Review: The Sword in the Stone (DMC #38)
This week we took a little dive into the legends of Camelot with The Sword in the Stone, the 38th film in the Disnerd Movie Challenge. For those of you who watched last night, skip ahead to our review. For those who need or want a recap, our synopsis is below.
Synopsis
England’s king, Uther Pendragon, has passed away. No heir to the throne can be found, and England is on the verge of war over the vacant position. A miracle appears in London in the form of a mythical sword thrust into an anvil upon a stone. Written on the sword is an inscription stating that whoever pulls out the sword shall be the rightful King of England. No one succeeds in pulling it though, and the sword is left forgotten. England is plunged into a dark age. Some years pass, and the wizard Merlin is seen gathering water from a well in a forest. He complains about the medieval life he lives, wishing he had 20th century technology. Merlin returns to his cottage and informs his intelligent, talking pet owl Archimedes that he’s expecting the arrival of a young boy soon. Just outside the forest, a burly young man named Kay is hunting a deer. His younger, scrawny adoptive brother nicknamed “the Wart” accidentally messes up Kay’s aim, causing his arrow to launch into the forest, much to Kay’s anger. The Wart offers to get it, stating he’s not afraid even though Kay says there are wolves. The Wart ventures into the woods, unknowingly being pursued by a hungry wolf. The wolf is unsuccessful in trying to catch the Wart, who spots the missing arrow high up in a tree. As the boy tries to reach it, he falls from the tree and straight through the roof of Merlin’s cottage. Merlin introduces himself to the Wart, who reveals his real name to be Arthur. Merlin declares to be Arthur’s mentor, wanting him to have a higher education. They return to the castle Arthur lives at, while again being chased by the same wolf from earlier, who is once more unsuccessful in his attempts to eat Arthur. Back at the castle, Sir Ector admonishes his son Kay for letting the Wart go into the forest. However, Arthur, Merlin, and Archimedes soon arrive. Although Sir Ector attempts to throw Merlin out, the wizard intimidates him with magic and persuades Sir Ector to let him stay. Merlin and Archimedes stay in a crumbling tower that leaks rainwater. That night Sir Pellinore arrives from London with news that a jousting tournament will be held in London, with the winner of the tournament being crowned king. Sir Ector convinces Kay to train to be a knight so that he can participate, and offers Arthur to be Kay’s squire to Kay’s displeasure.
Merlin begins tutoring Arthur, with his first lesson being to transform Arthur and himself into fish and swim through the moat surrounding the castle as Merlin teaches Arthur about physics. During the swim, Arthur attracts the attention of a large pike who attempts to eat him, but Arthur outsmarts the pike and is also saved by Archimedes. Merlin returns Arthur and himself to human form, and they return to the castle. Sir Ector reprimands Arthur and forces him to do housework, believing the story to be nothing but nonsense. While Arthur is washing dishes, Merlin appears and offers another lesson. He enchants the dishes to wash themselves, and he and Arthur head off. Shortly later, the two are running across trees branches, having been turned into squirrels. Merlin attempts to teach Arthur about gravity. Soon after, two female squirrels appear and pursue the two male squirrels in spite of telling the females to leave them alone. The hungry wolf returns and attempts again to eat Arthur, but the female squirrel who likes Arthur helps fight the wolf off. Merlin scares off his would-be mate by returning to human form, and then changes Arthur back, leaving the other female squirrel heartbroken. With this, Arthur receives another lesson: love, and the affects it has on someone. Back at the castle, the maid discovers the enchanted dishes and runs screaming to Sir Ector. He and Kay attempt to fight off the dishes, but are quickly outmatched by the magic. Arthur and Merlin arrive home and Merlin stops the enchantment. Sir Ector, furious at what he believes is black magic and Arthur’s disobedience, removes Arthur from the position of Kay’s squire and appoints another boy, Hobbs, in his place. Merlin feels guilty and offers to make amends to Arthur by educating Arthur full time. However, Merlin’s knowledge of future events is too confusing for Arthur. Archimedes realizes this and scolds Merlin, who sarcastically offers Arthur up to the owl as student. While Archimedes is teaching Arthur how to write, Merlin attempts to fly his model airplane. It doesn’t work, angering Merlin and making Archimedes laugh hysterically. Arthur dreams of being able to fly, and Merlin transforms Arthur into a sparrow. Archimedes teaches Arthur how to fly, and as the two fly out into the sky, Arthur is chased by a hawk. He frantically flies into the forest where he falls down a chimney and lands in the fireplace of a cottage belonging to Madam Mim.
