‘Kid Who Would Be King’ is sincere, solid family entertainment

An ancient evil has awakened and is coming to destroy us all. Any hopes we have for deliverance hang on a bunch of British school kids.

This is the premise at the heart of “The Kid Who Would Be King” and it has the potential to be a real eye-roller of a movie. But this film brims with sincerity, heart and valuable messages about personal decency and the worth of the individual. As a result, “Kid” turns out to have a little more substance and is a little more memorable than the standard kiddie flick.

“Kid” uses the mythology of King Arthur as a foundation but puts a big twist on it by setting it amidst modern-day school kids. Alex (Louis Ashbourne Serkis) is an average 12-year-old boy who doesn’t know his dad and gets bullied at school. He stumbles across a mysterious sword while trying to escape his tormentors one night.

Soon, Alex is plunged into a conflict against Morganna (Rebecca Ferguson), an evil sorceress King Arthur defeated back in the day who’s been roused by the division and strife of the modern world. Together with the Merlin the Magician (Angus Imrie/ Patrick Stewart) and his friends, Alex must find a way to stop Morganna and save the world.

Because “Kid” is a movie for families, it’s a simple story without multitudes side plots or layers of deep meaning. The direction is fairly no-frills, the acting sturdy without a lot of subtlety or nuance. But it packs in some good character development. Alex and his friends have clearly-rendered story arcs and change as people over the course of the narrative. Alex starts as a sad, scared child and ends a confident leader.

This movie is also chock full of good messages. For example, the kids in the movie have to learn and live by a code of chivalry. Said code basically amounts to “don’t lie and be a decent person.” But the kids in the film so sincerely struggle with challenges of sticking the code, it’s easy to buy into how important living a chivalrous life is.

Another good message in “Kid” is that anyone can be someone special and do amazing things. That means even someone like you and I can be special and do amazing things. In a world that tells us all the time how insignificant and meaningless our lives are, that something everyone needs to hear every now and then.

“Kid” is written and directed by Joe Cornish, who worked on the script for “Ant-Man” and directed “Attack the Block.” Cornish’s sturdy writing provides solid bedrock to build the movie on, and he smartly uses stunning imagery of the British countryside to give the movie a sense of epic scale. His shoots action in “Kids” without a lot of shaky camera work so you can always tell what’s happening and the characters’ spatial relationships to one another are. His staging to the big final battle recalls “Army of Darkness” is the best ways.

“The Kid Who Would Be King” could use a little more humor, but it’s an earnest, warm family film with some good messages that anyone can take to heart. It’s a clever repurposing of a very old story that manages to bring a little something different to the mix.

3 ½ Indy Fedoras out of 5

MPAA Rating: PG