The Kid Who Would Be King

The Kid Who Would Be King interested me as the second film from Attack The Block director Joe Cornish (it has a family resemblance) and also because I wrote something quite similar a few years earlier and never did anything with it.

Mine was a YA take with a teenage girl finding the sword - yes I like Buffy shut up - and Merlin was a ghost.

This was much more aimed at kids, despite the actively creepy undead warriors, it has life lessons about unity and honesty and a very silly Merlin.

The question of why they don’t call the police is answered with a time-stop arena effect where time stops and everybody else vanishes when the monsters attack. First used creepily, then funnily, then dropped for the final battle under an eclipse.

After an early fight making use of modern technology, the kids go a bit far into the medieval, before swinging back for the ending which I appreciated.

Favourite little bit: the table.