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Jessalyn Gilsig, Andrea Corr, Cary Elwes, Bryan White, Gary Oldman ... see more see more... , Eric Idle , Don Rickels , Jane Seymour , Celine Dion , Pierce Brosnan , Steve Perry , Bronson Pinchot , Jaleel White , Gabriel Byrne , John Gielgud , Don Rickles

For this feature-length foray into Arthurian animation, screenwriters Kirk DeMicco (A Day in November), William Schifrin (Townies), Jacqueline Feather (Dancing in the Dark), and David Seidler (Tucker,... read more read more... Dancing in the Dark) adapted The King's Damosel (1976) by British novelist Vera Chapman. The 85-minute tale follows independent, strong-willed Kayley (Jessalyn Gilsig voice, with the singing of Andrea Corr), who hopes to follow the path of her late father, Sir Lionel (Gabriel Byrne), a brave Knight of the Round Table who died defending his king against the evil Ruber (Gary Oldman). Some years later, when Ruber is joined by sidekick Griffin (Bronson Pinchot), the two manage to acquire and then lose Excalibur, the legendary magic sword of King Arthur (Pierce Brosnan with Steve Perry singing). Preparatory to his invasion of Camelot, Ruber first kidnaps Kayley and her widowed mother, Lady Juliana (Jane Seymour, Celine Dion singing). Making an escape, Kayley travels through the haunted Forbidden Forest, where she meets Garrett (Cary Elwes, Bryan White singing), a bitter blind man assisted by his silver-winged, seeing-eye falcon, Ayden. Once King Arthur's stable boy, Garrett dreamed of becoming a knight, but after he was blinded by a fire, he ran away to live in the Forbidden Forest. When Garrett learns Kayley is the daughter of the knight who trained him to fight, he agrees to help Kayley search for Excalibur. Falling in love with Kayley, Garrett soon finds the courage to start anew. With the blessing of Merlin (Sir John Gielgud), the couple sets out to save Camelot. Along the way, they meet the two-headed dragon, Devon (Eric Idle) and Cornwall (Don Rickles), a dragon duo delivering dotty dialogue replete with riotous riffs and cinematic references (to such films as Dirty Harry and Taxi Driver). Yet another supporting character is Bladebeak, a cutting-edge hybrid possibly fashioned to illustrate the axiom, "Don't count your chickens before they're a hatchet." Following the live-action/animation combo of Space Jam, this is the first fully animated feature from the L.A.-based Warner Brothers Feature Animation unit, and the film began production May 26, 1995 in L.A., expanding operations February 11, 1996 with a sister studio in London: a 20,000-square-foot facility in London's Covent Garden district. The new UK unit shared production duties on Quest for Camelot, receiving storyboards from L.A., animating with both computers and traditional techniques, and digitally transmitting completed art back to L.A. for ink and paint. At the London WBFA studio, John McKenna (previously head exec of the London City Ballet and Disney's London studio manager) initially supervised a staff of 73 (including 50 artists from the British animation talent pool) that expanded to 350. The film eventually employed over 600 staffers as it ran through a variety of working titles (The Quest for the Grail, The Quest, The Quest for Camelot). Songs by Grammy-winners David Foster and Carole Bayer Sager include On My Father's Wings, (Kayley), I Stand All Alone (Garrett), The Prayer (Juliana), and If I Didn't Have You (Devon, Cornwall). The director of Quest for Camelot is Frederik Du Chau, who attended film school in his native Belgium, entered the industry via commercials and TV series, worked for Disney France, made his own animated short (The Mystery of the Land), drew Disney projects at Baer Animation, co-directed for Sony Wonder, directed The Land Before Time 3, joined Chuck Jones Productions, and was developing his own animated project for Warner Bros. when he was asked to direct Quest for Camelot. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Flixster Users

60% liked it

25,813 ratings

Critics

36% liked it

22 critics

G, 1 hr. 26 min.

