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A Forgotten Disney Movie on VHS: "A Kid in King Arthur's Court" Review
When I was fourteen in 1995, I wanted to go see the original Mortal Kombat movie like there was no tomorrow. My mom wasn't down with that. We were visiting my aunt at the time, and my older cousin Ken was tasked with taking me to basically any other movie. Ken worked at Radio Shack and played Dungeons and Dragons. When I was about six, he let me borrow his G1 Sunstreaker Transformer. I'd always thought Ken was the coolest.
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I rode with Ken and his friend in Ken's blue 1987 Dodge Lancer, the trunk of which was outfitted with huge speakers in homemade wooden housing. We blasted Aerosmith's "Rag Doll" that night. While writing this article, I contacted Ken to jog my memory of his car, and he told me that he'd thrown away the speakers only four days prior!
Source: wikimedia
Ken and his buddy were in their early twenties. I was rolling with the big boys. Ken has no recollection of this night, but we all went to see A Kid in King Arthur's Court. I had a blast.
I'd never seen A Kid in King Arthur's Court for sale in any format until a couple of weeks ago, when I picked up the clamshell VHS at a Goodwill. I'd told my wife Adrienne about this film and my night out with Ken many times, and she'd always humored me. Finding that tape almost felt like the validation of a fever dream. Was the movie as good as I thought it was when I was a kid myself? We plopped on the couch and watched the tape on my Panasonic VCR hooked up my curb-find 32" Sylvania CRT. (I love watching ALF on that monster.)
A Kid in King Arthur's Court stars Thomas Ian Nichols as Calvin Fuller, the kid in question, and Paloma Baeza as Princess Katey, his love interest. Daniel Craig makes a welcome addition as Master Kane, the knight who trains the kid to be a jousting champion, and a pre-Titanic Kate Winslet as Princess Sarah certainly doesn't hurt.
A second-rate little league player is transported back in time by Merlin to save Camelot. Sure, whatever. Merlin (Ron Moody) is technically dead, but his spirit somehow lives on in a hidden well. (It's magic. Duh!) Throughout the movie, the kid runs afoul of Lord Belasco (Art Malek), a knight who is trying to usurp King Arthur (Joss Ackland). Belasco is more of a blowhard than a bad guy; he could have easily killed the kid on more than one occasion, but I get that this is a family film. Princess Katey is of course kidnapped and becomes the plot device. Aided by King Arthur himself, Calvin sets out to save the girl and the kingdom, and grow as a person in the process. Throughout all of this, the people of Camelot live in fear of The Black Knight, but there's more to this warrior than anyone suspects. Will Calvin get back to his own time? What will become of the love of Princess Katey? It's a Disney movie, so expect the formulaic.
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I didn't notice it on my youthful first viewing, but Nichols and Baeza have zero chemistry. Nichols could have been effectively replaced with a cardboard standee; we just don't care about this kid. How he was nominated for Best Young Supporting Actor in this is beyond me. Maybe Calvin's lack of charisma falls more on director Michael Gottleib than in Thomas Ian Nichols' performance: The fact that Gottleib also directed the Hulk Hogan bomb Mr. Nanny and Cannon Films' Mannequin stengthens that argument. I thought Paloma Baeza was super cute when I saw this movie back in the day. Though they're not household names, both Nichols and Baeza are still working in the industry.
A Kid in King Arthur's Court is seldom referenced as groundbreaking cinema. Actually, it's seldom referenced at all! But if kids today are the same as they were back in '95, they might enjoy it. (Fair warning: I'm clueless about kids.) The "Joust Do It" tagline may be the movie's worst offender.
In spite of being nostalgic for decades over A Kid in King Arthur's Court, I couldn't believe how indifferent I was to this movie on revisit; it felt like it would never end. In my case, A Kid in King Arthur's Court proves that some things work better as memories. But at least I now own Mortal Kombat on VHS. Vindicated!
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