The Sword in the Stone (A or 4/4 stars)
'The Sword in the Stone' (directed by Wolfgang Reitherman & written by Bill Peet) is 1963's classic animation version of the King Arthur story. An orphaned child nicknamed "Wart" (well-voiced by a croaky, pre-pubescent Rickie Sorenson), a.k.a. the future King Arthur, is squire to his foster brother Hay {who is trying to become a knight} when he encounters Merlin (voiced by Karl Swenson) deep in the woods, a bumbling, yet wise old wizard who promises to take on his education; promising that he is bound for greatness. During lessons around the castle moat, Merlin - with his lovably judgmental pet owl, Archimedes looking on - turns Wart into a fish, a bird, & even a squirrel to teach him lessons like the importance of brains-over-brawn.
Wart gets to see this in action when Mad Madam Mim (Martha Wentworth, amazing voice acting, here), Merlin's arch-nemesis, challenges the good wizard to a duel by magic and, though she cheats terribly ... Merlin is still able to defeat her {fantastic scene}. Meanwhile, Wart still has to tend to his duties as a young squire and, having forgotten a sword for a jousting match, he runs to retrieve it. Along the way he spots a sword lodged in a stone & pulls it out fairly easily; not knowing the legend that whoever can pull said sword out of the stone ... will be the rightful king. Plenty more happens in the story, but Wart does eventually become King Arthur, and harkens to Merlin when he reminds him that knowledge is the real power to have.
This feature-length animation (79 minutes) demonstrates the movie magic of Disney's imagination. The King Arthur legend has fascinated people for many centuries, & this story about Arthur's childhood has special appeal. It certainly appealed to me as a child, as I probably watched it hundreds of times on my VHS tape -- watched, rewound, watched, rewound in succession. For successful animation, you need 2 integral ingredients - humor + emotion - and this movie has both in spades. Most of the aforementioned humor comes from Merlin, Mad Madam Mim, Sir Ektor (voiced by Sebastian Cabot), & especially Archimedes, the owl (voiced by Junius Matthews) -- one of my favorite moments is when he puffs his feathers out to dry-off.
My favorite sequence is watching Merlin defeat cranky 'ole Mim in a riotous duel of magic that is absolutely stunning. Now, while the music in the film may not be iconic, I still quite enjoyed "Higitus Figitus", "That's What Makes the World Go Round", & the comical "Mad Madam Mim". The animation is wonderful. And aside from the wholesome fun of seeing what it's like to be a bird trying to fly, or a squirrel trying to avoid romance with another squirrel, or a fish trying to avoid a dangerous moat beast, or from having your very own grandfatherly wizard as an instructor in life ... there's the hugely satisfying aspect of owning one's worth. I loved this magically excellent film as a child - when times were simpler - and I'll love it forever as an adult.
Wart gets to see this in action when Mad Madam Mim (Martha Wentworth, amazing voice acting, here), Merlin's arch-nemesis, challenges the good wizard to a duel by magic and, though she cheats terribly ... Merlin is still able to defeat her {fantastic scene}. Meanwhile, Wart still has to tend to his duties as a young squire and, having forgotten a sword for a jousting match, he runs to retrieve it. Along the way he spots a sword lodged in a stone & pulls it out fairly easily; not knowing the legend that whoever can pull said sword out of the stone ... will be the rightful king. Plenty more happens in the story, but Wart does eventually become King Arthur, and harkens to Merlin when he reminds him that knowledge is the real power to have.
This feature-length animation (79 minutes) demonstrates the movie magic of Disney's imagination. The King Arthur legend has fascinated people for many centuries, & this story about Arthur's childhood has special appeal. It certainly appealed to me as a child, as I probably watched it hundreds of times on my VHS tape -- watched, rewound, watched, rewound in succession. For successful animation, you need 2 integral ingredients - humor + emotion - and this movie has both in spades. Most of the aforementioned humor comes from Merlin, Mad Madam Mim, Sir Ektor (voiced by Sebastian Cabot), & especially Archimedes, the owl (voiced by Junius Matthews) -- one of my favorite moments is when he puffs his feathers out to dry-off.
My favorite sequence is watching Merlin defeat cranky 'ole Mim in a riotous duel of magic that is absolutely stunning. Now, while the music in the film may not be iconic, I still quite enjoyed "Higitus Figitus", "That's What Makes the World Go Round", & the comical "Mad Madam Mim". The animation is wonderful. And aside from the wholesome fun of seeing what it's like to be a bird trying to fly, or a squirrel trying to avoid romance with another squirrel, or a fish trying to avoid a dangerous moat beast, or from having your very own grandfatherly wizard as an instructor in life ... there's the hugely satisfying aspect of owning one's worth. I loved this magically excellent film as a child - when times were simpler - and I'll love it forever as an adult.