A Kid in King Arthur's Court
Encyclopedia
A Kid in King Arthur's Court is a 1995 film directed by Michael Gottlieb
Michael Gottlieb (director)
-Filmography:*Mannequin - director, writer*The Shrimp on the Barbie - director*Mannequin Two: On the Move - writer*Mr...

. It is based on the famous Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...

 novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is an 1889 novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled A Yankee in King Arthur's Court...

,
transplanted into the twentieth century.

Trimark later released a sequel, A Kid in Aladdin's Palace, in 1998, but without Disney's involvement. Since Trimark's dissolution, the sequel is now distributed by Lions Gate Entertainment
Lions Gate Entertainment
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation is a North American entertainment company. The company was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1997, and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California...

.

Plot summary

Calvin Fuller is a nerdy young adolescent living in Reseda
Reseda, Los Angeles, California
Reseda is a San Fernando Valley district in the city of Los Angeles, California.-History:The area now known as Reseda was originally inhabited by Native Americans of the Tongva tribe that lived close to the Los Angeles River....

, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. The gangly, unsure youth is first seen at a baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 game, standing at bat for his team, the Knights, ready for yet another strike out. Suddenly an earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...

 hits; as the others run for safety, the ground opens up under Calvin's boots and he falls through the chasm. Eventually he lands on the head of a 6th-century black knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....

. Upon hearing of his miraculous appearance, the elderly King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...

, seeing him as the savior whose appearance Merlin
Merlin
Merlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...

 has predicted, dubs the boy Calvin of Reseda and invites him to dine with the court
Court
A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...

.

Calvin begins his knight training to help Arthur retain his crown
The Crown
The Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...

. When the earthquake hit, Calvin had just grabbed his knapsack, a fact that enables him to wow the Arthurians with his futuristic "magic", including an introduction to rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

 via CD player, and a Swiss Army knife
Swiss Army knife
The Swiss Army knife is a brand of pocket knife or multi-tool manufactured by Victorinox AG and Wenger SA. The term "Swiss Army knife" was coined by US soldiers after World War II due to the difficulty they had in pronouncing the German name....

. The young wizard also shows them how to make inline rollerskates
Roller skating
Roller skating is the traveling on smooth surfaces with roller skates. It is a form of recreation as well as a sport, and can also be a form of transportation. Skates generally come in two basic varieties: quad roller skates and inline skates or blades, though some have experimented with a...

. His work wins him adulation and renown; but it also rouses the jealousy of the Lord Belasco, who will use any means to take over the throne
Throne
A throne is the official chair or seat upon which a monarch is seated on state or ceremonial occasions. "Throne" in an abstract sense can also refer to the monarchy or the Crown itself, an instance of metonymy, and is also used in many expressions such as "the power behind the...

. Meanwhile, Calvin finds himself falling in love with young Princess Katey. After he helps Arthur keep the crown, he is returned to the 20th century just before the moment when he struck out, and he steps up to the plate: this time, he is ready and hits a home run. He is greeted by his teammates - including a girl who looks like Katey - and is looked on by spectator who looks like Arthur, who is whittling a piece of wood with a pocketknife - the same knife Calvin gave King Arthur.

Cast

  • Thomas Ian Nicholas
    Thomas Ian Nicholas
    Thomas Ian Nicholas is an American film actor, singer, musician, producer, director, and writer. Nicholas is best known for playing Henry Rowengartner in Rookie of the Year and Kevin Myers in the American Pie film series....

     .... Calvin Fuller
  • Joss Ackland
    Joss Ackland
    Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland CBE , known as Joss Ackland, is an English actor who has appeared in more than 130 films and numerous television roles.-Early life:...

     .... King Arthur
    King Arthur
    King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...

  • Art Malik
    Art Malik
    Art Malik is a Pakistani-born British actor who achieved international fame in the 1980s through his starring and subsidiary roles in assorted British and Merchant-Ivory television serials and films...

     .... Lord Belasco
  • Paloma Baeza
    Paloma Baeza
    -Biography:Baeza lived in Mexico during her childhood. Her Mexican father and her English mother were hippie musicians. In 1975, when Baeza was 5 months old, her parents married in London and they went to Mexico City. They divorced nine years afterwards....

