Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Simply A Masterpiece

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Just to correct a previous post - this is NOT directed by the man responsible for the Vincent Price classic Theatre of Blood - that was Douglas Hickox. This guy is Anthony Hickox. Having said that - he's got some B-Movie pedigree, his first six films all being in the fantasy genre, including the two excellent Waxworks comedy horrors and input into the Warlock and Hellraiser series. This is reasonably enjoyable sword and sorcery fare and is marked by Hickox' usual ability to involve names that you want to see back in the limelight. Edward Fox as King Arthur. Joanna Lumley as Morgan Le Fay. Brilliant! As a Brit, I know these actors well from the films and television of my youth. In using these guys, Hickox plays the same trick as Tarantino in using Robert Forster, Pam Grier or David Carradine. Also, any film using Udo Kier as a villain is alright in my book.

These nice, unpretentious movies should get better press when compared with junk AAA+ budget kolossals. Someone complains about the 'cartoon strips' inserted here & there in the movie...they didn't delight me, either...but I guess it was a way scriptwriters had to signal they were filming the adaptation of a COMIC STRIP...and in turn another poster here complains they haven't read the story at all...I find this movie just fine. I won't write about it in my memories, but it's DEFINITELY better than many AAA+ actors/AAA+ budget productions...at 1/12 the cost. Of course you don't have Kenneth Branagh, Lawrence Olivier or Katherine Hepburn here, but they aren't needed, either.It is the next rendition of ages old fairy tales made of sorcery, supernatural swords, pretty princesses in distress and apprentices on a quest, who discover they are the long lost sons on good kings murdered by evil tyrants.Photography is good; locations are good; acting is satisfactory, for this kind of movies...(not JULIUS CAESAR with John Gielgud ); the storyline is also good. It helps remembering that people who harshly criticize these modest movies in favor of high-fidelity to whatever 'spirit of the thing' wouldn't be the first to sit through a classic theatre play.To watch at least once.

Villainy, jousting, swordplay, a princess in peril, an unknowing prince on a quest, and all in the shadow of Excalibur: what more could the average ten year old would-be Knight ask for? Set in the days of Round Table chivalry, this is the comic book tale of the orphan and page Valiant (Stephen Moyer) who, due to a case of mistaken identity, is escorting a princess (Katherine Heigl) to her fiancée when Excalibur is stolen from King Arthur (Edward Fox) by his evil stepsister Morgan Le Fey (Joanne Lumley) and two warring brothers (Udo Kier, Thomas Kretchsmann) from an enemy Kingdom. Valiant and the princess become part of the struggle of "he who holds the sword rules the world" which leads them both to love and Valiant to his princely destiny. This is an okay rainy afternoon movie that is definitely geared toward a young audience. The acting is decent enough, the jousting is done well, and the swordplay isn't bad. Occasionally a scene will fade into a cartoon comic book sequence with voice over. Stunt work is kind of lame and there is this dumb armored alligator effect. Over all, kids will get a kick out of it (and adults will groan-laugh). Worth a rent/buy used for the kids.

I can recognize the name PRINCE VALIANT in the Sunday comics, and this is the movie adaptation which is based from. As if I've had enough of these Camelot stories, the swift pacing turns it on for supplementing the royal action, which is interesting to keep you tuned in. This latest version nearly captures the lively HERCULES & XENA look that continues to popularize the culture here in the States. It's a pity that these routine battles lack a solid punch, turning this into a mild consequence. For a new and younger generation of PRINCE VALIANT followers who dismisses the 1954 original film because of its age, this new and improved edition will certainly be it. There is a sacrifice of royalty that made the black-and-white classics sweet and tangy. The best you can really do is keep on reading the comic strip because several movies based on original counterparts (including TV shows and cartoons) fail to recapture a certain essence that was once made to be original.