Yet another iteration of “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court,” this time around Antony Anderson focuses on what happens when an out of time teen is set to become the king in place of King Arthur. Jason McSkimming gives a tolerable performance as young Zack, a teen who is angry about moving away from his home and longs to be a part of medieval times where honor and evil were easy to tell apart. Or some nonsense like that, I was never sure what he was rambling about. Zack is so anxious to go back in time he wills it thanks to the magic of the evil Morgause.
She uses her magic to transfer Zack in to her time, and plans to make him the king, so she can rule the throne beside him, instead of allowing her brother Arthur to take rule. Zack is obviously not sure what the heck to do in the past but tries his best to adjust, and begins looking for Merlin. Merlin informs Zack of Morgause’s plot, and Zack tries his best to maneuver around Morgause, as she plans to take over the kingdom and prevent Arthur from achieving his destiny. This being a family film, she doesn’t kill Arthur, so much as she forces him to the side, in place of Zack who has more interesting thing to worry about, like eating rough meat at the dinner table, and drinking immense amounts of alcohol when he’d rather have a good old fashioned cup of milk.
“Excalibur Kid” is low in the budget, but at least strives to be a fun and creative fish out of water time travel adventure. The acting is solid, and the special effects, are fun, it just falters every now and then with a really bad set up for our main hero, and awful dubbing for some of the cast. Zack’s little brother is apparently dubbed by a twenty year old woman. Hey, at least Francesca Scorsone seems to be having a ball playing the devilishly evil Morgause. And there is a lot of fun action to entertain with Zack sword fighting, running around with knights, and wearing invisibility cloaks. There’s even a neat battle of magic between Merlin and Morgause. “Excalibur Kid” is rough around the edges, sure, but its decent time filler and keeps its promise of medieval fun.