I am bad at movie reviews. When I write a movie review, it typically consists of me saying that I like a particular movie and that you should go watch it. Which is why this is far from an actual movie review. It’s not in-depth enough to properly be called a review. If you know me and like me well enough that what I think about movies carries weight, you’ll go watch it, and if not, it won’t matter anyways, I suppose. 😛 (yes, I just used an emoji. We’re at that level of seriousness and professionalism right now). Please note that there is a spoiler here.
I watched a really good fantasy movie last night. It’s called The Kid Who Would Be King. I decided to drop six bucks on the Amazon rental because a. it had great reviews, b. I love good fantasy, and c. the concept was fun and the trailer looked promising. It wasn’t disappointing! Super fun, (mostly) great visuals, solid plot, a lot of heart and a helping of humor. The premise is that a twelve-year-old boy in modern-day England stumbles into his destiny as the one who can save England from being overcome by an ancient Arthurian foe.
What I love about The Kid Who Would Be King is that it’s both reverent and irreverent in all the right ways. It’s an incredibly sincere film at heart that at the same time throws off all pretentiousness by taking a deliberately cheeky (in a clean sense) posture towards legend. And that’s what makes it so strong and so enjoyable. Although it hits deep at points, there is something of a lack of true emotional risk in the plot for the adult viewer. None of our favorite people die and as an astute adult you don’t get the sense at any point that one of your favorite people is about to die. In some ways the plot fails to take itself as seriously as it probably should. For that reason it’s probably much more enjoyable on a story level for a child than for an adult. But at the same time, it’s vulnerably genuine in its moral backbone without coming off as high-and-mighty. It’s very funny, and still at some level very convincing. And it leaves you thinking, or at least, it left me thinking. It’s not high fantasy or anything like that. But very fun, and very good.
So go watch it if you’re into this sort of thing. I was glad I did.
~Andrew
Andrew Micah 