The Magic Sword [DVD] [1998]

Following their animated/live action hit Space Jam, Warner Bros. jumped into the fully animated feature competition by playing it safe, giving the Arthurian legend a conspicuously Disneyesque facelift. Ingredients from Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and Pocahontas are evident in the tale of a girl named Kayley (Jessalyn Gilsig) whose father, a Knight of the Round Table, is killed by Sir Ruber (Gary Oldman), a maniacal brute who steals Excalibur and threatens to seize King Arthur's Camelot. Kayley enlists the blind, reclusive knight-aspirant Garrett (Cary Elwes) to brave the Enchanted Forest and retrieve the magic sword, and their adventure is (of course) fraught with danger. Adding extra punch to the movie's commercial appeal, the soundtrack songs are performed by big names like LeeAnn Rimes and Celine Dion. And if that's not enough to hold a kid's attention, there's a two-headed dragon ("we're the reason cousins shouldn't marry") voiced by Eric Idle and Don Rickles. With so much talent involved, it's entertaining but uninspired, although cleverly harmless riffs from Dirty Harry, Taxi Driver and other movies spice up the adventure with enjoyable pop-culture references. --Jeff Shannon