11. The Sword in the Stone- 1963

Rating: 🙅🏼‍♀️ thank u, next

It’s the Middle Ages and England has found itself without a king. The sword Excalibur was placed in a stone and it was determined that “whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is rightwise King born of all England”. Knights and valiant men came from far and wide to pull the sword from the stone, yet none were successful in their quest. Enter Young Wart, a simple squire who stumbled into Merlin the Wizard’s home one day by accident. Merlin takes an interest in Young Wart and becomes his teacher. Through lessons and magic and serendipity, Young Wart finds himself face to face with Excalibur. Is he the man who is destined to become the King of England?

The Sword in the Stone had a decent enough recipe for success; new animation techniques pioneered during the making of 101 Dalmatians, and a universally beloved classic tale. Yet, this film fell short of the usual Disney magic that I have come to expect. Honestly, about 20 minutes into this movie I paused it because I was already bored and was hoping that I only had a little bit longer left to watch. The main issue that I took with this film was that I didn’t care about the characters. Young Wart is fine I suppose, but other than knowing that he’s training to be a squire I longed to know who he really was. Is he funny? Sweet? Brash? Impulsive? I honestly couldn’t tell you. Merlin was supposed to be the comic relief, but unfortunately I didn’t find him the least bit funny. The physical comedy that usually works so well for Disney fell flat, and I found myself wishing that Merlin would just go away. I didn’t take any moral issues with this movie like I did with Pinocchio, but I was so bored that I hope I never have to watch this movie again.