Quest For Camelot

Quest For Camelot

If Chuck Jones weren't alive and well, he'd be rolling in his grave upon the appearance of Quest For Camelot, Warner Bros.' second recent attempt to create a big-screen animated hit. (The first, of course, was 1996's Space Jam, a marketing concept gone horribly awry.) That former Journey frontman Steve Perry provides the voice for King Arthur should say it all, but there's considerably more objectionable material here. For example, why does every animated feature try to beat Disney by creating a third-rate Disney knockoff? You want big-eyed, one-parented, independent-minded heroines? Then you'll welcome the arrival of Kayley, the spunky girl who rushes headlong into the forbidden forest to retrieve the lost sword Excalibur. (Which, in an incident not recorded by Geoffrey Of Monmouth, Thomas Malory, or Marie de France, has been stolen by a griffin voiced by Bronson Pinchot.) There, she meets a kindly, blind hunk, a goodhearted falcon, and a two-headed dragon that can't agree on anything (voiced by Don Rickles and Eric Idle). Pausing occasionally to express their feelings through songs custom-made for adult-contemporary radio, the motley crew is forced to make its way back to Camelot while evading the evil, Cockney-accented villain (Gary Oldman) and his army of mechanical men. Among these is Bladebeak, the adorable chicken with an ax-head for a nose and Jaleel "Urkel" White's voice. Sadly, White's promising character is kept to the margins and not allowed any exchanges with Sir John Gielgud's Merlin, postponing that long-awaited meeting of the minds yet again. While moments indicate that not everybody working on the project was asleep at the switch, Quest For Camelot is strictly for bored toddlers and those breathlessly anticipating the completion of the Ferngully trilogy.

 
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