DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE
The Sword in the Stone
Going into The Sword and the Stone I knew very little about the film. I knew it was based on the King Arthur legend and it wasn’t one of the most highly regarded Disney animated films but not much else. So I was very curious to see what it was all about. The movie is not at all what I was expecting.
There are lots of versions of the Arthurian legend but this film is based on the book by British Author T. H. White. The film follows young Arthur or Wart as he is known in the film. He meets the magical wizard Merlin who says he can see the future and that Arthur is someone special. As an orphan Arthur doesn’t believe this but accepts Merlin’s offer to teach him. The movie is a bunch of lessons that Merlin teaches Arthur. He turns Arthur into a fish, a squirrel, and a bird and each animal is designed to teach Arthur to solve problems. Merlin’s goal is for Arthur to realize it is better to be smart than to be strong.
The film is very cartoony and slapsticky and feels more like a Looney Tunes cartoon. This isn’t to say that is a bad thing but after watching all the Disney films in order you really feel that this is a dip in quality. After working on making realistic animals for past feature films it didn’t even look like they tried in this one. The best example of this is a wolf in the beginning that is stalking Arthur, it looks like something out of a Saturday morning cartoon not a Disney animated feature.
This story is different from other Arthur legends. Instead of focusing on Arthur’s rise to king and forming the Knights of the Round Table the movie is focused on the time before he drew the sword. The actual sword from the title is barely in the movie. It’s mentioned in the opening narration but then doesn’t show up in the film till about 5 minutes from the end of the movie. The focus is on the student-teacher relationship of Arthur and Merlin, and the lessons that Arthur needs to learn. It is actually more philosophical than other Disney features. One of the lessons that many people seem to have forgotten these days is “Just because you don’t understand something, it doesn’t mean it’s wrong.” Another life lesson Merlin teaches Arthur is “That love business is a powerful thing…. I’d say it’s the greatest force on earth.” For more fun life lessons check out this page https://ohmy.disney.com/movies/2014/09/20/you-can-learn-a-lot-about-life-from-the-sword-in-the-stone/
Since the movie is really about Merlin giving Arthur life lessons there really isn’t any traditional bad guy. Each lesson usually has Arthur being turned into an animal. First a fish, then squirrel, and finally a bird. Each animal has its own lesson and has its own mini bad guy. When Arthur is turned into a bird he meets an evil witch Madame Mim. Merlin has a big battle with Mim so she feels like the big baddy, but after the battle we never see her again and there is still a decent chunk left in the movie. The biggest antagonist is Kay. Arthur wants to be Kay’s squire and Kay is constantly putting him down and treating him badly. In the end when Arthur proves he is worthy of the sword Kay is one of the first that is forced to kneel before him a king. But Kay is absent for a chunk of the film while Arthur is learning from Merlin.
I know some people like the songs but for me they just didn’t do anything for me. This is the first time the Sherman Brothers wrote songs for a Disney Animated film. They would go on to write some iconic songs for The Jungle Book and Mary Poppins but these just felt uninspired and I expected more from them. This is the 3rd animated film in the row that George Bruns wrote the score for. The score is actually good and probably one of my favorite aspects of the film.
Overall: A fairly forgettable film. I can see the appeal for kids as it is very cartoony and has some good life lessons. But comparing it to other Disney Films that came before it doesn’t hold up. The Sherman Brothers would go on and write much better songs and while the score by George Bruns is good it’s not enough to save the film.
Random Facts
Last Animated Feature released before Walt Disney’s death.
The only film from the 50’s or 60’s that never had a sequel or a live action adaptation.
Wolfgan Reitherman directed the film It was the first Disney animated film directed by one person. Wolfang would go on to be the sole credited director on the next three films (The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, and Robin Hood).
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