''A Kid in King Arthur's Court'' is a 1995 fantasy film directed by Michael Gottlieb (in his final directorial film before his death in 2014) and released by

Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios unit ...

in association with

Trimark Pictures Trimark Pictures was an American production company that specialized in the production and distribution of television and home video motion pictures. The company was formed in 1984 by Mark Amin as Vidmark Entertainment with Vidmark Inc. (later T ...

and Tapestry Films. It is loosely based on the Mark Twain 1889 novel ''

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court ''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'' is an 1889 novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled ''A Yankee in King Arthur's Court''. Some early editions are titled ''A Yankee at the Court of King Arth ...

'', previously filmed by Disney as '' Unidentified Flying Oddball'' in 1978. Starring

Thomas Ian Nicholas Thomas Ian Nicholas (born July 10, 1980) is an American film actor, film producer and singer. Nicholas is best known for playing Henry Rowengartner in '' Rookie of the Year'', Walt Disney in ''Walt Before Mickey'' and Kevin Myers in the ''Ameri ...

, Joss Ackland and Art Malik, and is notable for being one the first film roles of

Daniel Craig Daniel Wroughton Craig (born 2 March 1968) is an English-American actor who gained international fame playing the secret agent James Bond in the film series, beginning with '' Casino Royale'' (2006) and in four further instalments, up to '' ...

and Kate Winslet.

Plot

Calvin Fuller is a young boy living in the Los Angeles suburb of Reseda who loves baseball, but is not a good player. He is at a game, standing at bat for his team, the Knights, ready for yet another strike out. Suddenly an earthquake hits; as the others run for safety, the ground opens up under Calvin's shoes and he falls through the chasm. He eventually lands on the head of a 6th-century

black knight The black knight is a literary stock character who masks his identity and that of his liege by not displaying heraldry. Black knights are usually portrayed as villainous figures who use this anonymity for misdeeds. They are often contrasted with t ...

. Upon hearing of his miraculous appearance, the elderly King Arthur, seeing him as the savior whose appearance Merlin has predicted, dubs the boy Calvin of Reseda and invites him to dine with the

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...

. Calvin begins his knight training under Arthur's top knight, Sir Kane, to help the king retain his

crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

. When the earthquake hit, Calvin had just grabbed his

knapsack A backpack—also called knapsack, schoolbag, rucksack, rucksac, pack, sackpack, booksack, bookbag or backsack—is, in its simplest frameless form, a fabric sack carried on one's back and secured with two straps that go over the shoulders ...

, a fact that enables him to dazzle the people of Camelot with his

futuristic The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...

"magic", including an introduction to

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...

via

CD player A CD player is an electronic device that plays audio compact discs, which are a digital optical disc data storage format. CD players were first sold to consumers in 1982. CDs typically contain recordings of audio material such as music or audio ...

, and a Swiss Army knife. Calvin also shows them how to make inline roller skates. His work wins him adulation and renown, but it also rouses the jealousy of Lord Belasco, who will use any means to take over the

throne A throne is the seat of state of a potentate or dignitary, especially the seat occupied by a sovereign on state occasions; or the seat occupied by a pope or bishop on ceremonial occasions. "Throne" in an abstract sense can also refer to the mona ...

. Meanwhile, Calvin finds himself spending time and developing a crush on young Princess Katey, while her elder sister, Sarah, is secretly in love with Sir Kane. Belasco moves forward with his plans and kidnaps Katey and tries to frame Calvin for murder and tells Sarah that if she does not marry him, Katey will die. As Belasco is about to arrest Calvin, Sarah rescues him, tells him Katey is alive and to find her father and show him the proof. Calvin goes to Arthur and shows the proof of Belasco's scheme. Playing along, Arthur misdirects the knights and helps Calvin escape and they disguise themselves to go rescue Katey. Walking amongst the people, Calvin tells Arthur that Belasco has been stealing from them for years and they think Arthur does not care about them, and Arthur vows to be a better king. Calvin and Arthur find the castle Katey is being held captive; during the fight, Calvin renews Arthur's will to fight by giving him

Excalibur Excalibur () is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. It was associated with the Arthurian legend very early on. Excalibur and the Sword in th ...

