Thoughts on Quest for Camelot

 

via We Heart It/Courtesy Warner Bros.

"One day, I will be a knight like Father."

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but flattery will often get you nowhere. Forgive the double banality, but it feels appropriate when discussing Quest for Camelot, Warner Bros.' shameless and fruitless attempt at a Disney Renaissance-style movie. There's not an original idea in Camelot, a movie I might have reasonably tolerated had I seen it as a boy. As an adult, all I did was think of better. or at least earlier, movies.

Kayley (speaking voice of Jessalyn Gilsig, singing voice of Andrea Corr) is that old favorite, The Girl Who Wants More. She's always idolized her father, Sir Lionel (Gabriel Byrne), killed by diabolical Lord Ruber (Gary Oldman, who did his own singing). Ruber desires Excalibur, which his griffin (Bronson Pinchot) stole from King Arthur (speaking voice of Pierce Brosnan, singing voice of Steve Perry) but accidentally dropped in the Forbidden Forest. Kayley's mother, Juliana (speaking voice of Jane Seymour, singing voice of Celine Dion) is Ruber's captive while the girl and the villain seek the sword. His goons include rooster-axe (I'm not making this up) Bladebeak (Jaleel White). Her helpers include handsome, blind Garrett (speaking voice of Cary Elwes, singing voice of Bryan White), the falcon Ayden (Frank Welker) and two-headed, frequently arguing, dragon Devon (Eric Idle) and Cornwall (Don Rickles). Naturally, they really can't bear to be apart.

"What are you?"

"Frankly, we're the reason cousins shouldn't marry."

Nobody's awful in Quest, but I can only shake my head at much of the casting. Devon and Cornwall have distinct personalities and sing about how much they'd prefer to be on their own, but I feel like the jokes would land better if they came from two guys from roughly the same milieu. Pinchot and White didn't do anything special, which made Welker come off better in comparison. One of my biggest laughs came from hearing Dion's voice closely after an angry scene with Seymour. Yeah, sure, this is totally the same woman. Oldman's just okay. On the other hand, Brosnan (a replacement for Christopher Reeve) is better than you may expect. Also, even though I'm a notoriously poor judge of chemistry, I felt it between Gilsig and Elwes.

Quest was directed by Frederik Du Chau (a replacement for Bill Kroyer) and adapted from Vera Chapman's The King's Damosel by Kirk De Micco and William Schifrin and Jacqueline Feather & David Seidler. David Foster and Carole Bayer Sager wrote seven songs, most of which seem to start and stop near-randomly. Still, I won't hold the messy movie against its seven writers. Or the animators, although the juxtposition of the traditionally-drawn leads and the compter-generated ogre resulted in another big laugh. No, the bosses blew it. Warner Bros. should have strived for anything better than ripping off a nearly 10-year-old style of movie.

Most of Quest's reviews included thoughts on where the animated movie genre had been and was heading. "Sheer fun ... it seems, died with Howard Ashman," David Kronke wrote in the Los Angeles Times. David disliked heavier movies like The Lion King, Pocahontas and Anastasia, but didn't think Hercules was that funny, either. Stephen Holden, New York Times: "Quest for Camelot suggests that Disney still owns the artistic franchise on animated features." Roger Ebert: "Perhaps it's time for Warner to explore a different approach -- perhaps animation aimed at the teenage and adult market, which does so well in Japan." Returning to a cliche, Thoughts On has nowhere to go but up when it comes to 1998's family releases.

"You may kill me, but you'll never destroy the ideals of Camelot."

"Well, I've got to start somewhere."

Not Recommended.

Thoughts:
-- "When we get to Camelot, we'll be kissed by the world's most beautiful women." "Yeah, we're a giant talking lizard with two heads. We're gonna have to beat them off with a stick."

-- Box Office: Grossing $22.5 million on a $40 million budget, this opened at No. 3 and ranked at No. 83.

-- Critic's Corner, the movie: "Rarely ... do you sense an overriding stylistic or allegorical vision," Holden wrote. "A nearly perfect reflection of troubling trends in animated features ... lacks a distinct personality of its own," according to Kronke. Ebert: "The animation isn't vivid, the characters aren't very interesting and the songs are routine. ... The movie just doesn't seem sure of itself."

-- Critic's Corner, the music: "Instead of contributing to the movie, (the songs) clog it up," Holden wrote. Kronke: "Apparently Camelot is just one big adult contemporary radio station." Owen Gleiberman: "Vegas-pop wallpaper." Joe Leydon, Variety, liked "If I Didn't Have You." "Idle and Rickles are smashingly funny; they might have a future together in a possible TV series spin-off."

-- Memorable Music: The score is now 12-11, with songs written for movies ahead of interpolations. I'm giving points to "The Prayer," "I Stand Alone" and "Looking Through Your Eyes." "Looking" was released as a single performed by LeAnn Rimes. It did better than Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli's duet of "The Prayer" on the adult contemporary charts in 1998-99 (No. 4, compared to No. 22) and also made the Hot 100 (No. 18). A decade later, Celine and Josh Groban's "Prayer" duet reached No. 70 on the Hot 100.

-- Awards Watch: "The Prayer" beat The Prince of Egypt's "When You Believe," among others, for the Golden Globe, but lost to "Believe" at the Oscars. Both "Prayer" and "Believe" -- and another movie song, "Music of My Heart" -- lost the Grammy for Pop Collaboration with Vocals to "Smooth."

-- Hey, It's ...!: The voice cast also included John Gielgud as Merlin and Al Roker among the ensemble.

-- "Are you sure this is dragon country? I mean, shouldn't there be a sign or something? It could say, 'Welcome to Dragon Country.' You don't think we'll see any, do you? Is a group of dragons a pack or a flock? Is it a gaggle or a pride? Is it a herd?" "Quiet." "Do you hear something?" "No, I just want you to be quiet."

-- Next: The Horse Whisperer. On deck: The Opposite of Sex.