The Sword in the Stone

As the 18^th Disney animated film, The Sword in the Stone is definitely the least talked about movie in Disney’s Silver Age.  Disney bought the rights to make the book into a movie not too long after Snow White was released but didn’t pursue the project due to WW2.  Then, Disney was inspired to finally make the book into a movie after seeing a production of the musical Camelot on Broadway.  When the movie was released, it was a box office success but it received mixed reviews from critics as they seemed to think that the movie ran flat and was not as well-written as past Disney films.  While I have not read the book this movie was based on, I did attempt to read King Arthur itself a while back and stopped within a couple of chapters (despite my love for classic literature I couldn’t quite keep up with all the names of the characters).  This movie I think has a little content that makes me uncomfortable, which I talk about below, and I would love to hear your thoughts on this relatively unknown Disney film!

The Sword in the Stone (based on the book about King Arthur’s beginnings) is about a young orphan named Wart who is mistreated by his adoptive family and longs for a place in the world.  One day, Wart meets a wizard named Merlin and his owl Archimedes.  Merlin offers to tutor Wart and soon a friendship is built between them.  This movie is probably the least talked about of Disney’s Silver Age, which sort of makes sense to me after watching it; it also has at least one good part, Archimedes the owl.  I thought he was hilarious and, while he was a bit grumpy at the beginning, he truly loved Wart and wanted the best for him.  The movie also tells the origins of King Arthur in a way that’s not confusing.  However, while the movie has a good beginning (I sincerely wish I could clean my house like Merlin!) and a fairly decent ending, the middle of the movie is a mixed bag and has some scenes that bothered me.  One example is when Merlin and Wart turn into squirrels and some female squirrels come over to them and start hugging and kissing them even though they were repeatedly begging the female squirrels to stop.  While this was supposed a funny scene, it was not really funny at all to me and is not sending a good message to kids at all; if someone is touching you and you tell them to stop, then they really need to stop.  I also did not like that the only female character (besides the squirrels) is definitely not portrayed positively (she’s a villain).  And, yes, perhaps there were no “good” female characters in the book and they were trying to stay true to that but they could have at least added a positively portrayed female.  So, I would caution parents of young kids due to the squirrel scene and a bad portrayal of females.  I was very disappointed as I thought that, without these scenes, it would have made for a fun movie.  I get that this movie was made back in the 1960’s and that people saw things differently back then, but I feel as if when guys chase after girls who don’t want to be chased and/or when girls chase after guys who don’t want to be chased, a lot of people think that this kind of behavior is cute and just let it happen; but this behavior is not very cute at all, in my opinion.  One of the very best parts of the movie for me is the mentorship between Merlin and Wart (a nickname that I’d personally not want), as Wart is an orphan whose adoptive father is not much of a father to him at all but Merlin really is.  A lot of times in life we need trustworthy mentors to guide us, and a cool and slightly grumpy owl sure doesn’t hurt either! 

“That love business is a powerful thing.  Greater than gravity?  Well, yes.  In its way, yes, I’d say it’s the greatest force on Earth.” Merlin