(gifted to Calvin by Merlin). They release Katey, but Belasco' second-in-command, Richard, kidnaps her again and holds her hostage over the moat. Calvin uses a laser pointer from his CD player to blind Richard, causing him to fall and save Katey. Arthur knights Calvin as a Knight of the Round Table and arrive back in Camelot to stop Belasco from forcing Sarah into marriage. To take Belasco down for good, Arthur holds a jousting tournament for Sarah's hand. During the tournament, Sir Kane defeats all the opponents and just him and Lord Belasco are in the finals. Belasco uses a magnifying crystal to use the sunlight to beam it into Kane's eyes and nearly knock him out. Sarah runs off in anger and Calvin asks the King to stall Belasco. Belasco is close to declaring his victory if Kane does not return, but Kane does return and faces him in another joust; Belasco knocks Kane's helmet off, but the now headless Kane still jousts and makes a comeback victory by knocking Belasco off his horse. But it is not Kane, it is Calvin, who pokes his head out from the large armor. Belasco pulls Calvin off the horse and tries to kill him, but the black knight that Calvin encountered earlier appears and ambushes Belasco, saving Calvin. Forfeiting his victory to the black knight, Calvin, Arthur, and all of Camelot are surprised to see the knight is Sarah herself; an astounded but happy Arthur rewards his daughter with the right to choose her own hand in marriage, and she proudly chooses Kane. Belasco is banished from Camelot forever. Now that he has helped Arthur keep the crown, Calvin has Merlin uphold his end of the bargain and send him home, and he sadly bids the king and Katey farewell. He is returned to the 20th century just before the moment when he struck out, and he steps up to the plate: this time, he is ready and hits a home run. He is greeted by his teammates, including Katey, and is looked on by King Arthur, who is whittling a piece of wood with a pocketknife – the same knife Calvin gave to him. Merlin catches Calvin’s home run and then breaks the fourth wall by stating "Taught that kid everything he knows."

Cast

Production

Most of the 6th-century portion of the film was shot in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, Hungary, while the majority of the 20th-century portion was filmed in late September 1994, at the softball field of London Central High School (LCHS), an American institution at

RAF Daws Hill RAF Daws Hill was a Ministry of Defence site, located near High Wycombe and Flackwell Heath, in Buckinghamshire, England, close to the M40 motorway. The station was established in 1942 on land owned by Wycombe Abbey School, for use by the ...

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye, Buckinghamshire, River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, ...

, England.

Release

The film was theatrically released in North America on August 11, 1995. It was accompanied in theaters by

Walt Disney Feature Animation Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fr ...

's short film '' Runaway Brain'', featuring Mickey Mouse and

Minnie Mouse Minnie Mouse is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. As the longtime sweetheart of Mickey Mouse, she is an anthropomorphic mouse with white gloves, a bow, polka-dotted dress, white bloomers, and low-heeled shoes occasiona ...

Reception

Upon its release, the movie was universally panned by critics. It currently holds a rating of 5% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on 21 reviews, with an average rating of 3.46/10. The consensus reads: "Disappointing even by the relaxed standards of live-action children's entertainment, ''A Kid in King Arthur's Court'' stands as a rare near-total misfire from Disney." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Since its release, and since Kate Winslet and Daniel Craig went on to become major superstars in Hollywood, the film received slightly more attention. Despite the negative reviews, ''

The Buffalo News ''The Buffalo News'' is the daily newspaper of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area, located in downtown Buffalo, New York. It recently sold its headquarters to Uniland Development Corp. It was for decades the only paper fully owned by W ...

'' replied "A must-see for the whole family!"

Box office

The movie debuted at No. 9. In the movie's second week it fell to No. 10.

Sequel

A sequel titled ''A Kid in Aladdin's Palace'' was released in 1998 as a direct to video with Nicholas reprising his role as Calvin Fuller. The cast also included

Rhona Mitra Rhona is the name of: * Rhona Adair (1878–1961), British golf champion * Rhona Bennett (born 1976), American singer, actress and model * Rhona Brankin (born 1950), Labour Co-operative politician and Member of the Scottish Parliament * Rhona B ...

Scheherazade Scheherazade () is a major female character and the storyteller in the frame narrative of the Middle Eastern collection of tales known as the '' One Thousand and One Nights''. Name According to modern scholarship, the name ''Scheherazade'' de ...

, Nicholas Irons as

Ali Baba "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" ( ar, علي بابا والأربعون لصا) is a folk tale from the '' One Thousand and One Nights''. It was added to the collection in the 18th century by its French translator Antoine Galland, who heard ...

, James Faulkner as Luxor,

Taylor Negron Brad Stephen "Taylor" Negron (August 1, 1957 – January 10, 2015) was an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Milo in the 1991 buddy cop action comedy film ''The Last Boy Scout''. Early life Negron was born in Glendale, ...

as the

Genie Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic myt ...

Aharon Ipalé Aharon Ipalé (December 27, 1941 – June 27, 2016) was an Israeli-American actor, known for his roles in American and British film and television productions. His credits included '' Fiddler on the Roof'' (1971), '' Innocent Bystanders'' (1 ...

as Aladdin and

Diana Kent Diana Kent is an English actress known for ''Heavenly Creatures ''Heavenly Creatures'' is a 1994 New Zealand biographical psychological drama film directed by Peter Jackson, from a screenplay he co-wrote with his partner, Fran Walsh, and ...

as Jasmine.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kid In King Arthur's Court 1995 films 1990s fantasy comedy films 1990s children's fantasy films Arthurian films Walt Disney Pictures films Films about time travel Films based on A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Films directed by Michael Gottlieb Films scored by J. A. C. Redford Films based on American novels Films set in castles Films set in the 6th century Films shot in Hungary Trimark Pictures films 1995 comedy films 1990s English-language films