, however, and only really gets a few scenes. She
has a pretty creepy look and it's very clear that she hates Merlin
for some reason. She tries to kill Arthur for being Merlin's student
but fails when Merlin comes to the rescue. I thought that this was a
bit of a missed opportunity. I would have liked for that scene to
have been longer and give Arthur a chance, as a bird, to outsmart Mim
a bit and show what he's learned. They do that a bit but Merlin comes
to the rescue way too quickly.After this Mim challenged Merlin to a
Wizard's Duel which I think was one of the most interesting scenes in
the movie. We really get to see what Merlin can do against the
cheating Mim. Mim sets up the rules and then proceeds to break each
one while Merlin sticks to the rules and outsmarts Mim at every turn.
So I
have to make a special note about the animation quality of this
movie. I really liked the style they've developed since Sleeping
Beauty. The facial expressions
of this movie, in particular, were really great. This movie
definitely leans on more humor than One Hundred and One
Dalmatians. That's fine, of
course, some movies need more humor. The action that was there,
however, didn't really feel as tense as Dalmatians. The
end was also a bit of a disappointment for me. It was a nice moment
when Arthur pulls the sword from the stone but it doesn't really feel
like a culmination of all the knowledge he gained. He just sort of
lucks into pulling it out. Overall, The Sword in the Stone
is a fun movie if a little less
deep or gripping as some of the others.
From
medieval Europe to deep in the jungle...
18
down. 35 to go.
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