The Sword in the Stone (1963) Movie Review

 Hey everyone! Happy Friday! How're you all doing today? I'm doing pretty well. Well, I ended up not getting my booster shot today, so I'm here to do that movie review that I promised you all that I'd do today if I didn't get my booster. That movie is Walt Disney's 1963 classic, The Sword in the Stone, directed by Disney Animation veteran, Wolfgang Reitherman, and with a story by Disney Story veteran, Bill Peet. I watched the 1991 Walt Disney Classics VHS release before bed last night. Let's get into it.

The Sword in the Stone is one of those movies that I have come to appreciate more as an adult than I did when I was a kid. Mainly because the Wizard's Duel scene between Merlin and Mad Madam Mim scared the crap out of me when I was a kid. In fact the entire Mad Madam Mim sequence scared me when I was four or five years old, which is basically when I saw it for the first time because it was either in late 1991 or in early 1992 when I first saw the movie since we were still living in the city, and the movie had been re-released on home video as part of the Walt Disney Classics in July of 1991. Watching it as an adult though, I really enjoyed it.

One of the most fascinating things about this movie is the fact that Merlin has knowledge of the future and tries to force that knowledge onto Wart, despite Wart being from medieval times and not understanding these futuristic things because they aren't available in what is the present day of the movie. It'd be like trying to teach me about warp engines or transporters or other technology that doesn't exist for us here in the year 2022. I'm not going to understand any of it. And that's how it ended up being for Wart in this movie. Which is interesting to see. 

Merlin isn't as good of a character as the three fairies from Sleeping Beauty, but he's pretty good. I like his interactions with Mad Madam Mim both before and during the Wizard's Duel. In fact that whole sequence is incredible. Though I think Merlin accepted Mim's challenge because if he hadn't there would've been no point to Mim being in the movie and there wouldn't've been an action sequence in the movie at all. 

Many of the voice cast is pretty familiar as those that are have been in other Disney animated movies both before and after this. Like Jimmy Macdonald, who does the voice of the Wolf (no dialogue) was the second voice of Mickey Mouse once Walt Disney stopped voicing the character. And of course I can't forget Sebastian Cabot and Junius Matthews. Sebastian Cabot narrated the first three Winnie the Pooh shorts, Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966), Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968), and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974), as well as the 1977 movie which was a compilation of those three shorts, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. He also voiced Bagheera in The Jungle Book. Junius Matthews voiced Rabbit in the Winnie the Pooh shorts and the compilation movie before his death necessitated him being replaced by Will Ryan for the fourth, and final, Winnie the Pooh short, Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore (1983).

Oh, and Sir Pellinore, Ector's friend who tells Ector and Kay about the jousting tournament was voiced by Alan Napier, the actor who played Alfred on Batman (1966-1968) and in Batman: The Movie (1966), and the great grandfather of James Napier, the actor who played Connor, the Red Ranger on Power Rangers Dino Thunder (2004). I had completely forgotten that Napier voiced Sir Pellinore in this movie so when I heard him speak his voice was familiar but I couldn't quite place it since it's slightly deeper than it is on Batman. Not too much deeper, but just enough that you wouldn't recognize it without looking it up on Wikipedia or IMDB. 

Speaking of that fourth short, it was released theatrically alongside the 1983 theatrical re-release of The Sword in the Stone. Which is pretty cool.

Honestly I think this movie did with Merlin what Aladdin (1992) would do with the Genie 29 years later. They're both magical, they both act as a mentor to the lead character, and they both have to save the lead from the villainous character of the movie. 

Originally released on VHS on March 25th, 1986 as part of the Walt Disney Classics lineup, The Sword in the Stone was re-released on July 12th, 1991 in that same lineup. As I mentioned earlier, I saw the movie on VHS sometime in either late 1991 or early 1992. We never owned it but we rented it instead. I found a copy of the 1991 VHS release at a local thrift store when I was out with Brad on Tuesday. I had also previously found the 1994 Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection VHS release not that long ago either, as well as the 2008 DVD release too. I watched the 1991 VHS release for the purpose of this review last night. There aren't any previews before the movie, just the Walt Disney Classics logo. Which is what I suspected when I did my Walt Disney Classics overview on The Review Basement two years ago. So it's neat to experience it for myself after 30 years. 

Overall I really enjoyed watching The Sword in the Stone again. It's not the best Disney animated movie, but it's still really good and pretty fun to watch. Even though we only rented it once when I was a kid, I actually had the storybook adaptation of the movie that Disney put out in the '90s, so I read it quite often. Of course it's on Disney+ so if you've never seen it, I recommend giving it a watch.

Alright my friends that's it for me for this week. I will be back next week with more posts, including a few more comic book reviews as well as the second to last part in my DC Comics's Star Trek overview, and a potential post on the mid-season premiere of Star Trek: Prodigy, which is finally returning after six months of not being on. So until then have a great night and I will talk to you all later. Take care.