The Kid Who Would Be King (2019) Review

"I'm the king around here."
-Lance




Alex Elliot (Louis Ashbourne Serkis) is an ordinary kid who is bullied at school.  One day, he comes across a sword stuck in a stone, but manages to remove it.  Soon after, he is visited by the wizard, Merlin (Angus Imrie), who gives Alex a quest: he must act as the new king, assemble knights to form a new round table, and defeat the evil Morgana (Rebecca Ferguson) before she enslaves all of Britain.


What Works:

The Kid Who Would Be King is surprisingly funny for a kids' movie.  Sure, there is plenty of physical comedy, which works most of the time, but there is some genuinely funny character moments and dialogue as well.  I was expecting the humor in this to be fairly cringey, but that isn't the case.

The film opens with an animated sequence that gives us the backstory of King Arthur.  It's actually a really cool sequence and I really liked the animation.  It also does a good job of explaining the legend of King Arthur for those who may not be familiar with it.

The best part of the film is definitely the character of Merlin.  He is played by two actors, Angus Imrie and Patrick Stewart.  Stewart is obviously amazing and gets more screen time than I expected, but Imrie also does a great job.  His portrayal of the character is bizarre, but entertaining, and he shines every time he is on screen.

The film has an excellent score that adds a lot to the action scenes, which brings me to the 3rd act.  The sheer novelty of a bunch of kids running around in suits of armor, in a school, while fighting demons is simply fantastic.  It's a really fun sequence that's utterly absurd, but wholly entertaining.


What Sucks:

Not counting the animated segment, I wasn't a big fan of the 1st act.  A lot of the setup is really generic and heavy-handed.  I get that this is a kids' movie, but a little more subtlety would have been appreciated.

The acting from Alex and his knights is pretty mediocre.  They do fine most of the time, but there are parts of the film where I don't believe a word they are saying.  They aren't the worst kid actors I have ever seen, but they aren't great either.

Finally, the action sequence below Morgana's castle is really lame.  The whole thing felt anticlimactic and I don't think it was supposed to feel that way.  Luckily, it wasn't the end of story, but it was a very lackluster sequence.


Verdict:

The Kid Who Would Be King is a surprisingly fun movie with an excellent animated sequence to kick things off, some genuinely funny moments, a great character in Merlin, and an awesome 3rd act accompanied by a stellar score.  The first act isn't great, the acting is mostly meh, and there is one really uninspired sequence, but this movie has still got it going on.  Kid me would have loved this movie and the adult version still enjoyed it.

 7/10: Good  

  

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