It may be a little off-beat to review this here, but like most Disney animated films, there is a good deal of comedy. Plus, I have access to create a review here in this sub-forum!
I've never started a review on this website -- I've always added my comments to existing reviews. I won't do the typical review where people summarize the plot, then go through most of the movie commenting on individual scenes. I'd like to do it informally here, with no set structure, if you will. I'd also like to comment on my experience and situations viewing the movie over the years.
So, for this film, I first saw it in the theater in the early 70s. According to Wikipedia, that was in 1972. That was the only complete viewing I had until the last couple of evenings when I watched the DVD in 2 separate sittings. I only recalled the basics of the movie, probably from reading about it in Leonard Maltin's THE DISNEY FILMS book I have, and perhaps clips shown on the Disney TV show. Disney did release a 8 or 9 minute excerpt of the film on 8mm and Super 8 titled "The Duel of the Wizards", which is undoubtedly the highlight of the movie. I have many Disney extracts on Super 8, but not this one.
I've had the DVD for 20+ years -- bought it for my kids, so I might have seen a scene or 2 over the years from when they watched it, though I don't think they watched it more than once, TBH.
As I've stated recently, reviews on a site like this are usually relative to other films in a series or genre. In other words, in this case, a low-rated Disney film doesn't mean it is bad -- just not as good as other Disney films. I haven't seen all the Disney animated classics after Walt died, so I'll restrict my comparison to theatrical full-length Disney animated films made during Walt's lifetime. Also, I won't include what people refer to as "package" films, where there are several animated segments with no relation to each other, such as MELODY TIME and MAKE MINE MUSIC.
With all those qualifications defined and out of the way, unfortunately THE SWORD IN THE STONE would have to rank dead last in a list of best-to-worst Disney animated features. The competition, however, was fierce.
I've never read the book that it was based on, which was one of a series of children's books about King Arthur, written by T.H. White, which in turn were based on "Le Morte d'Arthur" from the 15th century. There are brief summaries available on White's book on places like Wikipedia, which I will not rehash here, nor will I rely upon for accuracy. After getting the rights to make a screen adaption of the book, it took Disney almost a quarter of a century to put the film on the screen.
Disney animated films have always put their own "touch" on the source material that they draw from. In this case, perhaps they did not stray too far from the source material, but this is purely conjecture on my part. For this film, I feel that a lot of the things usually present in a Disney animated film seem to be missing. Following a set formula can become hackneyed after awhile, but if those elements are missing, they need to be replaced by things just as entertaining and exciting as what was removed. That's not the case here.
This film lacks a true villain. Arthur's foster father and brother don't exactly treat him like a prince, but he is a far cry from Cinderella, although he is given his fair share of chores. You do get a sense that at least the father is looking after his best interests, but neither he nor the older brother are "villains."
We're given a brief overview of what the "sword in the stone" is at the beginning of the film, but it is not referenced or seen again until the last 5 minutes. There is no female protagonist in the film. No one who is kidnapped and must be rescued. Arthur has no real stated goal, unless I missed it. You can turn the movie off at any point and never wonder what happened or how the plot was resolved. We know it is about Arthur, and that he will eventually become King. Perhaps the little tykes who saw it in 1963 didn't!
Knights on horseback, and some jousting, do appear in the movie, but very briefly. That was a big disappointment for me. Sebastian Cabot supplies some brief narration, and provides the voice of Arthur's foster father. Depending on your age, the name "Sebastian Cabot" may be meaningless to you unless you Google it.
3 separate actors supplied the voice of Arthur, but had I not read about that fact, I wouldn't know it. Even knowing it, I really couldn't tell any difference in the voices.
Merlin is the best character in the movie, followed by a character called "Mim" who shows up near the end of the movie, and is a female wizard. Her duel with Merlin is the highlight, and frankly the only part of the movie worth seeing.
This is the first Disney film where the songs were composed by the Sherman Brothers. None of the songs became popular or famous. On the DVD, there is a bonus where the brothers talk about the film and sing a few of the songs for us (circa the year 2000.) It was only after viewing this that I thought of one of the songs: "that's a bit catchy." I was surprised to see that Disney released a "story and songs" LP based upon the movie. I still have all the Disneyland Record LPs I got as a kid, but this was never one I bought.
Far too much footage is devoted to scenes in the forest where Merlin turns himself and Arthur into animals. They are even turned into fish at one point. I would not have expected a film set in Medieval Times to have extended scenes of fish under water. At times, these looks like outtakes from BAMBI or other Disney animated films. Also similar to THE INCREDIBLE MR. LIMPET (1964) with Don Knotts. (Which I found out is being shown on TCM on Thursday, 7/11/24 at 6pm. I loved it as a kid. The last time I saw it, as an adult, I found it boring. Also seems like FINDING NEMO was inspired by it.)
In short, this movie has a low reputation for a reason. It just can't hold a candle to the other Disney animated classics according to my qualifications listed above.
If you're a fan of the Disney animated films, and haven't seen this, it will only take up 79 minutes of your life. If you want to just get a feel, watch the beginning until Arthur's first meeting with Merlin (watch the whole scene), then skip ahead to Merlin's duel with Min, and watch it through to the end to see Arthur take the sword out of the stone and become King. That's maybe about 30 minutes total. The rest of the movie is pretty dull and boring -- at least to me.
3/10, (2 pts added strictly for the standout "Duel of the Wizards" scene, otherwise would have been a 1/10.)
