The Sword in the Stone sorta came and went and nobody really talked about it ever since. It is honestly one of Disney’s most unpopular movies. You rarely hear anyone bring it up in conversations and it is quite rare to hear anyone say that they grew up with this movie or it was their childhood. After finally giving the movie a watch, does this movie deserve more than being a movie that exists? Or is there a reason why people don’t talk about this movie much these days?
In the medieval times of England there lived a King who died very suddenly leaving nobody to be heir to the throne. Suddenly, a sword appears from the heavens and according to its engraved writing, the one person who removes the sword from the anvil will be crowned the king of England. Many people have tried to remove the sword but with no success which leaves the kingdom without a ruler. Cut to years later and we see a skinny adopted brother named Wart (Or Arthur if you wanna go by his actual name) who stumbles into a wizard in the woods named Merlin as well as meeting his pet Owl Archimedes. Merlin claims that he can see into the future and claims that he can educate him about random things that may come useful to him later. There is also a jousting tournament being held and whoever wins will be crowned the king of England. With little time to spare, Merlin must give Wart the confidence of being more than just a little old squire. but many complications get in the way when attempting to make that happen.
As much as this movie means well in telling its narrative, it is very unfortunate to say that its biggest fault is that it lacks a cohesive and well structured story. It actually would have been a lot more interesting if the story was about Wart pulling the sword out in the beginning and then showing his journey of self discovery and acceptance of learning that he is the true heir to the throne with the help of Merlin. Since the story decided to take a much more different approach, a lot of time is spent on Merlin being goofy while also mentoring Wart to be more than he really is while at the same time showing the rest of the side characters that the movie barely had enough time to develop. They pad the story out with a lot of filler before we actually get to Wart pulling the sword out near the end and it just doesn't make for a very interesting story. I might be judging this on what i want the story to be rather than what it is, but when the story is called The Sword in the Stone I would at least expect that plot point to make a bigger impact on the overall narrative.
On the plus side, the animation does look good being a Disney movie and the characters even though some of them have more development than others are very likeable especially Merlin. Merlin is basically the best character in the whole movie because his goofy personality and wise mentor talk make him a standout compared to the rest. His Owl sidekick, Archimedes, also gets a laugh every now and then when it comes to his somewhat pessimistic personality. When Merlin transforms himself and Wart into different animals, I will admit that there is something magical and fun when Wart learns to be like the animal he transforms into. There is also a pretty well done wizards duel scene that is both funny and swiftly paced. The songs are rather forgettable but they're also not bad either. Just don’t expect these songs to be household tunes like “You Can Fly” or “Hakuna Matata”.
I can’t say this is a forgettable film, but I also can't say it has anything of value. If it weren't for some of the interesting story elements, likeable characters and good lookin animation I probably would have given this film much less praise than I did this whole review. So if you're really curious to check it out, go ahead and do so. Just know that there are much better put together stories Disney has done that are a lot more engaging than this one.
(Final Grade C+)