The Kid Who Would Be King 2019

     Lance and Kaye are bullying Bedders at school.  Alex is starting a new term at school and he’s trying to adapt.  Bedders is Alex’s best friend and he knows he needs to stand up to the bullies!!  He doesn’t win even when he fights back!!  The principal is criticizing him and then his mother is lecturing him.  What’s the use of standing up for yourself or someone else??  Alex still thinks he’s just another nobody!!  On the way home, Alex comes across a sword in a stone at a construction site?  Alex wonders if he can pull it out and he can!!  He tells his friend Bedders what happened and he shows him a book his dad gave him about Merlin and the King of England.  Bedders doesn’t know if he can believe Alex??  One thing he knows is that Alex can pull the sword out of the stone and Bedders can’t!!  Alex and Bedders learn from a Young Merlin that there will be an eclipse in four days.  If Alex can’t defeat Morgana, she will take over the world and change everything.  She has been waiting many years to take back Excalibur and become the ture ruler of the world.  Now is her chance!!

     I was surprised that this film is two hours but it was a lot better than I thought it would be!!  This film is a modernized twist on the Arthurian legend of the sword in the stone and King Arthur.  Alex is a regular and relatable schoolboy.  He’s been chosen to wield Excalibur and save the world.  The villain Morgana and flaming skeletons riding flaming horses attack the kids.  On the positive side, there is teamwork, perseverance, courage, loyalty, changing bullies into friends and working as a team together.  4* (I really liked this movie)

    

120 min, Action directed by Joe Cornish with Louis Ashbourne Serkis, Denise Gough, Dean Dhaumoo, Tom Taylor, Rhianna Dorris, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Noma Dumezweni, Rebecca Ferguson, Mark Bonnar, Angus Imrie, Louis Martin, Joey Ansah, Adam Leese, Alexandra Roach, Nick Mohammed, Patrick Stewart.

Note:  Imdb 6 out of 10, Roger Ebert 3* Simon Abrams, Rotten Tomatoes 89% critic 60% audience, The Guardian 2* out of 5* Simran Hans, Amazon 4* out of 5* with 216 reviews, Letterboxd average 3.1* out of 5*, Independent 3* out of 5* Geoffrey Macnab, Common Sense Media Sandie Angulo Chen age 10+ 4* out of 5*, 4* positive messages, 4* role models, 3* violence, 1* sex, 1* language, 1* consumerism, 1* drinking, drugs & smoking.

Special Note:  Filmed in Stevens Point, Wisconsin; Tintagal, Devon; London and Davidstow Airfield, Devon, England, UK.  The names of Alex’s friends correspond with the Knights of the Round Table.  Lance is Sir Lancelot, Kaye is Sir Kay, Bedders is Sir Bedivere.  This film grossed $16.8 million in the US and Canada and another $15.4 million in other territories for a gross worldwide of $32.1 million.  The budget was estimated to be $59 million.  A loss for the studio was thought to be around $50 million due to high marketing costs.