WHO’S IN IT?
Freddie Highmore (Finding Neverland), Saoirse Ronan (Byzantium), Charles Dance (Game of Thrones), Antonio Banderas (Desperado), Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes), Olivia Williams (Now Is Good), James Cosmo (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe), Rupert Everett (My Best Friend’s Wedding), Tamsin Egerton (The Look of Love), Alfred Molina (An Education), Julie Walters (Harry Potter), Barry Humphries (Finding Nemo), David Walliams (Little Britain), Michael Culkin (Dorian Gray)
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Manuel Sicilia (The Missing Lynx), director, co-writer; Matthew Jacobs (The Emperor’s New Groove), co-writer; