Many of the reviews here are unfair. Not every movie can be made with a $300 million dollar budget of the modern blockbusters, nor should they. For the type of movie this is, a direct to video comedy made for children, this was very good. It taught morals about duty, honor and kindness, all in a fun setting full of comedy and gags.
Eric Olsen plays Artie, the son of Uther Pendragon, is sent to our time by the clumsy wizard, Merlin, played for comedic value by Arye Gross. Merlin was a fun character to watch. From his inability to focus his magic on the right people (leading to some funny background events: random pedestrians start flying, a kid starts floating in the middle of a restaurant while everybody else continues eating unawares) to his genuine desire to help Artie's mother (Alexandra Paul) stay the course on her optimistic balancing act of mother, waitress and evening school student, Arye Gross was a good pick for main supporting actor. The main actor, Eric Olsen, could have used a little more direction or refocused his acting for more comedy value, but he carried his inner emotional struggle very nicely. His lines did not create good characterization, but were effective enough that I wanted to see how things would end.
Finally, a special shout out has to go to Katie Johnston playing Gwen (Guinevere, I'm guessing), Artie's best friend and potential love interest. It's a pity she wasn't in more movies. Her enthusiasm, facial expressions and genuine warmth were very fun to watch and kept the movie going, especially in the first half. She would make a great co-king/queen in whatever era she's thrown in.
Now onto the bad, starting with the villains. A bikini armor clad Catherine Oxenberg playing the evil Morgana/ Principal Blackheart, is hard to take seriously. Fortunately she knew this, and plays her role very campy and jokingly. Unfortunately the director didn't realize this, and made the movie more serious than it needed to be. Her henchmen are of few words, but what little they have is laid back and fun. They are rarely a real threat, and kids can enjoy their antics and hammy lines.
The battle at the start, with flailing swords, random screaming and, once again, a bikini armor Morgana, display the main weaknesses of the film. Whoever directed the physical swordfights should have watched Rob Roy, Ladyhawke or A Princess Bride to understand how to make cheap budget sword fights look cool. Instead, anytime a battle started I groaned at how silly it looked.
To summarize, the budget of this movie was obviously very low, but several of the actors were very good and made the film worth watching. Just know that this is not a medieval action film like A Knight's Tale or Excalibur: this is a direct to TV teen comedy on par with Disney Channel originals from the early 2000s.