Archimedes follows Arthur but immediately returns to get Merlin when he recognizes the woman’s name. Mim argues that she is a more powerful magician than Merlin, but acknowledges her magic is more dark. She attempts to kill Arthur, but Merlin arrives in time to rescue him. Mim challenges Merlin to a wizards duel, establishing several rules the two cannot break. She immediately breaks them anyway. The two wizards turn into various animals to outdo each other. Mim’s final form is a dragon, and Merlin is able to trick her by turning into a germ and making her sick. Merlin wins the duel. Some time later, after Arthur has been returned to human form, Kay has been knighted. Hobbs becomes sick and Arthur is promoted Kay’s squire again. He rushes to tell Merlin the good news, but the wizard is outraged, having wanted Arthur to do something more with his life. Arthur defends his choice, arguing he has nothing better he can possibly achieve. Merlin angrily blasts himself to the isle of Bermuda in the 20th century. Arthur and Archimedes go to London with Sir Ector and Kay to attend the tournament. During the tournament, Arthur realizes he has left Kay’s sword at the inn and rushes back to retrieve it as Kay chases him away. The inn is locked since everyone is at the tournament. Arthur is discouraged, but Archimedes spots a sword in a nearby churchyard. The sword is stuck inside an anvil. As Arthur attempts to pull it, light shines down from the heavens, and Archimedes warns the boy to leave the sword alone. Arthur pulls it out anyway and returns to the tournament, where Sir Ector immediately recognizes it. Although Arthur says he pulled it out, no one believes him, so everyone returns to the churchyard where Sir Ector places the sword back inside the anvil. Arthur goes to pull it out again, but Kay stops him, believing anyone could pull it out once it’s been pulled. He fails to do it though, as do others, until finally Arthur is given his chance. He pulls it out easily, and the churchyard is bathed in golden light. The prophecy has come true, and Arthur is hailed as king. Sir Ector immediately begs forgiveness from Arthur for mistreating him, and forces Kay to bow to his king. Within the throne room of the royal palace, Arthur is dismayed over his new role, and he and Archimedes attempt to escape. They’re unable to as the palace is surrounded. In desperation, Arthur calls for Merlin, who returns from the 20th century, considering it to not be nearly as great as he once thought. As Archimedes recounts recent events, Merlin realizes that Arthur is the legendary King Arthur he has envisioned from the future. He consoles Arthur, telling him he will be renowned as a great ruler, and Arthur is encouraged to accept his new role.
Thoughts Before Watching
Kevin: Of the last three films in the Silver Age of Disney animation, this one has always been my favorite. My siblings and I quote this one a lot. The Sword in the Stone had enough impact on me when I was younger that it inspired me to create several spin-off works (mostly fan art), with the most memorable being a children’s book school project that I helped write and illustrate when I was in 9th grade. In spite of how much I’ve enjoyed the Disney version of Arthurian legend, I never once picked up the book it was originally based on. That said, I finally got off my lazy butt, and knowing that we were about to go into this film, I decided to listen to the novel on audiobook. As of this post, I have finished the audiobook and highly recommend it. There’s still one issue I have with the movie, though, and it is the art. In our review of One Hundred and One Dalmatians, I mentioned that the scratchy, Xerox art style worked for that film, but not so much for this one. I’ll go into more depth on that below.
Megan: It’s been AGES since I last watched The Sword in the Stone! I always found it a bit weird that Kay and Sir Ector called Arthur “Wart”—such an unfortunate nickname. Archimedes is the best—at many times he’s the only brains in this outfit. Merlin is hilarious! I love the whole “shrink in size, very small, we’ve got to save enough room for all” incantation! His incantation or Mary Poppins’s magical bag would have made my cross-country move a heck of a lot easier! Now I already know this is going to fail the Bechdel test because I can only remember two human female characters, neither of them flattering, and they never speak to each other. There’s the female squirrels, sure, but they also don’t speak to each other. Still, it’ll be interesting to watch this as an adult and see if I discover anything new.
Thoughts After Watching
Such witty writing!
