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:

Devon & Cornwall: A two-headed dragon with an identity crisis.

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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

John Cleese was considered for the role of Devon.

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Goofs

When Garrett is crossing the acid lake he gets almost to the end. However when Kayliegh tells him to hurry, the shot goes back and it shows him back at the start.

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Quotes

Cornwall: Eh, you're better off without him. He walks funny. He even looks funny. People'd throw darts at him.
Devon: How can you be so cold-blooded?
Cornwall: I'm a reptile.

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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 Gojira (1954)

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Soundtracks

On My Father's Wings
Written by Carole Bayer Sager and David Foster
Produced by David Foster and Carole Bayer Sager
Performed by Andrea Corr
Courtesy of Lava Records/143 Records/Atlantic Recording Corp.

User Reviews

The style and the quality is low and out-of-date even in the norms of 1998, but still worth watching for fun

Back in the days when there is no such Oscar category as "The Best Animated Feature of the Year" , animations were for family use only. It's obvious that by 2001, adult themed animations began running off readily. Looking at the year 1998, alongside of Antz, Mulan, and Toy Story 2 ; Quest for Camelot was another successful blockbuster hit in the animation genre.

It's an adaptation to Vera Chapman's novel "The King's Damosel", the writer of which is the founder of the J.R.R. Tolkien Society of Great Britain. Though, most fun and joyful parts of the novel are missing in this film. The basic formula of creating a Swashbuckler Adventure out of a heroic journey story has been applied again just like The Mummy, Robin Hood, Indiana Jones, Conan the Barbarian and so on.

What's so good and staying within living memory? 1/First of all, it's very entertaining for everyone who like Swashbucklers. Must be rated "E". 2/A sense of Tim Burton style singing dialogues. 3/All the cruel and bloodthirsty fantasy world creatures are pleasant looking: Dragons, Drakels, Ogres, and the very special Two-Headed Dragon. 4/The Dark Jungle with Necromancer Trees. 5/The lost sword of Excalibur. 6/The legend of the Three Circles. 7/The story is centring on a girl who wants to be a knight! Praise for Hayao Miyazaki 8/The first time when Garrett and Kayley meet the two-headed dragon: -Garrett:What are you? -Dragon:We're the reason cousins shouldn't marry. 9/The back story of a blind farmer, and his success story becoming a knight 10/The blind farmer's silver winged falcon, and all the scenes that it's fighting with either dragons or ogres.

What's not to like and to forget? 1/The overall animation quality is only as good as a computer game except the music. 2/Some scenes and sequences are giving homage to Star Wars, Indiana Jones and even the Taxi Driver; and those homages are stomach aching. 3/King Arthur is very weak, he is half the size of Merlin and shorter than Kayley 4/Merlin is not the Merlin as we know him, he's afraid to cast spells, and not able to protect Arthur's castle 5/The moment when King Arthur grabs the Excalibur from the stone, he seems like a 4-year-old kid pretending that he's He-Man and the people around him are the Masters of Universe 6/The fact that King Arthur is Pierce Brosnan's worst voice acting ever 7/Character development and back stories of the characters are very weak except Garrett's character 8/Visual Effects are awful 9/Over 350 animators have worked to create this animation, but it's still not "animating" what needs to be animated, 'cause the action sequences and the human movements/reflexes are dreadful 10/Sound Effects are not synchronized properly

Give it a shot, this is at least worth watching, catch it on Youtube.