Review of The Sword in the Stone (1963) by Shane V — 27 Jan 2011

One of my old favorite Disney films about the young King Arthur and his teacher Merlin the Wizard. Is it shining classic Disney magic, or just a dull pile of rock?

The first order of business, for me, is the characters. Some of the most memorable in Disney film history, in my opinion. Merlin, voiced brilliantly by Karl Swenson, is the crotchety old wizard that essentially carries the plot with his interesting teaching strategies and entertainingly-grim attitude. Next up with have Wart (aka Arther). He is a typical pure main character, and follows Merlin's lessons well. At first he seems like an empty vessel, but by the end of the film we cannot help but sympathize with him. And the supporting cast does its job well enough, creating a good cushion for our stars to fall back on and propel the plot.

The plot itself is a bit overly simplistic, and hardly the sum of its parts. And there seems to be a drastic change in tone at the start of the last 3rd of the film that plunges everything into hurried chaos. As if they wanted to do so much in their allotted 80 minutes, and decided to cram the required ending (and typical moral message) into the last few moments that leave you wanting, no, expecting, so much more.

The music and musical numbers are entertaining and fit the film well. But they don't seem to convey much and honestly feel a bit hollow. At the very least, though, they don't feel forced.

Unfortunately the technical aspects of the film are fraught with problems. "Everybody's got problems" rants Merlin, and this film is no exception. Wart is voiced by three different people (Richard & Robert Reitherman, and Rickie Sorenson). While each does their job well, the overall result is a strange and inconsistent voice for the character that can't help but bring us out of the film. Also, the animation seems a bit lazy for a Disney film. The style itself is fine, and works for the story, but several identical scenes and action cels are used multiple times. At first it seems simple enough; characters moving in a consistent manner. But by the end it becomes annoying and repetitive.

Overall it isn't even close to Disney's best work. Suffering from several technical problems, an odd change of tone, and an unsatisfying ending. But the memorable characters, songs, lovely animation style and quick simple plot make "The Sword in the Stone," if nothing else, a lot of fun. I'll give it 6 beard malfunctions out of 10.

"Dark Age indeed. Age of inconvenience. No plumbing... no electricity... no... nothing!".