Quest For Camelot Review

As far as animated films go, it isn't bad.

While I am a Disney fan, animated films from other production companies must get props for being so drastically different. From Quest for Camelot to Secret of NIMH, there are so many once you start looking for them.

In Quest for Camelot, Kayley is a young girl who loses her father very young. He was a knight of the round table who died defending King Arthur from a greedy knight named Ruber. When he returns ten years later, he attempts to steal excaliber but his griffin loses it in the Forbidden Forest while Ruber is kidnapping Kayley's mother to use her to get inside the gates of Camelot. Kayley must find excaliber with the help of a two-headed dragon, a falcon, and a blind man.

With several twists and turns in this adventure, the true moral of the story is that anyone can do anything with some help.

When I first saw this movie, I was probably about 10 and it had been out for a few years. It was the first time I saw a blind person in an animated film, Garrett is strong, brave, and true as any knight should be but he's denied it for so long before he meets Kayley. We learned about blind conditions in school but it brought a whole new perspective to see someone in a film. To see them struggle with confidence but not because of their disability. He struggles with how other people view him but not how he views himself. It was truly refreshing.

Kayley is an intriguing heroine. She seems to be a pretty basic, cookie cut version of so many others; she wants freedom and adventure and to see the world. She acts (and looks) a lot like Belle from Beauty and the Beast. ut her fighting spirit is a force to be reckoned with on its own, her refusal to take no as an answer is inspiring.

The cast is made up of actors that would surprise you including: Jaleel White, Pierce Brosnan, Don Rickles, Eric Idle, Gary Oldman, Jane Seymour, and so many others.

Plus it was nominated for an academy award.

I could go on and on about how amazing this movie is, I've loved it ever since I first saw it.

But I'm gonna tell you a few things that make for some pretty weird scenes and moments that just make you go "...why did you do that?"

For one, when Garrett meets Kayley initially he wants nothing to do with her. He sings an entire ballad about how much better off he is on his own. She asks him once to let her go with him, and he's like "fiiiine." Then two days later they fall in love. Obviously.

I mean what kind of animated 1990's film would this be if there wasn't a love story between two people who initially hated each other.

The Nostalgia Critic on YouTube does a great review of this movie, check it out. He makes a lot of great points.

Another just weird addition to this movie is the character of Bladebeak. A chicken that is merged with a butcher knife.

If you haven't seen this movie, whatever visual you have in your head right now is wrong. Stop thinking about it as a sexual union between an inanimate object and a chicken, okay? This movie deals with a lot of inexplicable magical sequences that are put in just to fill gaps and speed recovery of wounded characters.

I did mention this is a musical, right? So the villain's song is actually kind of rad but also a combination of every cheesy part of every other villain's song ever. Including an ACME reference that they really didn’t need. It’s like cheap product placement. It’s a Warner Brothers picture, they don’t need to put ACME in every movie they ever make.

Overall, you’ll enjoy this movie if you don’t analyze too closely.

Plus the two-headed dragon character(s) are absolutely hysterical.