Coming from good acting stock and of course animation stock, (how can we forget Puss in Shrek and subsequent spin offs etc.) Antonio Banderas is back lending his lungs to Justin and the Knights of Valour. For good measure, he’s also putting in some work as a producer. Well, after all you’d expect he’d have learned something from the animation trade from the last few years. Note the word “expect”.
Justin, the son of chief counsel to the Queen, lives in a kingdom where knights have been outlawed, and the land is over subscribed with laws for everything imaginable. Not wanting to follow in his fathers legal eagle footsteps, Justin sets out on a quest to become one of the Knights of Valour, like his grandfather before him. Can he save the Kingdom from impending doom and a few other clichés? Of course he can. This is a kids animated tale, what did you think? They all die at the end? Don’t worry, even if they did, you may well be dead before them.
Animated movies come in various digital guises and while the character design of Justin and the Kingdoms inhabitants is average at best, the movie conveys a very stiff and convoluted tone visually, not to mention stuffy. At times even it’s colour palette, while colourful, is slightly muted which doesn’t help things. It’s hard to describe, but after a few minutes you’ll realise exactly what I’m on about. The only relief comes in the guise of a fairly large and over weight crocodile called Gustav. It’s Gustav who provides the comic relief (one scene in particular with him kissing the ground is hilarious) when he’s on screen, but sadly he is very underused. You couldn’t care less about the rest of the characters, which are boring and bland to say the least.
Vocally, Freddie Highmore who plays Justin (Finding Neverland) is rather good. Too good in fact, because every time his character interacts with another, he highlights how bad they are at being voice actors, but none more than Saoirse Ronan. Our own Miss Ronan, while a fantastic actress, does not work well behind a microphone. Her vocal acting is nothing but false, forced and contrived. Besides that, her voice certainly doesn’t fit her character Talia, and it seems her casting let alone direction from Manuel Sicilia was an after thought. Even veteran vocal actor Antonia Banderas sounds like he can’t be bothered. As a matter of fact, this whole movie seems like an after thought, with its lacklustre and predictable script offering absolutely nothing new, with very little entertainment qualities.
Unfortunately Justin and the Knights of Valour is anything but valiant. Only worth a punt for Gustav and if there is absolutely, positively nothing else in the cinema that will entertain the little ones.
