Merlin: The Return (2000)

User Rating:

4.5/10   

Director:

Paul Matthews

Writer:

Paul Matthews (writer)

Release Date:

22 December 2000 (UK)

Genre:

Family

Plot:

A scientist awakens King Arthur and his knights, and the forces of good and evil do battle once more.

Plot Keywords:

Stonehenge | Arthurian Legend | Independent Film

Cast

Rik Mayall	...	Merlin
Patrick Bergin	...	King Arthur
Craig Sheffer	...	Mordred
Adrian Paul	...	Lancelot
Julie Hartley	...	Guinevere
Tia Carrere	...	Maxwell
Leigh Greyvenstein	...	Kate
Byron Taylor	...	Richie
Grethe Fox	...	Morgana
Jennifer Steyn	...	Richie's mum
Anthony Bishop	...	Gawain
Lynne White	...	Aunt Everlyn
Jocelyn Broderick	...	Megan
Lee-Anne Liebenberg	...	Mordred Personal Bodyguard 1
Connie Giles	...	Mordred Personal Bodyguard 2

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:PG

Filming Locations:

South Africa

Company:

Peakviewing Productions

Trivia:

This is one of the few live action productions based on Arthurian legend in which the actor playing Merlin, Rik Mayall, is younger than the actor playing King Arthur, Patrick Bergin.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: Stonehenge is located on Salisbury Plain, which is flat, open ground, not dense woodland as depicted in this movie.

Quotes:

Mordred: Give me the sword, or the woman dies.
King Arthur: Then take it.
[He tosses Excalibur straight at Mordred, which pierces through his chest]

Why does this get so many bad reviews here?

I do not understand why there are so many negative comments for this.

This is not one of the absolutely best features made with a view to accessibility by children, but it is a long way from the worst. I can enjoy some really iffy ones, this is definitely not as iffy as I would understand it to be from the comments here.

Could be the detractors just saw it the once and did not notice enough detail to make them go back. I do not watch this regularly, but Leigh, who plays the girl Kate, stood out, highs and lows, and by now I have seen it more than five times and there is lots of detail all over it that I can now rate as effective comedy. I now find this to be a lot better than average. I accept that it took time for appreciation to grow in me. Kate is now looking effectively portrayed, the others too.

Another possibility is that maybe this is breaking a taboo that I have not noticed yet. So many negative comments for no obvious reason, that would fit, but if so I would have expected to notice just why.

This is not the first PG rated feature that I have seen with such poor reviews, mostly for them fitting the niche of PG, but this has a slightly different pattern?

So, a better than average story for children of 'all ages'. Maybe easier appreciated, first time round, by the physically older. A story that benefits from repeated viewing. A story that some appear to have a very real allergy to.