Quest for Camelot facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Quest for Camelot
Theatrical release poster by John Alvin
Directed by	Frederik Du Chau
Produced by	Andre Clavel Dalisa Cohen Zahra Dowlatabadi
Screenplay by	Kirk De Micco William Schifrin Jacqueline Feather David Seidler
Starring	Jessalyn Gilsig Andrea Corr Cary Elwes Bryan White Gary Oldman Eric Idle Don Rickles Jane Seymour Celine Dion Pierce Brosnan Steve Perry Bronson Pinchot Jaleel White Gabriel Byrne Sir John Gielgud Frank Welker Sarah Rayne
Music by	Patrick Doyle
Editing by	Stanford C. Allen
Studio	Warner Bros. Feature Animation
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	May 15, 1998 (1998-05-15)
Running time	86 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$40 million
Money made	$38.1 million

Quest for Camelot (released in the United Kingdom as The Magic Sword: Quest for Camelot) is a 1998 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation and directed by Frederik Du Chau and very loosely based on the 1976 novel The King's Damosel by Vera Chapman. It features the voices of Jessalyn Gilsig, Cary Elwes, Gary Oldman, Eric Idle, Don Rickles, Jaleel White, Jane Seymour, Pierce Brosnan, Gabriel Byrne, and John Gielgud. Andrea Corr, Bryan White and Celine Dion also do the singing voices of the main characters.

In May 1995, the film, initially titled The Quest for the Holy Grail, was announced to be Warner Bros. Feature Animation's first project, with Bill Kroyer as the film's director. The film went into production later that year, but it was delayed when animators were re-assigned to help finish Space Jam (1996). During the interim, the story was heavily re-tooled, among of which the central focus on the Holy Grail would be replaced with Excalibur. This resulted in creative differences, in which Kroyer was replaced with Frederik Du Chau. This was later followed with prominent departures of the film's animation and management staff. Because of the production troubles, the film's release was delayed from November 1997 to May 1998. Animation for the film was mostly done in Glendale, California and London.

Quest for Camelot was released by Warner Bros. under their Family Entertainment label on May 15, 1998. It was an "expensive flop", grossing $38.1 million against a budget of $40 million. One of the film's songs "The Prayer" won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Plot

Sir Lionel is one of the knights of the Round Table. His daughter Kayley dreams of becoming a knight like her father. At Camelot, one of the knights, an evil lord named Sir Ruber - wanting to overthrow King Arthur - attempts to assassinate him, but Lionel sacrifices himself to save him, but he is killed by Ruber, who flees Camelot in exile after being repelled by Arthur's sword, Excalibur. During Lionel's funeral, Arthur tells Kayley and her mother, Juliana, that they will be welcomed should they come to Camelot. Over the years, Kayley trains herself to become a knight while attending to her duties on her family's farm.

A decade later, Ruber's griffin attacks Camelot, stealing Excalibur. Merlin's pet falcon Ayden attacks the griffin causing the sword to fall into the Forbidden Forest. The Griffin flies away after a fight with the thorn bushed creatures. The next day, Kayley and Juliana argue over her going off to look for Excalibur herself. That night, Ruber invades Kayley's home, holds everyone hostage, and uses a potion he purchased from witches to create steel warriors from his human henchmen and a henpecked rooster, who becomes known as Bladebeak. He plans to use Juliana to gain entrance into Camelot.

After escaping and overhearing on Ruber and The Griffin's conversation, Kayley enters the Forbidden Forest where she encounters Garrett, a blind hermit, and Ayden, who save her from the Steel Men and Bladebeak sent by Ruber to capture her. Kayley convinces him to help her find Excalibur, much to his reluctance. They enter Dragon Country and meet a wisecracking two-headed dragon named Devon and Cornwall, who hate each other, cannot breathe fire or fly, and want to be two individual dragons. After escaping from the attacking dragons and Ruber with his henchmen, Devon and Cornwall decide to join the group; Garrett reluctantly agrees after Kayley convinces him. They camp in the forest, where Kayley learns that Garrett was once a stable boy in Camelot, and was blinded by one of the horses that he was rescuing from a stable fire. Lionel stood by Garrett, and taught him to adapt to his conditions.

