Quest for Camelot

An animated adventure/love story set in the realm of King Arthur? With the voices of Gabriel Byrne (Excalibur), Eric Idle (Monty Python and the Holy Grail) and Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride)? It even has a feminist slant: young Kayley wants to be a Knight of the Round Table, as her father was, and she vows, with the help of a young, blind hermit, to even the score with his murderer, the evil Ruber (spoken and sung with gruesome perfection by Gary Oldman). Even Sir John Gielgud lends some legitimacy, as the voice of Merlin. Why, this almost sounds worthwhile!

But the saccharine, sappy songs (thanks so much, Celine Dion, Steve Perry, and Carole Bayer Sager) make Quest for Camelot nearly unwatchable (with the sound on, at any rate). Pity, since the musical score by Patrick Doyle (Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing) is first-rate. Idle and Don Rickles star as the requisite odd couple, a two-headed dragon named Devon and Cornwall -- they're no Timon and Pumbaa, but they do have the one good musical number in the entire film. Bring the kids, buy up the toys from the fast-food chain, but don't expect to be entertained . . . much. At the Harbour Mall, Lincoln Mall, Showcase, Starcase, Tri-Boro, Westerly, and Woonsocket cinemas.

-- Peg Aloi