The Kid Who Would Be King

The Kid Who Would Be King – When ordinary 12 year old, Alex Elliott, extracts a sword from a stone, he discovers that it is Excalibur and it has chosen him to continue King Arthur’s legacy. Deep underground, Morgana plots to take Excalibur for herself and vows to ‘kill the king’. With the help of a strange new student who turns out to be Merlin and his 3 newly knighted school mates, Alex must fight against Morgana’s minions and stop her before the solar eclipse. But with only 4 days to go, will the kids be able to fulfil their destinies?

The Kid Who Would Be King (2019) – Director: Joe Cornish

By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59352216

Rating: PG

Running Length: 120 mins

Starring: Louis Ashbourne Serkis, Dean Chaumoo, Angus Imrie

Genre: Action/Adventure, Comedy

REVIEW: THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING

Taking the famous medieval legend of King Arthur and his knights of the round table, ‘The Kid Who Would Be King’ takes the story into the modern world with 12 year old Alex (Louis Ashbourne Serkis) taking on the mantel of the chivalrous and noble king. After playfully knighting his friend, Bedders (Dean Chaumoo), and school bullies Lance and Kaye (Tom Taylor and Rhianna Dorris, respectively) for their strength, Alex is all set for his exciting adventure to begin. Treading the fine line between comedy, action and horror well, ‘The Kid Who Would Be King’ engages at every level. By giving each character plenty of depth (the bullies in particular are well written and acted) it also manages to be more than just a kids’ fantasy film.

Rebecca Ferguson, who plays the delightfully evil Morgana, simply oozes with the kind of rage infused with the arrogant elegance of royalty. Despite minimal appearances (which admittedly often see her turning into a fire-breathing monster), she still fills the screen with her presence. As the plot is entrenched in English culture (both past and present) and also featuring a lot of typically English self-deprecating humour, ‘The Kid Who Would Be King’ doesn’t follow the usual tropes of gung-ho, sassy kids. Instead it takes an unpopular boy who knows right from wrong and thrusts power upon him.

Alex develops confidence and makes mistakes but never loses his good nature; he isn’t afraid to call people out when they do wrong and accepts responsibility for his own failings. The focus on the ‘chivalric code’ is an excellent touch, teaching the kids that goodness and courage is what will save them rather than toughness and strength, the latter attributes often leading to pride and selfishness. The message here is that giving someone a destiny and worth will always trump the selfish desire for power.

‘The Kid Who Would Be King’ takes what could be any other kids action/adventure film and fleshes it out with confidence; adding depth and gravitas into the mix rounds out the whole experience. With the movie as with the kids in the movie, the lesson is that having the courage of your convictions is exactly what is needed!

CONTENT: IS ‘THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

Morgana is a frightening villain who can turn into a large, winged demon at will. Early in the movie there is a close-up of her face as she lunges and screeches at the camera. Each scene she is in is frightening and if a child struggles with one, they are likely to find her other scenes too scary. There are also times when her spooky, raspy whispers can be heard which often talk about death and killing. These continue for around 30 seconds to a minute each time.

Two school bullies hold Alex’s friend, Bedders, upside down so that his money falls out of his pockets. When they are interrupted by Alex, they purposefully drop Bedders from a low height which doesn’t cause him any injury. The bullies then turn their attentions to Alex who is pushed to the floor and some school work he has done is ruined. This doesn’t upset him and he gets up and fights back, jumping on top of one of the bullies and punching him repeatedly in the back, the bully isn’t badly hurt. A teacher comes quickly to break up the fight.

One of the bullies shows Alex his knuckles which he has written ‘UR DED’ onto.

The bullies chase Alex through a park at night and corner him in a building site, as Alex tries to move backwards away from them, he falls off a ledge and appears unconscious below. The bullies run away, leaving Alex alone and potentially injured. Alex comes to a few seconds later and is perfectly fine.

When Merlin first arrives, he walks around completely naked although nothing gratuitous is shown. He soon covers himself with a large T-shirt and then more regular clothes. Merlin has taken the form of a school boy and behaves in a very unusual way. Alex tells Bedders that they should stay away from him because he is ‘more bullyable’ than them.

At night, Alex hears a noise outside and fearfully creeps towards his window, when he looks outside, he sees nothing for a few seconds but then a shadowy creature with glowing eyes crawls out of the ground. It disappears but he soon realises that it is in his house and moving swiftly towards him. It is extremely aggressive and speaks in a deep, echo-y voice saying ‘The king must die!’. It attacks Alex with its sword and despite dodging a few swings, it soon gets the better of him and is on the verge of killing him before another character steps in to help. These creatures turn up a few more times, in greater numbers and are as dangerous each time, however as the tone of the movie suddenly shifts from fun excitement to serious and scary in this scene, younger kids may struggle with it.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING’ FOR KIDS?

Fun, exciting and with plenty of scares, ‘The Kid Who Would Be King’ doesn’t disappoint. With some of the scarier moments being a little strong for younger kids, we recommend this movie for children aged 7 and over.

• Violence: 2/5 (lots of exciting action sequences but too nothing strong)
• Emotional Distress: 1/5 (a character becomes distressed when they discover that a loved one is a bad person)
• Fear Factor: 2/5 (Morgana and her minions are quite scary and relentlessly aggressive)
• Sexual Content: 0/5 (taking the form of a 16 year old boy, Merlin walks around naked when he is first introduced however his nudity is only implied and he soon puts clothes on)
• Bad Language: 2/5 (some mild bad language)
• Dialogue: 2/5 (dialogue relating to Morgana’s desire to kill)
• Other Notes: Deals with themes of chivalry, accepting your destiny, inspiring others to be good, making friends out of enemies, fighting against evil, learning from your mistakes and greatness coming from anyone with a good heart)

Words by Laura Record