In May 1995, The Quest for the Grail was Warner Bros. Feature Animation's first announced project. Bill Kroyer and Frederik Du Chau were announced as the directors, with Sue Kroyer serving as co-producer. The initial story centered around a young female character named Susannah who embarks on a dangerous quest for the Holy Grail to save her sister from a ruthless and powerful knight.[8] The film was put into production before the story was finalized. However, during the fall of 1995, the animators were reassigned to finish Space Jam (1996). Meanwhile, in April 1996, Christopher Reeve was cast as King Arthur.[9] During the interim, several story changes were made that resulted in creative differences between the Kroyers and the studio management. In particular, the Holy Grail was replaced with Excalibur, in which Warner Bros. Feature Animation president Max Howard felt better reflected the film's setting: "The symbol of Camelot is the power of Excalibur, and that became a more interesting theme: Whoever held the sword, held the power."[4] By the middle of 1996, the Kroyers were allegedly fired by Howard,[10] who later moved on to developing another project at Warner Bros. Feature Animation.[4]
We also need--let's see, a villain (Ruber, the evil and jealous knight), a villain's cruel sidekick (the wicked griffin) and a villain's good-hearted sidekick (Bladebeak the chicken). We need a young man to help the heroine on her quest (Garrett, the blind forest dweller), and a hero's noble friend (a silver-winged falcon) and the hero's low comedy team (Devon and Cornwall, the two-headed dragon). Then have Ruber steal the magic sword Excaliber, and have Kayley and Garrett try to recapture it, throw in some songs and a lot of animated action, and you have your movie.
NC (voiceover): No! This makes no sense! You don't belong in a world with cozy houses, comfy beds and guaranteed security, but you do belong in a world of killer plants, giant monsters and dragons that can fucking eat you! Hello! You're not hard of hearing! Just listen to a good opportunity and take advantage of it, you... MORON! Well, of course, the bad guys catch up with Kayley and steal the sword away from her. Ruber takes the potion out of his cleavage and forges Excalibur onto his arm. Thus, Kayley is kidnapped and used as leverage for her mother to get the villains into Camelot. Oh, and the answer to your question earlier, honey, about what a damsel in distress is? It's a stupid female who knows how to take care of herself but yet constantly has to be rescued. In other words...YOU!
The rightful king of Camelot and Ruber's nemesis. Big Good: The noble and rightful king of Camelot, who Kayley and Garret quest on behalf of and who knights the pair at the end of the movie. Bloodless Carnage: Arthur's arm is slashed by the Griffin, and is put in the sling. Blue Is Heroic: He wears a blue tunic, like all the knights. Death Glare: Arthur gives one to Ruber (as seen from the image) after he defeats Ruber with Excalibur. Horrible Judge of Character: The idea of knighting Ruber in the first place implies this, though it could be an obligation after the important support that he offered to the crown for years (for self-serving reasons of course). Modest Royalty: His attire isn't any different than that of his knights.
After Cherry and Lionel's honeymoon in Hotel Transylvania, they come home to Greendale and are sent into a brand new adventure. They go on a quest for Camelot where they meet Kayley and Garrett after Kayley wishes to become a brave adventurer like her father and Garrett helps guide her and their friends into a brand new adventure against the evil Lord Ruber.
Kayley dreams of being one of the Knights of the Round Table; and she gets her chance when King Arthur's enchanted sword of Excalibur is stolen. With the aid of her childhood best friend Beatrice; Jayson, a lone handsome strider; Cid, a crafty alchemist dreams of becoming a wizard; Erendyl, an elven archer; Devon and Cornwall, a pair of dragons; Magni, a dwarven miner; and Ashe, a fearless tough-as-nails bounty hunter. All guided by a Merlin's silver-winged falcon, embark on an epic quest to save King Arthur and Camelot from disaster at the hands of the rogue dark knight Ruber and the evil sorceress Morgana le Fay bent on ruling the kingdom.
A veritable Dorothy traveling to Oz, Kayley is soon joined in her quest by a host of reluctantly helpful outcasts. The most attractive is Garrett (Cary Elwes), a young blind man and would-be knight who becomes Kayley's love interest, for no other reason than he is human and the only eligible suitor present in the film. Believing no one would want a blind knight seated at the Round Table, he has elected to live a hermetic life in the Forbidden Forest, an enchanted place where a host of strange flowers and other plants come to life in a very bizarre and unreal fashion. It's a kind of Dark Ages Fern Gully that seems to exist only to boost the animation potential of the film.
Predictability would not necessarily be a bad thing if Kayley's journey both her physical and emotional quest were more compelling. Screenwriters Kirk De Micco, William Schifrin, Jacqueline Feather and David Seidler tell an essentially clunky tale that takes a long time to begin. It isn't until we meet the dragon about halfway through the film that we become moderately engaged. The structure is entirely formulaic: present a problem, go on an episodic journey, defeat the bad guy, win the girl and live happily ever after. Nothing new here. Nor are there any interesting subplots, twists or turns. While most animated films should be simply structured to allow room for gags and elaborate sequences, Quest is a little too linear to be thoroughly intriguing.
Besides good battling evil and women asserting themselves against a patriarchal society, Quest offers few unique themes. We can't help but ask the question, `Why does this story need to be told?' For Warner Bros. Feature Animation's first produced, fully animated feature, it is curious that they would choose Medieval England as the subject of their film. After all, the Dark Ages has already been exhausted by Disney in much earlier and better films such as Sleeping Beauty, Robin Hood and their own tale of Camelot, The Sword in the Stone. Maybe WBFA thought a "dungeons and dragons" film was a safe bet for younger audiences. Undoubtedly, the video release will become a reliable baby-sitter.
While Kayley and her friends ultimately achieve their quest for Camelot, the filmmakers fail to achieve their quest for a successful animated feature devoid of the clichÃd devices of its predecessors. Perhaps in the future, they should learn from their own characters that taking risks especially in filmmaking is a worthwhile adventure.
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