The Kid Who Would Be King - Modern Day King Arthur Movie with Patrick Stewart as Merlin

[JD]

I hadn't heard about this until now, but this looks like it could be a lot of fun, it's a new modern day King Arthur themed movie with Patrick Stewart as Merlin and the Mission Impossible movies' Rebecca Ferguson as Morgana.
Trailer

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Here's the description from the official (US) website:
Old school magic meets the modern world in the epic adventure THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING. Alex 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, take on the wicked enchantress Morgana. With the future at stake, Alex must become the great leader he never dreamed he could be.

Writer/Director: Joe Cornish

Cast:
Louis Ashbourne Serkis as Alexander "Alex" Elliot
Dean Chaumoo as Bedders
Tom Taylor as Lance
Rhianna Doris as Kaye
Angus Imrie as Young Merlin
Patrick Steward as Old Merlin
Rebecca Ferguson as Morgana
Denise Ghough as Mrs. Elliot

 

[Ovation]

Saw the trailer. Might have skipped it if I were alone but it’s squarely aimed at my son’s demographic, so I’ll likely see it with him. Does look amusing.

 

[sttngfan1701d]

Yer a wizard, Harry.
You're a demigod, Percy Jackson.
You're a Pandava, Aru Shah.
You're King Arthur....oh, whatever. All these YA books and movies are the same. Teenagers either save the world or teenagers save a dystopian world.

I should write a YA book. There has to be a template somewhere. I could get rich and get a movie deal.

 

[Sisko_is_my_captain]

Yer an assistant pig keeper, Taran.

 

[Gaith]

You're King Arthur....oh, whatever. All these YA books and movies are the same. Teenagers either save the world or teenagers save a dystopian world.

Indeed. (Though just once, I'd like to see the "main" teen/kid/hero get straight-up killed halfway through, with either the goofy or female (or both?) one having to take over, despite not being remotely the picture of any prophecy.)

Yer an assistant pig keeper, Taran.

The glorious exception to the rule!

 

[Relayer1]

When I saw the thread title I shuddered - what a dreadful idea. Then I watched the trailer and it really surprised me - I liked it. A lot !

I should have realised when I saw the name Joe Cornish. I used to love the Adam and Joe show :

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[Yassa Justice]

He was fun to see as a Knight in an other Arthur Myth related movie.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Looks fun. I'll probably give it a shot.

 

[Kibbin]

Just caught the trailer for this the other night before Johnny English (not seen Johnny English yet due to blackouts) and while I should hate this it did look pretty good.

 

[Romulan_spy]

I think the trailer needs more Patrick Stewart.

 

[sttngfan1701d]

Indeed. (Though just once, I'd like to see the "main" teen/kid/hero get straight-up killed halfway through, with either the goofy or female (or both?) one having to take over, despite not being remotely the picture of any prophecy.)

Well then you might like "Aru Shah and the End of Time", which has two female protagonists that are pretty much the antithesis of typical teen heroes, and both are goofy (Aru especially, who's your textbook movie geek). Two 12-year old girls who have no idea what they're doing, with Aru getting most of her ideas about being heroic by imitating Aragorn and Legolas from Lord of the Rings and spending the entire book clad in Spider-Man pajamas. The idea was promising. The execution, less so.

I enjoyed about 75% of the book, before the author made some baffling decisions near the end that soured me on the whole thing. And the "We're not heroes, we're heroines!" line is funny the first two times, not the 6th or 7th time. We get it, they're girls and the Pandavas in Indian mythology were all guys. She overplays the joke. I also think she missed an opportunity by having one of the five Pandavas be a boy, surrounded by girls (especially a nerdy boy, unused to being around girls). That would've been funny as well as interesting narratively, going forward for the (inevitable) trilogy.

I mention it because the dang thing was published in March of this year, and by May it already had a movie deal. How is that even possible? It's also the same basic premise as Percy Jackson (Rick Riordan even writes the introduction), just with Hindu gods.

It's like they put all of these YA stories on a fast-track and they all become movies that are pretty much the same.