I really wanted to like this... I remember seeing the trailer for the movie and thought it looked good - I enjoyed movies like that back then, and who wouldn't want to see an animated story about Arthurian legend? The plot seemed interesting, the animation looked decent, and the songs sounded good (a few characters had very few spoken syllables in the preview and for those that did, when the songs meant for a certain character played with an American vocalist, you couldn't see their lips moving so never suspected a mismatch). I did see a few negative review s for it before I watched it, but I reasoned those people might not be into animated children's musicals. When I did see it, I was horrified. I'm sure my complaints will have been voiced before, but there are 2 things I enjoyed about this: the beginning 5 minutes, and the soundtrack. The film starts out making it seem like it'll be OK: the animation is decent and we meet the main character who seems like a strong heroine actually as old as the founding of CAmelot (it's the 10th anniversary) who wants to become one of King Arthur's defenders like her father. He goes off to Camelot with some delightful music of drums, upbeat flute, and a foreign-chanting choir and a short but good song plays which does move things along when Arthur joins in. Sadly, from the second the all-too-obvious (ugly, more angularly-drawn, ever-scowling) antagonist breaks in and actually says "Enough with the sing-a-long", I winced at the fact that the writers chose to make it a musical when the characters mocked the singing of a song that actually had a point. It quickly went downhill from there: Arthur speaks and his British accent does not match his American singing one, the threat from the villain met by defense from the heroine's father seems somehow abrupt so forced, and, after several years have passed and the present story begins, the same problem is noted for every character when his or her singing voice precedes or follows dialog, only to contrast it sharply. Any thoughts that Kayley will make a decent heroine go out the window when she proclaims she wishes not to work on her family's farm and eventually marry but become a knight rescuing damsels in distress...but does not know what a "damsel" is. The villain Ruber, who killed Kayley's father all those years ago, manages to send a griffin to steal Excalibur but it's lost in flight, and barges into her family's home ordering the family of Arthur's late friend escort him to Camelot, threatening Kayley as a hostage. He has a potion which turns living beings into machine-appendage-bearing evil versions of themselves (including the chicken who never spoke but was obviously a misfit among his kind before this), which is just foolish; it's always stupid when the villain proclaims they're evil. Kayley manages to escape the monsters into an enchanted forest so she can warn Arthur, but is unfamiliar with the dangers so is rescued by a blind man named Garrett who lives there so knows how to deal with them. I was legally blind so was pleased to see both a heroine and a blind hero. There's just one problem...they're both unlikable. Garrett, who has unknowingly fallen in with Merlin's pet falcon who can further help him sense things, is introduced as a rude, cold, self-pitying man, while Kayley continues to be a foolish, sometimes even complaining person who is of no help, rescuing Garrett once - after her whining to him results in his being unable to hear enemies' approach in time to prevent his getting shot. Garrett does grow on me since he proves capable, justifiably frustrated by her and the annoying two-headed, misfit, peaceful dragon they encounter along the way. I really though I'd enjoy these characters - even the dragon seemed humorous in ads, but after seeing the movie I felt sure the actors had wasted their talents, especially the big names (Don Rickles and Eric Idle as the dragon). The only characters that have any dignity are, thankfully, Arthur and Merlin...but, sadly, they have next to no screen-time. There are a few good scenes here, but they're all so brief that they aren't worth seeing the movie for: Garrett revealing he knew Kayley's father and the relationship they had that gave him hope after he tragically lost his sight, Merlin encouraging an injured Arthur to have faith in his people in the mission he couldn't go out, the otherwise pointless and annoying talking chicken tentatively asking whether dragon a la king is better than a famous recipe similar to that, the humorous wild ride of Garrett being forced to drive a carriage. Other than these, I would recommend this movie to no one. Though the songs do seem to have purposes, they're undermined by characters pointing out afterward they wish to have no more singing, and except for the actors who do their own singing, the voices are grossly unmatched. The scene ending the climax was baffling, particularly how one person did not get required help as everyone else seemed to, and I rolled my eyes when one person got a reward for a job NOT well done. I was surprised when I learned what book they based it off of, and realize it must have been difficultfor them to take ideas for such a dark plot and turn them into a kids' movie. But they certainly succeeded in taking its bare bones of a heroine and a blind hero in Arthurian times and making an animated movie out of it...if only it made sense or was funny instead of never taking itself seriously. My advice: just listen to the soundtrack where the songs are quite good on their own without contradictions by the writers or the singing characters' actors, and watch the first 5 minutes then imagine the film will proceed as you'd expect and wish.