The Kid Who Would be King

(PG, 120mins)

Is this Joe Cornish film an extended Brexit metaphor? Quite possibly. While its 12-yearold protagonist Alex (Louis Ashbourne Serkis) plods to school, TV screens tell us that Britain is heading for disaster. Alex isn’t having much fun either, till he finds an ancient sword stuck in a breeze block and pulls it out. He’s a reincarnated King Arthur, who must find a way of saving the land from the villainous Morgana (Rebecca Ferguson). The juxtaposition of Arthurian legend and the shabby banality of modern Britain works rather nicely, and Cornish’s film strikes a warm and pleasing tone.