Starring: Freddie Highmore, Saoirse Ronan, James Cosmo
Young Justin (Highmore) wants to be a knight and follow in the footsteps of his legendary grandfather, however, knights have become forbidden by the land and Justin's lawyer father (Alfred Molina) wants Justin to study law. When a crown is stolen, Justin teams up with Tara (Ronan), a plucky young girl and the eccentric wizard Melquiades (David Walliams) to get the crown back.
An English-language computer-animated film from Spain, Justin And The Knights Of Valour does have some raw potential to be worthwhile, but mostly squanders it. The film's biggest flaw is in its writing which is derivative to the point of paraphrasing directly from other movies as well as characters that seem largely superfluous to the plot and an overdose of flamboyant caricatures, with Rupert Everett's role as a prissy villain being particularly cringe-worthy, more down to his dialogue and movements than anything else. Freddie Highmore also seems to be deficient in terms of emotions for much of the film despite being a good actor (it's possible that the direction of the actors, or lack thereof, may have been the problem) with Saoirse Ronan's character of Tara being the only end-to-end engaging and enjoyable character, and one that would probably have made for a better lead.
The story actually has some potential as its use of high-adventure and action was perhaps the one thing that was missing from the comparable but otherwise superior Pixar film, Brave (2012) but the action pace is often sluggish and lacks dynamism. The 3D is largely pointless, as it usually is, and despite the occasional merit, Justin And The Knights Of Valour isn't really worth recommending.
No comments:
Post a Comment