Directed by: Frederik Du Chau, Bronson Pinchot, Bryan White, Cary Elwes, Don Rickles, Eric Idle, Frederisck Du Chau, Gabriel Byrne, Gary Oldman, Jane Seymour, Jessalyn Gilsig, Pierce Brosnan

Release Date: May 15, 1998

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DVD Release Date: October 20, 1998

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Stats: 827 reviews

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Kayley Baron Ruber [Gruber] Garrett Kayla & Garrett Jady Julia Ruber Kayley & Garrett Quest For Camelot Quest For Camelot Quest For Camelot Quest For Camelot Quest For Camelot Quest For Camelot Quest For Camelot
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Flixster Reviews (827)

  • riverdale237
    May 20, 2011
    riverdale237
    This was the company that would make the Iron Giant in a few years? Wow. The characters were uninteresting, the villain was over the top and had no personality and the heroine...Well she isn't very heroic. It's just not very good.

    Let's start out with some of the good. There w... read moreas one character who I found interesting. Garrett. Garrett is a blind hermit with martial arts skills who is slowly rebuilding his place in society. I can honestly say he's a pretty cool character. He deserved a better movie than this.

    Also, there were a few action scenes that were nice. I liked the half man/weaponry raid on Camelot. It had kind of a "Troy" feel to it.

    Alas, there was far more bad than good. First of all, Kayley was a very unlikeably character. Her story wasn;t interesting, she doesn't really do anything heroic (Garrett pretty much does everything for her)and she was at times annoying. I'm all into the tom boy heroine thing, but it was too stereotypical here.

    The villain was even worse. He was almost as overacted as the cast of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, and he didn;t really have a personality. He doesn't form diabolocal plans for dictatorship like Scar and he doesn't poison the minds of others like Frollo. And as for his song. Ummmmm...No!

    There wasn;t much of a plot really. Basically, Kayley has too keep the sword away from the villain but return it to Camelot...Even thiough the villain is in Camelot. Nothing like lo0ng term planning, eh?

    If you still REALLY want to see this movie, I suggest you just watch the Nostalgia Critic review.
  • 3niR
    October 19, 2010
    3niR
    This was a nice movie. Good to watch with your family. Funny and entertaining. Though I felt tiny tint of boring feeling while watching it. But that was bearable and also ignorable. Some dialogues were really funny. And the animation was okay. Not as bad as "The Black Cauldron".
  • skeletonking101
    July 19, 2010
    skeletonking101
    one of my favorite animated features the actors were great the only thing i dont like is ruber hes kind of annoying but other than that a classic
  • sanjurosamurai
    March 16, 2007
    sanjurosamurai
    pretty fun family film that i watched with my son. there are some things here that are even dopey for a kids movie but i was entertained.
  • jorgeroman1
    February 14, 2012
    jorgeroman1
    I actually remember wanting to walk out of this movie when I was young, & that was about when I was about 7 years old.
  • gavinthelordofthefut1
    May 7, 2012
    gavinthelordofthefut1
    Back at 1998, Warner Bros tries to make their second animated feature "Quest for Camelot", loosely based on the Vera Chapman novel "The King's Damosel" after the box office failure of Cats Don't Dance, but like that movie, it also bombed at the box office and has gotten plenty of... read more hate and even The Nostalgia Critic himself hated it as well. But after watching this a few years ago when I was a kid, is it still as bad as the critics think it was? Well, while it's not as good as most animated features of it's time, I usually don't think it's a terrible one.

    It tells the story about Kayley, a teenage girl who wants to become a knight in the Round Table in Camelot after her father Sir Lionel died. Suddenly, when Ruber and his henchmen came to her home and held her mother captive in order to lead him to the sword known as Excalibur, Kayley escapes and sets off into an adventure to become a knight. She later teams up with a blind hermit named Garrett, a bird, and two-headed dragons named Devon and Cornwall to find the sword and defeat Ruber once and for all.

    The story isn't the best for an animated feature, but definitely not the worst. It has some great things about it to prove it.

    The positive aspects are the love chemistry between Kayley and Garrot. Another positive aspect is the music score and the songs. Patrick Doyle's music is lovely and attractive to listen to and the songs, although not in the majestic levels of Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King, they're pretty good. Not great, but still good. There are some good ones (On My Father's Wings, The Prayer, I Stand Alone, and Looking Through Your Eyes), but only three songs (United We Stand, Ruber, and If I Didn't Have You) are mostly forgettable.

    Then, there's the characters and in my opinion, they seemed to be mixed bags. Kayley is a pretty young heroine and her chemistry with Garrett is good, but that's just about it. Garrett was the most interesting character here due to his lack of sight which allows him to learn an important lesson about acceptance. The others, however, weren't as memorable as I thought they'd be.

