THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING (2019) Review
Directed by Joe Cornish
Fantasy adventure movies today mostly wants to go all-out on visuals and on the scope of its story. Though there’s nothing wrong with that, sometimes they tend to overdo most of the stuff and the story gets sidelined. In Joe Cornish’s retelling of a classic tale, The Kid Who Would Be King goes back to the basics of fantasy adventures. And it takes us to a familiar, yet exciting ride.
Old school magic meets the modern world in the epic adventure THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING. Alex (Ashbourne Serkis) thinks he’s just another nobody, until he stumbles upon the mythical Sword in the Stone, Excalibur. Now, he must unite his friends and enemies into a band of knights and, together with the legendary wizard Merlin (Patrick Stewart), take on the wicked enchantress Morgana (Rebecca Ferguson). With the future at stake, Alex must become the great leader he never dreamed he could be.
In the tradition of films like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson in which having a young character battle the sources of evil and at the same time, battle his or her issues as a child, The Kid Who Would Be King tackles its issues lightly. Not that the problems didn’t feel as important as they should, it’s just that as a kid, your perception of life is to take everything lightly. That problems aren’t actually that big and can be solved.
The film gets how young its main character is, how being given an important role in the world is actually a chance to step up, to be better, to grow and to realize that the world is more than just you.
There’s a lot to enjoy in The Kid Who Would Be King and with a character-driven story, I actually ended up liking it more than I expected it. Its story is familiar but the treatment is fresh, it’s about good versus evil but it does not go full-on dark. And it’s actually has a terrific ensemble. This is the Percy Jackson movie we deserved. It’s silly but entertaining, simple yet satisfying.
4 OUT OF 5 STARS
‘The Kid Who Would Be King’ is now showing in cinemas nationwide from 20th Century Fox. Rated PG by the MTRCB.