Delightful classic brings King Arthur legend to life.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 5+?
Any Positive Content?
Violence & Scariness
a little
Wart is often punished by his guardian and bullied by Kay. Some peril during Wart and Merlin's adventures, including a spooky forest. Madam Mim can be a bit scary. Practice fencing with swords; knights' tournament.
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Being bullied doesn't necessarily make you a bully. Shows the importance of a good education, and teaches life lessons -- courage, the power of love, and the importance of brains over brawn. Also addresses the importance of fair play in competition.
Positive Role Models
a lot
Arthur (Wart) is one of the world's most famous heroes. He goes on to become the great King Arthur of the legendary round-table. Disney does a great job in showing how he got there, and as we all expected to find, Arthur was a good, moral boy from the very beginning. Merlin finds creative ways to teach Wart important things.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Wart (aka the boy who will become King Arthur) experiences some bullying in this Disney classic. Witch Madam Mim can be a little scary, and both she and Merlin get quite angry on a couple of occasions. But otherwise The Sword in the Stone offers lots of positive lessons about courage, the importance of brains over brawn and fair play, and the power of love. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
I'd suggest being aware and preparing for discussion about consent after the scene in which the protagonists turn into squirrels and get lustily attacked by other squirrels, including getting kissed while saying no.
My family loves this movie. We turn it on several times in a month. We have it on now. Characters tease and pick on each other, but it’s not a big deal to us. They know that we don’t call each other names. Cartoons and real life are not the same. There’s mild scary stuff like a silly looking wolf. My kids laughed at its clumsiness mostly. There’s a magic war between the wizard Merlin and a witch. All they do is turn themselves into different animals and try to eat each other. I’ve explained to my kids that this is all pretend. It’s a cartoon for Pete’s sake. I think there’s a lot of positive stuff. Like my kid was like “guests first” when someone came over, and I think that came from this movie. This movie reinforces that education and reading is important. This is just a fun all around movie. I think it’s a very child- friendly movie. I think older kids (10+) would be bored with this movie, but it’s great for younger kids.
What's the Story?
Based on the book The Once and Future King by T.H. White, THE SWORD IN THE STONE is the story of the early years of King Arthur. Nicknamed "Wart," the future King Arthur is squire to a knight when he meets Merlin the magician, who promises to take on his education. Merlin turns him into a fish, a bird, and a squirrel to teach him lessons like the importance of brains over brawn. He gets to see this in action when Madame Mim, Merlin's enemy, challenges Merlin to a duel by magic, and, though she cheats, Merlin is able to defeat her. Wart still has his duties as a squire, and, having forgotten the sword for a jousting match, he runs to get it. He sees a sword stuck in a stone and pulls it out, not knowing the legend that whoever will pull the sword out of the stone will be the rightful king. He becomes King Arthur, and listens when Merlin reminds him that knowledge is the real power.
The Arthur legend has fascinated people for centuries, and this story about Arthur's childhood has special appeal for children. Aside from the fun of seeing what it's like to be a bird, a squirrel, or a fish, and from having your very own wizard as a teacher, there's the highly satisfying aspect of having one's worth, unappreciated by everyone, affirmed so unequivocally.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about what made Arthur the one who could pull the sword out of the stone in The Sword in the Stone. How does this compare to other versions of the King Arthur story you might have heard/seen/read?
What does Wart learn from his adventures with Merlin? What role does courage play? Why is that an important character strength?
How did Madame Mim cheat? How did Merlin fight back when she did?
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