    Kayley's mother, Julianna doesn't have enough screentime, but at least her singing was good. King Arthur doesn't get to do much and neither did Merlin, who had only two lines. The griffin was pretty good, but sadly didn't get more lines. Devon and Cornwall, the two sidekicks, can sometimes be annoying, but at least they had one good moment. Ruber, despite Gary Oldman's excellent voice acting, is a weak villain. Instead of being a menacing knight, he was annoying and kind of whiny. The worst character of them all is Bladebeak because he was served no purpose to the plot and his comedy wasn't even funny at all.

    Although, not as bad as the critics think it is and has some great animated and beautiful music, Quest for Camelot would've been so much better with a much better villain and some even more better songs. I'm sure kids will like it no matter what their age, but for adults, however, will be having a hard time trying to understand it's plot and characters.
  • nadyajoensen
    January 25, 2011
    nadyajoensen
    I'd never heard of this movie before I saw the dvd on a store shelf. I got interested and bought it right away. As it turned out I became quite fond of the movie. It has a lot of charm and adventure, everything I used to look for in a movie when I was a kid. I can't believe why I... read more haven't heard of this movie before.
  • Doctor0Quinzel
    October 22, 2010
    Doctor0Quinzel
    Interesting ideas for characters, but the film was poorly executed. I really wanted to like this film, but it's completely unremarkable. The animation is okay, the dragons are annoying and not any source of humor, the dialogue is weak and the overall story is boring.
  • HenrikSchunk
    September 23, 2009
    HenrikSchunk
    Nothing here to be worth watching. Awful animation, no story, no characters, songs of Aryan propagandha, yay. What a waste of celluloid. My eyes hurt.
  • ZeldaFreak603
    August 18, 2011
    ZeldaFreak603
    It's...okay. Most things in this movie are just okay. The acting is just okay, and the story is just okay. The animation is mostly just okay, though it actually can get bad at times (especially the backgrounds in King Arthur's castle, which are horrific CGI settings that are very... read more, very boring). The few REALLY good things are the songs. I love the song sequences (except the villain's, which is really boring). Bottom line: most of it is just okay, but the songs are great, so I'll give it a passing grade.

View All Quest For Camelot Reviews

Critic Reviews

Nell Minow
December 28, 2010
Nell Minow, Common Sense Media

Decent full-length animated musical drama. Full Review

Jeffrey Westhoff
June 20, 2002
Jeffrey Westhoff, Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

Quest for Camelot" slavishly follows the formula Disney minted with "The Little Mermaid."

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
March 2, 2002
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice

An enjoyable animated feature with three buoyant songs to convey the quest theme. Full Review

Steve Rhodes
January 1, 2000
Steve Rhodes, Internet Reviews

Although not a bad movie, it is an almost terminally bland one. Full Review

David Luty
January 1, 2000
David Luty, Film Journal International

The talents of the actors are pretty much ignored, in favor of warmed-over bits reminiscent of Robin Williams' genie character, sans energy. Full Review

Michael Dequina
January 1, 2000
Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com

If this shoddy enterprise is what it considers topline animated entertainment, [Warner Bros.] is a mere pretender to the Mouse's throne. Full Review

Joe Leydon
March 26, 2009
Joe Leydon, Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

David Kronke
February 14, 2001
David Kronke, Los Angeles Times

Click to read the article Full Review

James Berardinelli
January 1, 2000
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

Click to read the article Full Review

Joe Baltake
January 1, 2000
Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee

Click to read the article Full Review

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    • Cornwall: [trying to start a fire with two sticks] Come on baby, light my fire...
    • Devon: You know, there's nothing more pathetic than a flame retarded dragon.
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Quest For Camelot Trivia

  • In what movie does a 2 headed dragon want to be seperated?  Answer »
  • Who "stands alone" in the movie "The Magic Sword: Quest for Camelot"?  Answer »
  • Who was the actor who: was the voice of Garret in Quest for Camelot, played Wesley in The Princess Bride, and Robin Hood in Robin Hood: Men in tights  Answer »
  • Who does the singing voice for Garrett in 'Quest For Camelot'?  Answer »
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