The Film

It’s kind of hard to believe “The Sword and the Stone” is 45 years old this year. I don’t know why, but it feels like its maybe only half that age. I uses that where credit is is due here, and while it’s a minor Disney film, is still better than most current animated fare today.

Disney is a studio in which be unapologetically love or is always quick to disprove their worth. There’s nothing quite like the Mouse House, that’s a fact. There’s 1960’s output gave us far better efforts, in terms of story quality, than “Sword and the Stone”, but looking at it now, in which I’m way older, I still fond the film wildly fun and still beautifully animated.

It’s based on a book, but it’s essentially an origin story of King Arthur, the film whizzes on from one set piece to the next. The film is memorable in with the three way banter between Arthur, Merlin, and Archimedes. Director Wolfgang Reitherman explores a generational gap between Arthur and Merlin, that’s quite timeless. Merlin feels as if his knowledge and wisdom is going right through Arthur’s ears and Arthur feels as if Merlin doesn’t understand him. It will resonate with kids today as it did with their parents when the saw in back in 1963. There’s still a ton of laughs, but the film doesn’t ascend like it should towards the end. There’s no real clear cut villain, well, except for Arthur disbelief in that he can take the sword out of the stone. When he does it feels anti-climatic, instead of a more rousing finale.

Still, “The Sword and the Stone” offers up enough lessons about confidence and respect for things in life, all the while continuing the Disney trend of laughs mixed in. It’s fun to see and hear Merlin complain about inventions and our way of life in the 20th Century, while he’s a medieval man. The animation is still top-notch as if follows that style they explored with in “Jungle Book” and “101 Dalmatians”. Worth revisiting today compared to anything out there sans Pixar, despite some gags that are repeated and a lack of any truly memorable songs. (***)

DVD

Picture/Audio: Despite being touted as a special anniversary edition, there’s no improvement in picture or audio quality from the previous DVD version a handful of years ago. The 1.33:1 aspect ratio is fine although you’ll see some dirt throughout the film. The audio is crisp and clear. I wish they would’ve re-mastered this instead of just reproducing the old Gold Edition.

Extras: Another disappointed element to this release, as we get the stuff from the Gold Edition of a few years back ported over like some bonus short films. The only truly new extra is a game, something Disney loves to add for families. I can’t complain, most our fun but the lack on anything worthwhile like an audio commentary or a documentary, makes this re-release pointless. I’ll still recommend the film and this disc if you don’t have the Gold Edition (which is now long OOP).