Prince Valiant (1997)

What a waste of my time!!!

This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Did you people see the same film I saw?

.Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Anthony Hickox's comic adaptation is surprisingly great. Based on Hal Foster's long running series, this sumptuous tale is sure to tickle the fancy of fantasy-adventure cinephiles.The cinematography by Roger Lanser is stunning. Lots of wide angles to showoff the gorgeous landscape, to great effect. The colors burst off the screen, and are very comic-esquire. The long takes establish the geography well, and it makes for an interesting juxtaposition to the more claustrophobic, indoor scenes.Stephen Moyer stars as the titular character with an unknown past. He makes for a dashing lead, and is easily likable. In the action scenes, he is believable and looks just tough enough to be able to hold his own. Katherine Heigl is Princess Ilene, the female lead/ love interest. Even at 19, her charm is on display. Moyer and her chemistry is strong, making their romance, which starts as a strong, obvious longing to something more substantial as they grow closer during their quest.As Erik The Old, Walter Gotell, in his final role is very good. Anthony Hickox himself has nice role as Sir Gwain, whom Valiant is a squire. I didn't know it was him, and he was noble and daring, just as he should have been. Edward Fox makes a strong, decisive Arthur, even more refined and imposing. Ron Perlman shows up as a giant that knows more than he lets on, and man, I love me some Perlman. He's having lots of fun, and is used well. Warwick Davis shows up near the end, and livens up everything. He's such a joy to watch, and makes an already pulp-comic even more fun.Udo Kier is the main villain, Sligon, whom steals Excalibur to take over the world. Kier is (almost) always fun to watch, and he's uber-creepy here, making for a delicious, slightly over-the-top (in a good way) bad guy. Joanna Lumley, so brilliant on "Absolutely Fabulous", is the witch Morgan Le Fey, Arthur's half-sister. She's a lot of fun, relishing the chance to play such a different character.The action is well done, and exciting. The swordplay is very real, and it doesn't feel choreographed. The larger scale battles are easy to follow and have a nice flow to them. The detail in the armor and costumes are incredible, and it helps to enrich the world and make it much more believable.Hickox's style is in abundance here, and damn, it's some style. Aside from the already mentioned things, like good action and all, he uses comic transitions, using artwork directly out of the comic strip. A year before what many consider the film to usher in this comic saturated movie culture we are now in (Blade), this was doing similar things, and is unjustly overlooked. But aside from the cool transitional sequences, Hickox employs a lot of camera tricks, forced perspective, and playing with what we can't see just off-screen. All that adds a nice layer of fun, and it reinforces the more supernatural elements.This was an amazing surprise, that moves quickly, is rousing, had solid special effects, and good acting. An overlooked gem that helped usher in the current comic craze and deserves better than it's getting.

Villainy, jousting, swordplay, a princess in peril, an unknowing prince on a quest, and all in the shadow of Excalibur: what more could the average ten year old would-be Knight ask for? Set in the days of Round Table chivalry, this is the comic book tale of the orphan and page Valiant (Stephen Moyer) who, due to a case of mistaken identity, is escorting a princess (Katherine Heigl) to her fiancée when Excalibur is stolen from King Arthur (Edward Fox) by his evil stepsister Morgan Le Fey (Joanne Lumley) and two warring brothers (Udo Kier, Thomas Kretchsmann) from an enemy Kingdom. Valiant and the princess become part of the struggle of "he who holds the sword rules the world" which leads them both to love and Valiant to his princely destiny. This is an okay rainy afternoon movie that is definitely geared toward a young audience. The acting is decent enough, the jousting is done well, and the swordplay isn't bad. Occasionally a scene will fade into a cartoon comic book sequence with voice over. Stunt work is kind of lame and there is this dumb armored alligator effect. Over all, kids will get a kick out of it (and adults will groan-laugh). Worth a rent/buy used for the kids.

Beautiful sets, great costumes and makeup.Run of the mill script. Mediocre acting.Bad special effects and stunts,and bad film-editing.The special effects were truly terrible. Just stop-the-movie awful. Alligators that don't move and clearly are not alive. One alligator, clad in plate mail (huh?), shoots vertically out of the water into the air and descends down onto the stonework beside the water, where it doesn't move -while characters run about, pretending to be fearful of the clearly-lifeless, unmoving armor-clad alligator. And lots of characters swinging Tarzan-like on ropes, slamming feet first into the villains. Except the actors are clearly hanging on ropes being moved by an overhead crane. And the ropes move slowly, as if there was great concern on the set about hurting the actors. In these scenes the villain conveniently stands in one spot until the slow-swinging good guy finally collides with him. This isn't a one-time screw-up; the slow-swinging Tarzan-bit happens over and over again.The film editing is bad enough that it makes it hard to follow the story at spots. And the stunts and special effects kept blowing up the suspension of disbelief.There is plenty of no-brainer action, though, and high production values on the sets and costumes. This could have been fun if it was better made.

I have no clue why this wasn't released wider and in theatres. I saw it as a fluke on cable t.v. and then looked everywhere to rent it so I could see it again, but no Joy whatsoever. I was forced to rent it on direct t.v. to see it again. The scenery was phenominal, and the action was intense. One of the strongest points in the movie was the bad guy Udo Kier, he was a very threatening individual. The sword play and sorcerey was some of the best I have seen and it is a true testiment to the lack of credit hollywood gives fantasy movies. It wasn't released in a major fashion, and I believe they missed out on a bigger bankroll movie than they could have expected. I wish it were rereleased in theatres, because I would love to see it on the big screen.