Albion: The Enchanted Stallion

This film is a lot better than I expected it to be and one that made me laugh almost all the way through the movie. Definitely glad that I found this on Netflix

Surprisingly well acted family film. Excellent acting from John Cleese. Entertaining, magical plot which was moving in places. All in all very worth watching for all the family from youngsters to us older folk. We all really enjoyed it. This film speaks to the part of us that wishes to know that,'other' world in a similar way that many famous magical films do.

Camera, lighting, art dept & locations looked great! Unfortunately, the overall storytelling & tone lacked a steady hand. Great work by the editor BTW who cut nonsensical scenes together coherently. The pacing is maddening as new characters are introduced too fast to grasp all the new lore they try to add with walls of exposition. Costumes look like they were made or bought yesterday. Story jumped all over the place from present day to dreamscapes to fantasy world to portal to music montages and more. I'm not sure what this was supposed to be- Comedy? Adventure?

6 July 2017. Ablion holds up pretty well as a dazzling, colorful children's fantasy adventure. The landscapes are among the most vividly striking ever for a fantasy with standout colors that broadcast faraway and amazing places. Quite breathtaking. The storyline is predictable as most such fantasies must be nowadays, but this one has evolved a tad bit making it distinctive in continuing to set a slightly new bar for layered characters.

Two big distractions that take away some of the enjoyment factor are John Cleese's performance in his first appearance where is indomitable character is a bit too cheesy and perhaps so improvised comedy that it breaks the tone of the movie and later one there are some uncharacteristic lapses in the accompanying music that genuinely make the movie seem raggedly powerless and weak.

The distinctive characteristic of Albion is that director takes some risks in balancing the drama and comedy that collide with each other threatening to make this movie into a dumb screwball comedy (like the short-lived awkward fantasy-musical television series Galavant, 2015-2016) but somehow never quite succeeding thankfully. Overall, the sound track, the luscious and ethereal music, the decent acting, and the enriched most mature storyline for children contribute to retaining the audience interest.

A suggestion to the "movie critics" here: when you intentionally choose to watch a film made for children and younger teens, it's a little goofy to rate it low because it turns out to be a film for children and young teens-- and doesn't meet your personal expectations of cerebral cinema. Seriously.

This is a terrific film that is well-written, well-directed, and above all well-acted. Every actor in this film pulls of his/her part with the perfect mixture of seriousness and humor. From the heroine to the rather horrid General (ugh, Cleese pulled that off abhorrently well), every role in this was nicely played. Liam McIntyre nearly stole the show as the evil henchman... except the other actors were quite good as well.

It would be a mistake to take this film too seriously. It was obviously intended as a dark comedy for the younger set. Young and teenage girls will likely love the horse theme. But older ones of both genders might appreciate the humor, the morality play, the story-lesson, and overall quality of the movie.

Is it perfect? No of course not. If one expected perfection going in, that would be somewhat delusional. Ranting at a kid's film for being a kid's film is one of those duh things. This is exactly what it's presented to be, achieved its goal, and was enjoyable all the way through. The ending was somewhat predictable and cliche, but was anyone really expecting anything different? Overall this is a decent family film and a fun watch.