The Sword in the Stone
Year: 1963
Director: Wolfgang Reitherman
Starring: Richard Reitherman, Robert Reitherman, Rickie Sorensen & Karl Swenson
Runtime: 79 mins
BBFC: U
Published: 19/04/21
Director: Wolfgang Reitherman
Starring: Richard Reitherman, Robert Reitherman, Rickie Sorensen & Karl Swenson
Runtime: 79 mins
BBFC: U
Published: 19/04/21
King Arthur and the knights of the round table is a tale as old as time itself. I’ve lost count of the amount of film, TV, and book adaptations of the King Arthur legend, regardless of how accurate they may be (I’m looking at you, Transformers: The Last Knight). So, for an adaptation of the legend to be truly worthwhile they really have to stand out and do something special with that story. Disney’s 1963 film, The Sword in the Stone, unfortunately does not.
Whilst out hunting with his older foster brother, a twelve-year-old Arthur (Richard Reitherman, Robert Reitherman & Rickie Sorensen) meets the wizard Merlin (Karl Swenson). Merlin happened to be expecting Arthur and has hopes of training the young boy to become a great man when he gets older. Merlin accompanies Arthur back to his home, the house of Lord Ector (Sebastian Cabot), and together Merlin uses his magic to help Arthur understand the strength and intelligence he has within.
Meanwhile Lord Ector trains his son to participate in a tournament that will decide the next king of England, one that involves removing the sword of Uther Pendragon from the stone it resides in.
Whilst out hunting with his older foster brother, a twelve-year-old Arthur (Richard Reitherman, Robert Reitherman & Rickie Sorensen) meets the wizard Merlin (Karl Swenson). Merlin happened to be expecting Arthur and has hopes of training the young boy to become a great man when he gets older. Merlin accompanies Arthur back to his home, the house of Lord Ector (Sebastian Cabot), and together Merlin uses his magic to help Arthur understand the strength and intelligence he has within.
Meanwhile Lord Ector trains his son to participate in a tournament that will decide the next king of England, one that involves removing the sword of Uther Pendragon from the stone it resides in.
The Sword in the Stone is generally uninspired. Even for the time in which it was created it did nothing overly new with the source material, other than perhaps framing it as an animated comedy for children. In fact, the majority of the film doesn’t even concern itself with Arthur’s destiny to become the next king of England; but instead frames Merlin as the main character who just makes quirky tests for Arthur. These include turning him into an assortment of animals with very vague guidelines as to why he is supposed to be learning from his experience.
There’s not much of a driving narrative for Sword in the Stone. It feels more like short film ideas that have just been loosely connected by having the same characters in them, and they have almost no connection to the legend of King Arthur anyway. Arthur himself is a complete blank slate of a character, it’s difficult to connect with him on a basic level because he has no goals or aspirations. Even once he becomes the King at the end of the film, he doesn’t know what to do or even why he is king. He just coasts through life having everything handed to him by Merlin (typical white male privilege).
Merlin is a fun character, and an engaging adaptation of the legendary figure. But his charm begins to wear thin as even he doesn’t really know why he’s doing what he’s doing. He just knows that he was meant to meet Arthur, and he was meant to help him discover his potential. But it seems as though he just makes the rest up as he goes along with no true goal or resolution in sight.
Sword in the Stone continues Disney’s Xerography animation style from One Hundred and One Dalmatians, with a rougher appearance and more angular design. I do enjoy that style of animation which gives Sword in the Stone, for me, something to enjoy. But as I stated in my Dalmatians review, not everybody likes this style of animation, which if that applies to you then there’s almost nothing to praise Sword in the Stone for.
Sword in the Stone lacks direction and drive, much like its two main characters, and as a result is just a series of scenarios that don’t contribute to the actual plot of the film. The titular Sword in the Stone doesn’t even make itself known until the final few minutes of the film and by that point everybody has long stopped caring, or even just stopped watching altogether. Give this one a miss.
There’s not much of a driving narrative for Sword in the Stone. It feels more like short film ideas that have just been loosely connected by having the same characters in them, and they have almost no connection to the legend of King Arthur anyway. Arthur himself is a complete blank slate of a character, it’s difficult to connect with him on a basic level because he has no goals or aspirations. Even once he becomes the King at the end of the film, he doesn’t know what to do or even why he is king. He just coasts through life having everything handed to him by Merlin (typical white male privilege).
Merlin is a fun character, and an engaging adaptation of the legendary figure. But his charm begins to wear thin as even he doesn’t really know why he’s doing what he’s doing. He just knows that he was meant to meet Arthur, and he was meant to help him discover his potential. But it seems as though he just makes the rest up as he goes along with no true goal or resolution in sight.
Sword in the Stone continues Disney’s Xerography animation style from One Hundred and One Dalmatians, with a rougher appearance and more angular design. I do enjoy that style of animation which gives Sword in the Stone, for me, something to enjoy. But as I stated in my Dalmatians review, not everybody likes this style of animation, which if that applies to you then there’s almost nothing to praise Sword in the Stone for.
Sword in the Stone lacks direction and drive, much like its two main characters, and as a result is just a series of scenarios that don’t contribute to the actual plot of the film. The titular Sword in the Stone doesn’t even make itself known until the final few minutes of the film and by that point everybody has long stopped caring, or even just stopped watching altogether. Give this one a miss.