The next day, they find the belt of Excalibur in a giant footprint. Kayley's insistence of distracting Garrett causes him to miss Ayden's signal, and he is injured by one of Ruber's men. Kayley uses the thorn bushed creatures to trap Ruber and his men, and escorts Garrett into a remote cave where the magic of the forest heals Garrett's wounds. Whilst in the cave, Kayley and Garrett begin to fall in love. The next day, the group goes into a giant cave where a rock-like ogre holds Excalibur, using it as a toothpick. Kayley succeeds in retrieving Excalibur and they escape before Ruber can get to it.

Exiting the forest with Excalibur, Garrett chooses to stay in the forest, feeling uncomfortable in Camelot. After he leaves, Ruber captures Kayley, takes Excalibur and fuses it with his right arm, before having Kayley thrown in the wagon with Juliana. Devon and Cornwall, who witness this, rush to Garrett and convince him to save Kayley. By working together for the first time, Devon and Cornwall are able to fly and breathe fire, and they fly Garrett to Camelot. Bladebeak reconciles with his constantly henpecking hen and frees Kayley from her ropes, and she warns the guards of Ruber's trap, exposing him and his Steel Men. Garrett, Devon and Cornwall arrive in the nick of time and Garrett comes to her aid and they enter the castle while Devon and Cornwall rescue Ayden from The Griffin's clutches and hold off The Griffin.

Inside, they find Ruber attempting to kill Arthur with Excalibur, gloating about how all-powerful he has become now. Kayley and Garrett intervene and trick Ruber into returning Excalibur to its stone, causing its magic to disintegrate Ruber, reverts the Steel Men, including Bladebeak, back to normal and temporarily separates Devon and Cornwall, but they end up back together whilst hugging each other. Later, with Camelot restored to its former glory, Kayley and Garrett marry and become Knights of the Round Table.

Voice cast

• Jessalyn Gilsig as Kayley, a young woman who wants to be a knight, and saves Camelot.
  • Andrea Corr as Kayley's singing voice.
  • Sarah Rayne as young Kayley.
• Cary Elwes as Garrett, a blind hermit who helps Kayley save Camelot.
  • Bryan White as Garrett's singing voice
• Gary Oldman as Sir Ruber, a former knight that wants to be the king of Camelot. He tries to take Excalibur. He is the main antagonist of the film.
• Eric Idle and Don Rickles as Devon and Cornwall respectively, a two-headed dragon whom Kayley and Garrett meet. Devon is the tall, polite head. Cornwall is the short, wisecracking head.
• Jane Seymour as Juliana, Kayley's mother who is a widow, and doubts Kayley being a knight.
  • Celine Dion as Juliana's singing voice.
• Pierce Brosnan as King Arthur, the legendary King of England who resides in Camelot.
  • Steve Perry as King Arthur's singing voice.
• Bronson Pinchot as Griffin, Ruber's pet and enforcer.
• Jaleel White as Bladebeak, a rooster who is transformed with an axe by Ruber.
• Gabriel Byrne as Sir Lionel, Kayley's father who is killed by Ruber.
• Frank Welker as Ayden, Merlin's pet falcon that guides Garrett.
• Sir John Gielgud as Merlin, a wizard and Arthur's advisor.

Soundtrack

On January 31, 1996, Carole Bayer Sager and David Foster were attached to compose several songs for the film. The album peaked at #117 on the Billboard 200, and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for "The Prayer". The song was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, though it lost to "When You Believe" from DreamWorks' The Prince of Egypt.

On the soundtrack, "The Prayer" was performed separately by Celine Dion in English, and by Andrea Bocelli in Italian. The now better-known Dion-Bocelli duet in both languages first appeared in October 1998 on Dion's Christmas album These Are Special Times; it was also released as a single in March 1999 and on Bocelli's album Sogno in April 1999.

See also

In Spanish: Quest for Camelot para niños