Megan: I have to say, the wit that went into writing this film is phenomenal! Merlin has some of the best lines, like how he references modern advancements that don’t make any sense to the medieval characters around him, yet make total sense to the audience. For example, Merlin comments to Archimedes that he “can’t wait for the London Times” to hear the big news because it won’t exist for another thousand years. At the end of the film, he even makes an inside joke with the audience, telling Arthur “they might make a motion picture about you.” I never really caught on to Merlin’s time-travel ability as a kid, but watching this film as an adult, I really feel for Merlin. How hard it must be to know of modern conveniences like plumbing and electricity and yet not have use of either! The situational wit and humor are great, too. Kevin and I both particularly enjoyed the scene where Merlin and Wart leave Merlin’s hut, all the while pursued by the hungry wolf. Merlin keeps prattling on about how Wart must seek higher learning, and “find a direction” as they crest a tall hill. As a kid I was so focused on the wolf constantly at their heels, yet as an adult I could really appreciate the comedic juxtaposition of Merlin boldly choosing a direction…only to be informed by Wart that the castle is in the opposite direction. Wart, too, gets his fair share of wit. When Archimedes is cranky in the morning, Merlin explains the owl is “always grumpy the next morning after being out all night” to which Wart replies “he must stay out every night.”
“Dark Age indeed! Age of inconvenience! No plumbing! No electricity! No nothing! Oh hang it all!” —Merlin
The humor keeps me coming back to this movie
Kevin: The main reason I’ve enjoyed watching The Sword in the Stone so much is its humor. This might actually be the funniest animated film I think we’ve seen so far. There are some moments intended to be funny that don’t hold up well today (more on that below), but overall I still laugh so much while watching this film. Megan talked about the witty dialogue above, and I agree wholeheartedly with her points. As an additional example, there’s another moment where Merlin talks about turning the Wart’s fire and passion “in the right direction” right at the moment the boy readjusts a dummy knight’s head in the right direction. It’s a very short moment, but it’s things like that that get a chuckle out of me. I also love the banter between Merlin and Archimedes. Merlin, a wizard who (according to the novel) is essentially living backwards by having such deep knowledge of the future, is so invested in things that Archimedes tries to point out are useless concepts to their current time period. This results in Merlin usually trying to show off and prove to Archimedes that he’s correct about his visions and ideas. While Merlin is right, there are times his attempts backfire. There’s a scene where Merlin attempts to make a model airplane fly, but the propeller gets caught in his long beard, messing up the model’s flight and causing it to plunge straight down onto a rock in the moat below and be destroyed. The moment is funny enough, but Archimedes just loses it and laughs uncontrollably for almost half a minute. This brings this scene up another level and makes what was already a humorous moment become absolutely hilarious. Lastly, I love all the moments involving Merlin’s magic, particularly any of the cleaning or housework projects. I laugh so hard to this day when I watch Sir Ector and Kay attempt to fight off the bewitched kitchen dishes only to utterly fail.
The plot falls apart in the second half.
Megan: I’ve been taking screenwriting lessons and studying the Save the Cat method of plot structure, so I couldn’t help but notice how the film’s overall plot contributes to its weak conclusion. From a screenwriting perspective, the first act of the film is solid. The theme is stated (“Magic won’t solve all your problems.”), the characters (and their flaws) are introduced, and the world is established before Arthur breaks into the “new world” of act two with Merlin in tow. Things move along fairly well with the “fun and games” of the fish transformation up until the midpoint. In terms of timing, the middle of the film happens right when Merlin and Wart are transformed into squirrels, yet it’s a bit of a weak midpoint. The minor victory for Arthur is that his chores will be done by magic so he can run off and be a squirrel with Merlin (which runs entirely counter to the theme of magic not being able to solve all your problems). Everything after the midpoint gets a little bit messy, plot-wise. The continued transformations (squirrels, birds) still feel more like “fun and games” rather than “bad guys close in.” Though Arthur’s standoff with Madam Mim has the potential to create a great climactic sequence, the fight quickly becomes Merlin’s fight instead, quite literally placing Arthur on the sidelines. Instead, the climactic conflict is between Arthur and Merlin, when Merlin denounces Arthur’s excitement over being Kay’s squire. Things get a bit messy from here because Merlin abandoning Arthur should be the “all is lost” moment, followed by a “dark night of the soul” which eventually spurs the hero on into act three to use the lessons learned in act two in order to triumph over the antagonist in a final standoff. Instead, we don’t feel the “all is lost” or “dark night of the soul” moment until several scenes later when Arthur is alone with Archimedes in the throne room after being crowned king. This is far too late. With less than two minutes remaining in the film, Merlin suddenly reappears, encourages Arthur, and basically promises to be his mentor in how to be king. We don’t get to see Arthur put anything he’s learned into action, which leaves us feeling somewhat cheated. It’s far too neat a bow to wrap up this film. This plot structure leads into some of the characterization problems of Arthur and Merlin.
Arthur doesn’t actually learn anything.
