This uncool fantasy has some wizard moments
The Kid Who Would Be King PG cert, 120 min ★★★
Dir Joe Cornish Starring Louis Ashbourne Serkis, Denise Gough, Angus Imrie, Dean Chaumoo, Tom Taylor, Rhianna Dorris, Rebecca Ferguson, Patrick Stewart
Adapting the British legend of King Arthur has been the downfall of some of cinema’s most valiant questing knights, most recently Guy Ritchie. But this new take from Joe Cornish, squarely aimed at older children and younger teens, finds a sparkle in the old tale that feels timely and fresh. Set in the present, it unfolds in a Britain both mythical and recognisable: a land of crags and misty fells, but also chicken shops and potholes, where an average 12-year-old can be menaced by bullies during school hours, and flaming skeletons by night.
Said average 12-year-old is Alex Elliot (Louis Ashbourne Serkis, son of performance-capture maestro Andy), a pupil at a south London comprehensive who heaves a sword from a concrete pile on a deserted building site one night. It’s Excalibur of course, and its reappearance catches the eye of the evil sorceress Morgana (Rebecca Ferguson). So Alex must set off to Tintagel in Cornwall, blade in hand, and stop her – assisted by his best friend Bedders (newcomer Dean Chaumoo) and two of his playground tormentors, Lance and Kaye. Their guide and mentor is a young, time-travelling Merlin (Angus Imrie, son of Celia), who can transform himself into an owl – and occasionally Patrick Stewart – with a sneeze.
High fantasy via high school isn’t an obviously coherent genre mash-up, but Cornish’s script wittily meshes the two into a natty hybrid. Yet the film never finds a visual groove that’s as satisfying as its writing. Some creepy tree monsters aside, the creatures largely resemble dreary escapees from a video game, while the battle sequences are clunkier than the suits of armour our four teenaged heroes are eventually obliged to dress up in.
Not that The Kid Who Would Be King is trying to be cool. We’re so used to fantasy films straining to please every imaginable audience sub-group that it’s refreshing to encounter one made entirely for kids. Watching horseriding fire skeletons going berserk in a school, you sense an important gap in cinema is being filled, and I’m sure my Tolkien-loving 12-year-old self would have got a big kick out of it. RC