The Kid Who Would Be King (2019)

I lost tracks on how many times I've put "The Kid Who Would Be King" on pause until finishing it. I guess it's a personal record of something like 6-7 times over 5 days. The funny part is that the first half of the movie, which I had to fragment a lot seemed much better than the second half. Long story short: we have a re-telling of the knights of the round table, where the role of Arthur is given to a boy in London who finds Excalibur in a stone forgotten near some construction yard, and from that moment is doomed to save the country. The threat: Morgana + a hord of undead who will take over at the next total eclipse = in 4 days.

The movie is somewhere between Narnia and Harry Potter. Meaning that the target audience is between 10-15 years old, but it's not that light, it works for older people too. I decided to watch it despite not having high hopes since it's been quite a while since I've seen a decent fantasy. In some parts I'd say it's actually more promising than the examples referenced before. The problem is that you feel that something's coming: either a part which is too much for kids, either on the border of getting ridiculous. And it comes indeed... and it goes away... and it comes again. Anyway... on the plus side:
- it's more fantasy than what the trailer suggests
- it has a top notch production design (really, I was surprised), decent VFX and some cool camera work
- the score has a fine touch of synth, barely present there, but still enough to make it count
- Patrick Stewart as the old Merlin

Unfortunately, those parts on the border of getting ridiculous are a bit too... cringe. But it might be a matter of taste = for all the rest it deserves a chance. And definitely for the age of 10-15 is quite ok.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 ( seen from the 30+ perspective ;) )