Quest for Camelot (1998)

An adventurous girl, a young blind hermit, and a goofy two-headed dragon race to find the lost sword Excalibur to save King Arthur and Camelot from disaster.

Director:

Frederik Du Chau

Writers:

Vera Chapman (novel), Kirk DeMicco (screenplay) (as Kirk De Micco)

Stars:

Jessalyn Gilsig, Cary Elwes, Andrea Corr

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jessalyn Gilsig	...	Kayley (voice)
Andrea Corr	...	Kayley (singing voice)
Cary Elwes	...	Garrett (voice)
Bryan White	...	Garrett (singing voice)
Gary Oldman	...	Ruber (voice)
Eric Idle	...	Devon (voice)
Don Rickles	...	Cornwall (voice)
Jane Seymour	...	Juliana (voice)
Céline Dion	...	Juliana (singing voice) (as Celine Dion)
Pierce Brosnan	...	King Arthur (voice)
Steve Perry	...	King Arthur (singing voice)
Bronson Pinchot	...	Griffin (voice)
Jaleel White	...	Bladebeak (voice)
Gabriel Byrne	...	Lionel (voice)
John Gielgud	...	Merlin (voice) (as Sir John Gielgud)

Storyline

During the times of King Arthur, the story of an adventurous brave girl, named Kayley, whose father, a Knight of the Round Table, is killed by Sir Ruber, a maniacal brute who steals Excalibur and ultimately threatens to seize King Arthur's Camelot. Kayley enlists the blind, reclusive knight-aspirant Garrett and a goofy two headed dragon to brave the Enchanted Forest and retrieve the magic sword. Their adventure is also, of course, fraught with danger.

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Plot Keywords:

ogre | king arthur character | merlin character | scene before opening credits | scene during opening credits | 

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Taglines:

Ruber: An evil knight gives nobility a bad name.

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Family | Fantasy | Musical

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Certificate:

G

Details

Official Sites:

Warners

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 May 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

La espada mágica: La leyenda de Camelot

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,041,602, 17 May 1998, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$22,717,758, 9 August 1998

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$15,400,000, 18 October 1998

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Warner Bros. Feature Animation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Christopher Reeve was originally cast as King Arthur.

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Goofs

During the last part of "On My Father's Wings," (the verse "I will do great things, on my father's wings) Kayley's lips don't move in sync with the song, despite the fact she is singing.

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Quotes

Ruber: You've been quite annoying, for a girl.

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Crazy Credits

The first half of the closing credits revolves around the Stonehenge in which Excalibur, King Arthur's sword, was originally found. When it shows the cast & the animators, the main characters is aside from them.

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Alternate Versions

The French track of the DVD plays "The Prayer" after "Looking Through Your Eyes" instead of "I Stand Alone" during the end credits. After "The Prayer", "I Stand Alone" does play but ends just short of the 3rd verse (the credits run out).

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Connections

References The Music Man (1962)

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Soundtracks

Ruber
Written by Carole Bayer Sager and David Foster
Produced by David Foster and Carole Bayer Sager
Performed by Gary Oldman

User Reviews

Arthurian Waste of Time and Talent

The wonderful, classic legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table has never been properly handled as a feature film. Even "Excalibur" seemed forced, and perhaps the only truly enjoyable features have been gentle comedies like Disney's "The Sword in the Stone" and of course "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" which throw the technical mythology out the window and try to make what's left fun. Eric Idle starred in that latter entry, and he stars here, as one-half of a fairly well-animated, somewhat badly-designed, talking dragon. With Don Rickles' help he becomes a comic sidekick, but the script doesn't let either of them be all that funny, and the animation mixes the beautiful and awful with a disturbing shot-to-shot tickertape rhythm. About 1/4th of the animators here don't seem to know how to animate convincingly, and those who do have to struggle not to let the movie fall down around them. But the animation is still the best part of this woefully misconceived hybrid of randomly-scattered Camelot legend and F-grade science fiction. The science-fiction takes over, sadly. Consider the red-armored, action figure of a villain (played by Gary Oldman, in yet another bad career move). I can't decide if he's Riffraff from Rocky Horror, or Ade Edmonson from the Young Ones. It matters little. Caring not for the great legend sitting right under their feet, the umpteen writers turn out sub-Disney drivel about robots, walking trees, a laughable CGI version of the rock monster from the "Never-Ending Story," and a talking chicken with a hatchet for a beak. Lovely. I'm sure Sir Thomas Malory wanted to put these elements in his "Morte D'Arthur," he simply wasn't clever enough to think of them, right? Who needs Lancelot and Galahad when you've got Lionel and Bladebeak? And does anyone really want Celine Dion Eurovision Song Contest-esque material sprinkled in every few minutes? Supposedly sung by the "characters" of what story there is, but they rarely move their lips to it, so the work is not particularly convincing. An all-star cast is wasted (Sir John Gielgud, for chrissake!), as is the time of anyone watching this confused "Black Cauldron"-esque collage of scenes from other movies. The design looks like Don Bluth traced by Wang, and the entire enterprise made me slightly ill. What a waste of talent. I want to hurt this movie.