Kevin: The plot is kicked off when Merlin decides he will accompany Arthur back to the castle and be his mentor. Merlin does this because he believes being highly educated is of greater value to society than being a knight (well, that, and he also recognizes that Arthur has a destiny surrounding him even if Merlin doesn’t completely know what it is yet). That is definitely all well and good, although it’s difficult to say outright if Merlin is correct or not. The real issue though is that none of Merlin’s lessons actually have any impact on the story, or Arthur’s development. Honestly, I’d say that Arthur doesn’t really learn anything, or at the very least we don’t see how his lessons with Merlin pay off. The novel is chock full of Merlin teaching the Wart various things both directly (through master vs. pupil tutelage) and indirectly (by transforming the boy into various animals and him learning the ways of those animals). The lessons Arthur learns in the novel are shown to influence his thinking, essentially preparing him for his role as king even if he doesn’t realize it. Within the film, Arthur does imply he’s learned something from his adventures, but we don’t get to see how this carries over into his later role as king. Part of this is just due to how the movie differs from the book. Although I haven’t read/listened to the rest of the series yet, I understand that Arthur continues his lessons with Merlin and they impact his role as a ruler. But we only ever got the one film from Disney, so we have no idea how Merlin’s teachings would have benefited Arthur. I think a better way this could have been handled in a single movie would have been to show Arthur applying Merlin’s lessons in some sort of way before he pulls the sword out. Just to show that there was some payoff of some kind. With the way the film portrays it, Arthur being revealed as king seems more of a formality than something that he truly earned.
Merlin is a terrible mentor.
Kevin: In Arthur’s defense, Merlin isn’t that great of a tutor. For one thing, Merlin constantly uses terms and concepts that completely overwhelm the boy’s imagination, and he’s not great at explaining further. For example, there’s one scene where Merlin tells Arthur that the Earth is round, much to Arthur’s own skepticism (not surprising, given the time the movie is set). Archimedes wisely points out that, given this very time period, if Arthur were to go around talking about a round Earth, people “would take him for a lunatic.” Merlin goes further by talking about the universe. The scale of the universe is a mind-boggling idea for people today, let alone in medieval times. This is one example of Merlin’s inability to teach Arthur properly. For another thing, Merlin also doesn’t seem to understand that Arthur’s lowly position in this time period doesn’t really allow him the chance for higher education. As far as society is concerned, Wart is a peasant who can only climb so high in social status. Merlin isn’t wrong about wanting Arthur to have a higher education, but he goes about it the wrong way by losing his temper with Arthur when the boy proudly becomes a squire. Merlin could have been a lot more sympathetic to Arthur’s status and used positive reinforcement, instead of blowing up at him.
On a side note, I’d argue that Archimedes is a much better tutor. Granted, he does get irritated at Arthur for messing up writing the alphabet, but at least the owl knows that Arthur, a boy with no formal education, needs to start at the beginning in order to progress properly.
As predicted, this fails the Bechdel test (and then some).
Megan: I was correct in my recollection that no two female characters ever talk to each other, so this quickly fails the Bechdel test. Beyond that, the film presents some interesting portrayals of female characters. First, it must be noted that there are only two options for female characters here: grouchy old hag, or sensual being. There is nothing in between. The cook and Madam Mim, and to some extent the older female squirrel, fall under the “grouchy old hag” category, while the young female squirrel (and the older female squirrel to a point) fall under the “sensual being” category. It doesn’t leave a lot of options for young girls to aspire to, which might explain why I quickly grew tired of this film as a kid. However, I will say that as an adult I do have some admiration for Madam Mim. She brags that she is the most powerful, “marvelous” black magician. With such power, she proves to Arthur that she has the ability to make herself in the image of “ideal” beauty (this ideal, of course, being determined by the male gaze—wide hips, impossibly tiny waist, big breasts, sickly thin arms, flawless facial features, and long hair). However, she chooses not to use magic to transform her appearance. Instead she chooses to be herself—warts and all. That is actually quite a powerful statement. She’s refusing to warp herself into anyone else’s ideal of who she should be. She’s a grouchy, ugly old hag and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Megan: When it comes to the squirrels, it’s oddly refreshing to see the female characters chasing after the male characters, and the male characters not wanting the attention. So often we see the reverse, where the men keep insisting in spite of how frequently the female characters say “no.” Granted, it’s still not great—boundaries should be respected regardless of gender—but this subtle acknowledgement that female characters have romantic (and even sexual) desires of their own is so rare to see in films of this era I just had to tip my hat to it.
