Le chevalier hors du temps

Admittedly, I only rented this movie because it was free due to a Blockbuster promotion. However, I generally like Whoopi Goldberg's work so I was hopeful.

Whoopi provides her usual spunk in the movie but she's failed by a pretty insipid script that had gaping loopholes - like Clarence didn't actually defeat Sir Sagramour, and a lack of payoffs - the treacherous 'hos Guinnie and Lancelot didn't get theirs, and Whoopi never gets to deck Merlin.

I was all prepared to give this movie a 6/10, which is a marginal thumbs up for me, since the movie did give a couple of laughs and Whoopi was fun, but then it ended abruptly when it was supposed to deliver the two payoffs stated above. So I'm giving it a 5/10 instead, a marginal thumbs down.

This movie caught my eye at my local video store simply because I am a fan of medieval movies no matter what the title is or what it is about. But since I am not a big fan of Whoopie, I figured that I could check this one out anyway. Boy, what a flop it was. The only thing that was good about this film was the costumes!!! This movie stars big named actors/actresses with lame speaking parts. They would have been alot better if they would have kept their mouths quiet. Whoopie with her pathetic one line jokes did not fit in with this century or this movie. I think that for the most part medieval movies should not even be turned into a comedy. Jon Voight as King Author just did not fit in the film as well. And then we see him dressed as a slave. There were many parts in this film that contradicted what the characters were suppose to be. is he a king or a slave? Is Whoopie a witch or a knight? This movie was terrible and there are many other recomeded childrens movies to watch other than this. I give it a 3, simply because of the costumes.

This has got to be one of whoopi's best performances ever, she certanly has got all of those wonderful comedy punchlines in there and certanly knows how to keep the realism on the film I have seen many modern films and this has managed to beat every one of them in my mind - i only hope that they release more films simular to this one

It seems many people have slated this movie, and I'm not entirely sure why. As long as one keeps the movie within the context of a film for children, I don't see what the problem is.

I agree that the script is rather weak - there isn't much for the actors to go on. All in all, I think Whoopi Goldberg and Michael York do a good job in trying to bring as much life in to their parts as they can. Let's face it, if you are looking for a great 'emmy award winning film' then, naturally, you won't like this at all.

However, what most people seem to have missed is this very important point - it's a film for CHILDREN. In a world where films/cartoons seem to be incredibly violent, isn't it great to find a movie which encourages us to be open-minded and treat each other as equals - what a great message for children.

Dr Vivien Morgan accidentally gets sent back in time to the court of King Arthur. Wearing strange clothes, dropping from the sky and being black, she is naturally mistaken as a witch and taken to be burnt alive. However a timely total eclipse allows Morgan to fool the King into thinking she is a great wizard. Using her knowledge of the future she accomplishes many things and sets out to teach Arthur how to be a better King to his subjects.

Yet another spin on the old Twain story – however this one MUST be good cause it's a TV movie! With Whoopi Goldberg! Yes, that's right it's an unimaginative bit of fluff. The story is nothing special and nothing new – the main changes are the `urban' aspect Whoopi brings to it and the slave aspect that she brings to the story of kings and subjects. This means we have lots of Whoopi teaching high-5's, teaching them all to dance etc. The way she fits in so easily (despite wearing Reeboks) is very lazy and it show little effort has gone into the script. When the end approaches and everyone starts learning valuable lessons about life, you know you've just watched a TVM.

Whoopi does her usual stuff, but it's years since she's been at her comedic best (even her 2001 Oscars was tame when compared with Billy Crystal) and she can't save this just by being Afro-American. The rest of the cast just seem bemused. Baeza tries hard and seems sincere but Donohoe is clearly pining back to her LA Law days, while York just have a mocking smile on his face for the whole film – in fact just like in Austin Powers, the difference being that was meant to be a spoof.

Overall, TV movies generally promise very little and deliver very little – this has nothing new to offer and doesn't do anything with the recycled material that it has. Poor – for kids only.