Review of Justin and the Knights of Valour (2013) by Jace M — 07 Sep 2014

This is a good movie. Maybe not high art, as few movies are. But very watchable and certainly entertaining. The art style is crisp, colorful and clean. It will appeal to children and adults who are familiar with Pixar style movies.

All the reviews that talk about it being a knock-off or imitation of recent movies are entirely off the mark. The story told here is simple, heart warming and has a strong moral compass - yes. In that respect, it imitates. It has the same core elements that any good story does. An unlikely but determined protagonist, an evil antagonist and a diverse ensemble of unique supporting characters who contribute to the story.

Yet, it is as different from any recent animated movies as Brave is from How to Train Your Dragon. The story told is different - though it may be simple, as it is in most of these movies.

Justin's journey from push-over to knight is not a grand saga, but it's a fun little romp with charming and well animated characters.

Particularly I enjoyed Talia, Melquides and the kinda-gay-but-maybe-just-fashionable Sota.

People complain about the humor being off. I'm sorry, but laughing did not occur to me. Being entertained did. Usually physical humor doesn't elicit laughs from anyone but small children.

I think it's a well made movie that I am tempted to give 5 stars to even out the ridiculous low ratings it is receiving by people who're obviously unable to accept that companies outside the USA can make decent animation.

Target audience is probably anyone between 6 to whatever age someone starts being a grumpy fart and unable to enjoy innocent fantasy. It's a movie for children and teens, but adults can enjoy it too.

I like this movie and I recommend it heartily.