MERLIN AND THE BOOK OF BEASTS (2009)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical, psychological*

The script for BOOK OF BEASTS hails from one Brook Durham, whose credits are confined to TV-movies, including such fantasy-flicks as RED WEREWOLF HUNTER and ODYSSEUS: VOYAGE TO THE UNDERWORLD. I found both of these aimless and boring, but though BEASTS is just as aimless, it's a little more entertaining thanks to a few quirky takes on Arthurian mythology.

The telefilm is one of many fantasy-flicks made on a budget so low that the crummy CGI distracts more than it enhances. The source of many of those effects is the titular Book, which an evil magician uses to wreak havoc on England about twenty years after the fall of Camelot. This is one of Durham's weakest conceits, since the magician seems able to call any old kind of horror out of the book, such as zombies and a trio of female Gorgons (one even called "Medusa"). The only prominent "beasts" to show up are-- get this-- killer butterflies!

The rest of the bad CGI comes from Merlin (James Callis of the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA reboot). The wizard, morose after Camelot's fall and Arthur's death, lives in solitude away from his fellow men. Then he's visited by four knights who want his help against the evildoer unleashing horrors upon England. Two of the paladins sport names of famous knights, though the "Tristan" of this tale (Patrick Sabongui) is the same-name son of the original, while only Sir Galahad (Donald Adams) is an actual survivor of the Round Table. Galahad has two younger knights in his charge. One is his natural son Lysanor (Jesse Moss), while the other is the true daughter of Arthur and Guinevere, Avlynn (Laura Harris), whom Galahad raised to keep her safe from enemies. Merlin's initially grumpy about being disturbed, but he can't resist strapping on his wand one more time to defend the inheritor of Arthur's kingship.

Not that the story is interested in the strategic problems of how the daughter of King Arthur can manage to ascend to the throne. She like the other knights are in essence D&D heroes who need to ally themselves with a good wizard to overcome a bad wizard. Durham gives all of the main characters some lively dialogue, which is the main source of that "quirkiness" I mentioned. But there's nearly no engagement with the mythology of Arthur. Oh, the villain wants to acquire Excalibur, and Galahad has a nice speech toward the end where he tells the bad wizard that the Round Table, despite being shattered, will live forever as an ideal. The oddest revelation is that the evil wizard is actually Arthur's son Modred, who wants to marry his half-sister Avlynn in order to secure the throne of England. Does a wizard who assails his subjects with magical creatures really care about the perception of legitimacy?

Merlin and Avlynn (which name I guess is a vague reference to "Avalon") are the stars, and the other three knights are support-figures. Some online reviews praise Callis's irritable Merlin, and there's no doubt that the actor has presence, But he chose to affect a thick Welsh accent that makes his lines almost incomprehensible. For my money Laura Harris makes a fine "daughter of Arthur." Durham gives her most of the best lines, so that in some scenes she can evince feminine stand-offishness when romanced by her symbolic "brother" Lysanor, while in other scenes she's a total kickass heroine. In one of the latter scenes, Avlynn ventures to the lake from which her sire got Excalibur, and for some unknown reason must exceute a fistfight with her evil magical double. It doesn't make much sense, but it's a nice little fracas. 

Unlike the other two films mentioned above-- and many, many much worse ones-- I was never precisely bored by the BOOK OF BEASTS, so that's something.