No means no, even in cartoons and no matter the gender
Kevin: I completely agree with Megan; to this day, women continue to fight off unwanted attention from overly persistent men. This is absolutely a bigger problem with men, and so we should be the ones leading the way to do better. With that said, I think it’s important that no one should pursue someone who isn’t interested in them. There are ways to show characters of all genders expressing their romantic and sexual desires without making the ones they are pursuing feel uncomfortable. While I realize these are cartoon characters, and cartoon animals at that, my concern with a scene like this is that even though we laugh, it’s not a great message at all. I think it’s made worse when we see Merlin’s reaction to the female squirrel who takes interest in him—it’s a look of utter shock and revulsion. It seems obvious to me that the filmmakers want the audience to laugh here because this particular squirrel is drawn to look plump. Whether intended or not, it sends another message that plump or fat equals unattractive and undeserving of affection. And so the “comedy” comes from Merlin’s discomfort. This scene ends up making both Merlin and his female squirrel pursuer victims of ill-placed comedy.
The devaluation of domestic work continues…
Megan: One thing that I found odd in this viewing is the way this film shows that domestic work is not only “women’s work” (since one of the only two human female characters claims the kitchen as her domain), but something to be devalued by all. Every time Wart earns demerits, his punishment is served in hours of “kitchen duty” in which Wart is expected to clean a kingdom’s worth of dishes (seriously, how do two men, a boy, and a cook create so many dirty dishes?!). The surest way to make someone hate any type of work is to brand it as a punishment. Yet when Merlin gets Wart out of it by using magic to do the chore (a dream for those like me who hate washing dishes by hand), everyone else in the castle is terrified by it. Sir Ector calls it “black magic of the worst kind” as he runs in with a sword to (ineffectually) fend off the magic. Even the cook, who should be overjoyed at her work being magically completed for her, is terrified by the scene, telling Sir Ector the kitchen is “under an evil spell.” When Merlin returns, he asks Sir Ector, “You call washing dishes and sweeping floors a work of evil?” Clearly, Sir Ector does think this work is evil, or at least beneath him. Why else would he consistently assign it to Wart as punishment? The thing is, historically women have been forced into domestic work roles, both in their homes where even working women take on the “second shift” of housekeeping and childcare responsibilities, and in professional realms where women predominantly hold roles as nannies, housekeepers, and other professional domestic work roles. Will any kid ever love washing dishes? Maybe not. But if children’s films continually portray dish washing and other domestic work as a bad thing, you can bet kids are going to quickly catch on that they don’t want to do that work. And if boys consistently see that this work is “only” for women (see Snow White and Cinderella to name a few “princesses cleaning” examples…), they’ll learn to shirk their own chores pretty quickly.
Why the animation doesn’t work as well here
Kevin: So, full disclaimer here. I recently learned of some other blogs out there that apparently have the same thought as I do regarding the animation in this film and One Hundred and One Dalmatians. This is completely coincidental, and I can assure that I already knew I was not alone in this opinion when I took animation in college (a lot of my animation major peers were just as eager to discuss Disney films, among other animated works, as much as I was). Just wanted to address that real quick.
Anyway, I said that the art style seen in One Hundred and One Dalmatians works so well in that movie because the tone is relaxed. The jazz music in the soundtrack also works for that film. It’s a more modern style, artistically and musically, that it fit the grounded story being told. The Sword in the Stone is fantasy, and I’d argue could be regarded as an attempt at high fantasy. We have knights, wizards and magic, dragons, and mythical swords. Basically, we have something similar to Sleeping Beauty. While The Sword in the Stone is more humorous and Sleeping Beauty more epic, something is just odd to me about seeing the fantasy shown in The Sword in the Stone in this scratchy animation style. The background artwork also looks too dull in many scenes. Whereas films like Sleeping Beauty had rich backgrounds and colorful scenery (in fact, its art style helped tell the story), The Sword in the Stone adopts simpler color palettes and tones. This leads to some dull looking shots. This may have possibly been done as a way to reduce cost. It would work better if the movie was intending to be more grounded and relaxed like One Hundred and One Dalmatians, but when I watched this movie I get a sense that the filmmakers really wanted to tell what they hoped was an epic visualization of the legend of King Arthur, especially after that opening narration. I stand by that animation does not need to be super smooth or meet some imaginary idea of “high quality” to be good. But the style should match your tone. For me, I don’t think it necessarily worked here.
Verdict
Megan: 5
Kevin: 7
Final Score: 6
Did you watch The Sword in the Stone with us? Leave your comments about this film below!