     .... Princess Katey
  • Kate Winslet
    Kate Winslet
    Kate Elizabeth Winslet is an English actress and occasional singer. She has received multiple awards and nominations. She was the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader...

     .... Princess Sarah
  • Daniel Craig
    Daniel Craig
    Daniel Wroughton Craig is an English actor. His early film roles include Elizabeth, The Power of One, A Kid in King Arthur's Court and the television episodes Sharpe's Eagle, Zorro and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Daredevils of the Desert...

     .... Master Kane
  • David Tysall.... Ratan
  • Ron Moody
    Ron Moody
    Ron Moody is an English actor.- Personal life :Moody was born in Tottenham, North London, England, the son of Kate and Bernard Moodnick, a studio executive. His father was of Russian Jewish descent and his mother was a Lithuanian Jew. He is a cousin of director Laurence Moody and actress Clare...

     .... Merlin
    Merlin
    Merlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...

  • Barry Stanton .... Blacksmith
  • Michael Mehlnan.... Shop owner
  • Melanie Oettinger.... Peasant woman
  • Rebecca Denton.... Washer woman
  • Michael Kelly.... Apprentice
  • Louise Rosner.... Lady in waiting
  • Paul Rosner.... Peasant boy
  • Béla Unger.... Head guard
  • Shane Rimmer
    Shane Rimmer
    Shane Rimmer is a Canadian actor and voice actor, probably best known as the voice of Scott Tracy in Thunderbirds.He has mostly performed in supporting roles, frequently in films and television series filmed in the United Kingdom, having relocated to England in the late 1950s, initially performing...

     .... Coach
  • Tim Wickham.... Ricky Baker
  • Daniel Bennett .... Howell
  • Debora Weston.... Mom
  • Vincent Marzello
    Vincent Marzello
    Vincent Marzello is an American actor.He is of Italian ancestry. He has been active on screen since 1976 in North America and Europe, his first role being in an episode of The Brothers...

     .... Dad
  • Catherine Blake
    Catherine Blake
    Catherine Blake was the wife of the poet, painter and engraver William Blake , and a vital presence and assistant throughout his life as an artist.-Life:...

     .... Maya
  • J.P. Guerin.... Umpire

Production

Most of the 6th-century portion of the film was shot in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

, while the majority of the 20th-century portion was filmed in late September 1994, at the softball field of London Central High School (LCHS), an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 institution at RAF Daws Hill
RAF Daws Hill
RAF Daws Hill is a Royal Air Force station on the outskirts of High Wycombe, in Buckinghamshire, England. The base is situated on Daws Hill Lane, the road between Flackwell Heath and Marlow Hill, High Wycombe, off the A404 road and adjacent to the M40 motorway....

, High Wycombe
High Wycombe
High Wycombe , commonly known as Wycombe and formally called Chepping Wycombe or Chipping Wycombe until 1946,is a large town in Buckinghamshire, England. It is west-north-west of Charing Cross in London; this figure is engraved on the Corn Market building in the centre of the town...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Dozens of LCHS pupils sought to participate in the project; those with permission from their teachers were allowed to venture to the shooting location, where they were auditioned and costumed. The "Ventilate 'em, Calvin" line spoken by one of the protagonist's teammates was originally offered to upperclassman
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...

 Shane Bursae, but was instead given to freshman Jerome Brumby after he was heard advising Bursae on his delivery. Bursae became the double for the pitcher, performing in all of the pitching shots in that portion of the film. Years after the green dug outs were taken down and were replace with a more modern look. The green dug outs were put in a local wood and broken up by LCHS'ers Mike Poore and Mike Fobes in 2000.

Reception

Upon its release the movie was universally blasted by critics. It currently holds a rating of 0% on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

 (aggregating six reviews). Since its release, and since Kate Winslet (Titanic
Titanic (1997 film)
Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...

) and Daniel Craig (James Bond
James Bond (film series)
The James Bond film series is a British series of motion pictures based on the fictional character of MI6 agent James Bond , who originally appeared in a series of books by Ian Fleming. Earlier films were based on Fleming's novels and short stories, followed later by films with original storylines...

) went on to become major superstars in Hollywood, the film received slightly more attention. Despite the negative reviews, Buffalo News replied "A must-see for the whole family!"
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