Quest for Camelot directed by Frederik Du Chau (review)

176arthuriana Sam Neillas the title character in Hallmark Entertainment/NBC's Merlin. (Still courtesy of NBC. Photo by Oliver Upton.) attest the continuing vitality of the legend ofthe once and future king. Pop culture and litetatute have always at least been step-siblings, and as Ptofessor Eco has also reminded us 'the Middle Ages have always been messed up in order to meet the vital requirements' of the day (68)—or, in this case, of the mini-series. KEVIN J. HARTY La Salle University Questfor Camelot. Frederik Du Chau, dir. Based on The King's Damosel by Vera Chapman. Screenplay by Kirk De Micco andWilliam Schifrin, andJacqueline Feather & David Seidler. Songs by David Fostet and Carole Bayet Sager. Warner Bros. Feature Animation. 1998. 85 minutes. QuestforCamelotdisappoints at every turn. It purports to be based onVera Chapman's The King's Damosel. Yet anyone familiar with Chapman's adult romance of tape, totture, revenge, forgiveness, personal redemption through love, and spiritual regeneration through a Grail quest,will have towondetwhyWarner Bros, ever bought the rights to the story in the first place ifit wanted to make a children's film. Only a literary critic could find any joy in teasing out the obscure, tangential references to the original text. REVIEWS'77 A few surface similarities to the novel remain. There's a strong heroine—essentially Malory's Damsel Maldisant, whose tale Chapman rewrites and enlarges in her novel. There's a blind man—an important character for the development of Chapman's heroine, but far less important in the novel than the film. There's a villain—several from Malory andTennyson via Chapman, all compressed into the film's Ruber. There's a falcon—Chapman's belongs to the heroine, the film's to first Merlin and then Garrett. And finally there's a quest for the Grail that will heal the heroine's psychic scars and potentially restore the blind man's sight, here reduced to an adventurous search for the stolen Excalibur. For the record, there's no toy-spinoff, two-headed, talking dragon anywhere in the book. That the film but dimly reflects the novel comes as no shock. Yet what does surprise is how little the film deals with any familiar Arthurian themes. Atthur himself is a minor, impotent character, introduced to the audience in a long shot that immediately deemphasizes his importance. Indeed, he remains spatially and narratively distant throughout the film, nevet receiving the close-up treatments reserved for the principal (and non-Arthurian) characters, Kayley and Garrett. An almost powerless Merlin at the king's side is superfluous, telling Arthut at one point that magic cannot help them, but that instead they will have to rely on the citizenry to solve the national crisis that arises with the theft ofExcalibur. Evidently Arthur and Merlin cannot rely on the Round Table knights, a virtually indistinguishable bunch of noble-looking men who spend most oftheit time within Camelot's walls instead ofout seeking the sword. Likewise, although the castle's occupants pledge to uphold the monarchy by pursuing a random mix ofdemocratic ideals—liberty, justice, trust, freedom, peace, honor, goodness, strength, and valor—we rarely see them actually acting on these pledges. The king himself, an apparent proto-Marxist, seems to have yet another political agenda as he explains to togue knight Ruber that 'land will be divided according to each petson's needs.' And despite the film's title, the quest is for Excalibur, not Camelot. In fact evetyone knowswhere Camelot lies—there are literally roadsigns in Arthut's well-organized kingdom. In sum, the film's Arthurian dimension is simply incoherent if given more than five minutes' thought. In the film's defense, it may be argued that Questfor Camelot isn't supposed to be Atthurian. But ifit is Warner Bros.'s attempt to create a strong heroine movie to rival Disney's The LittleMermaid, Beautyandthe Beast, Pocahontas, and the recently released Mulan, it still fails to satisfy for all the same reasons Disney's films are often criticized. Kayley is without doubt the same plucky mainstream heroine we've seen many times before: a young, goo-goo-eyed brunette; strong and confident, but always less...