jayzeefilms
This is a really good movie, considering it's a cartoon. Good animation, story, characters (my favorite character is Merlin), songs, music, art and dialogue. There were times when I felt sad, but the movie was mostly of a comedic and fantasy medium. I also like the way it's drawn and created, it's very much a late 50s/early 60s production, which it is in fact December of 1963 upon its release date in the United States. It's hard to believe it took 3 years to make the movie. Though it was conceived in as early as ca. 1949. A great movie for ages (in my opinion) 7 to 107. I recommend this movie to people who like cartoons, fantasies, comedies, musicals, dramas, and kid-friendly movies. It may not be the most historically accurate movie in the world, it still rocks nonetheless. Charming entertainment for little kids and adults alike.
vornado11
This is one of my favorite Disney movies. I've watched it since I was a little kid and a it still entertains and makes me smile to this day. However, while I originally just watched it blissfully, my adult mind has asked me "Why do I like this?" So here's what I think of this great Disney classic: First of all, being Disney, this has nothing to do with the original book, but, again being Disney, they created a great story with lots of imagination. The main story is a young Arthur(sometimes referred to as "Wart") falls into the cottage of Merlin, the most powerful wizard. Merlin, being a soothsayer/time traveler, knows of Arthur's great destiny, so he begins to teach him valuable life lessons that will help him lead righteously. What follows are a lot of funny adventures with fun animation and characters.I LOVE Merlin in this movie. He's easily in my Top 5 Best Disney Characters List. Instead of being stuffy and wise, as most versions portray, he's more like a bumbling English professor. He's smart, but he's forgetful. He lives in the past but prefers the future. He knows what he's doing, but he doesn't always pay attention. He always has a solution, but they don't always work to his advantage. In short, he's the perfect mix of a character that keeps him from being a stuffy old man or an annoying idiot. The voice actor for him is perfect as well. I don't see a celebrity in a recording booth, I hear an actual character who's having fun. The design is simple but unique, with a blue pointy hat and a long white beard, which is typically what people think of when they think wizards. With all these things, Disney has created a perfect three-dimensional character that entertains, teaches, and is really fun to watch.Several other characters are brilliantly done as well. There's Archimedes, Merlin's talking intelligent owl, who has a grumpy personality but a heart of gold. He has a lot of great lines and moments throughout the movie, usually of him getting coerced into doing something. Then there's the "villain", Mad Madam Mim. Note that I say "villain", because she's more of a side character who pops up in the middle of the movie, has a musical number and a fight scene, and is never seen again. She's an old cranky crone, but very energetic and very creative with her magic, as she shows in her song, which she brags is as powerful as Merlin's. The Wizard's Duel between her and Merlin... WOW! This is nearly animated perfection. The slapstick, the timing, the effects, the scaling, is all perfect. I won't DARE give away how it all ends. You need to see it yourself.Besides the characters, there are a few other good things to note. The sketchy animation and backgrounds supervised by Bill Peet people either love or hate. I think it fits and makes a lot of the movie looks like an illustration in an old book, which looks great. The songs are all memorable, from the introduction song to "Higitus Figitus" to "Mad Madam Mim" and others, they're creative with the bouncy beat we usually associate with Disney. Though the movie does show the financial difficulties Disney was going through at the time, they did great with what they had, better than the next few movies that would come out of the Disney Dark Ages...So this sounds like a great movie. What's the problem? ...Well, the main problems, sadly, are with the story and the other characters. Notice that I didn't list Arthur in the Great Characters part. He doesn't have much of a personality, just serving as the "everyman", the student to learn a lesson and to share the audience's amazement of Merlin's magic. Not exactly boring, but with being the main focus of the story and in contrast to Merlin's 3D character, he's a disappointment. His closed-minded guardians named Sir Ector and Sir Kay are even more boring, with their only thing of note that they believe in strict discipline and the old ways. They show up, there's a short conflict, then they leave. They have basically nothing else to do with the movie but create short bouts of "reality."The story, I'm sorry to say, is very disjointed. Most of the movie focuses on Merlin's lessons and the adventures he takes Arthur on. I keep forgetting that the land has no king, that they're going to hold a tournament to decide, and YES, even the Sword in the Stone, what the movie is named for, only appears at the beginning and end! Additionally, all the lessons that Merlin teaches Arthur to be a good king, they're never brought up again. There's nothing showing Arthur putting them to use, mentioning them, or any situation that might require them. The movie is basically "have an adventure, teach a lesson, 5 minutes of plot, repeat." The ending, without giving anything away, just ends. No resolution, no "what next", it just runs out of time and leaves the rest to draw your own conclusions.In conclusion, this movie is REALLY FUN, one of Disney's best. However, they put nearly all their focus and creativity into Merlin and his world and left the rest of the movie to run on autopilot. If they had made Arthur as interesting and fleshed-out as Merlin and given more meaning to the lessons, this might have been a fantastic movie. As is, the movie is still great to watch, both for young and old. It's a Disney classic, and I thoroughly enjoy it.
