# Quest for Camelot (1998)

### reviewed by
Craig Roush

    QUEST FOR CAMELOT

Release Date: May 15, 1998 The Voices of: Jessalyn Gilsig, Cary Elwes, Gary Oldman, Pierce Brosnan, Jane Seymour, Eric Idle, Don Rickles, Bronson Pinchot, Gabriel Byrne, Jaleel White, John Gielgud Directed by: Frederik Du Chau Distributed by: Warner Brothers MPAA Rating: G URL: http://www.execpc.com/~kinnopio/reviews/1998/questcam.htm

Once upon a time, not too long ago, it used to be that one film company held a vertiable monopoly on the animated feature film market. Disney, and moreover their distributing company Buena Vista Pictures, has long since lost the monopoly, but their success there hasn't quite been overcome. QUEST FOR CAMELOT, Warner Brothers' entry, and 1997's ANASTASIA, Twentieth Century Fox's product, still do not compare to Disney's films. Although Fox's parlay was excusable because of their lack of animation history, this WB attempt should've had the feel of a finely-tuned machine. After all, it's the same company that turned out timeless characters like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Wile E. Coyote. Unfortunately, it falls well short of benchmark.

There's a lot of formula and a lot of "girl power" in this movie, although the target audience - loveable little scamps in the coveted ten-and-under bracket - won't be quick to realize either. Of course, the little ones in pink will be more attached to the lead character of Kayley (Jessalyn Gilsig) than will the little ones in blue, but there's enough comedy and action to go around. As for formula, the typical crowd is about: there's your generic, chivalrous good guys (in this case, King Arthur, voiced by Pierce Brosnan) who are generally helpful but stand to encounter a setback early on. This starts the plot in motion. Then you have your over-the-top cartoon villain, who is the inspiration of said setback (in this case the disgruntled knight Ruber, voiced by Gary Oldman). Finally you have your unlikely hero(es), who will take the place of aforementioned good guys in the face of adversity - in this case, Kayley, the tomboyish daughter of a knight, and Garrett (Cary Elwes), a blind hermit.

The movie begins with some enjoyable scenes that get to the action right away. Ruber sends a giant griffin (Bronson Pinchot) to Camelot to steal Arthur's magical sword Excalibur, but the beast loses the weapon while returning it back to his boss and it's lost in the Forbidden Forest. Kayley learns of this when Ruber kidnaps her mother (Jane Seymour) as ransom for his entry into Camelot, and the girl escapes, being chased by Ruber's henchmen into the Forbidden Forest. It's there that she meets up with Garrett, and while being persued by Ruber and company, they come upon Devon and Cornwall, a two-headed dragon with an appetite for comedy. The four- er ... threesome then locates the sword and makes their way back to Camelot just as Ruber arrives, too.

There is the music, which is included in homage to the extensive line of Disney films which have employed the stuff since the inception of the animated feature. Unfortunately, it lacks a lot of the drama and flamboyance of typical Disney music; rather than looking like a stage production, it appears to be what it really is - an entire township singing in unison. It might almost be laughable, but most who watch this movie will be caught up in the kiddish atmosphere. The characters here are an improvement on the rather dry ones found in ANASTASIA, although it'll be quite some time before they're up to the standards of Disney's sketches. The star rating for this movie is all based on effort; this surely won't compare when MULAN thunders into theaters later this year.

FINAL AWARD FOR "QUEST FOR CAMELOT": 2.5 stars - an enjoyable movie.

    --
    Craig Roush
    kinnopio@execpc.com
    --
    Kinnopio's Movie Reviews
    http://www.execpc.com/~kinnopio

The review above was posted to the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due to ASCII to HTML conversion.

Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews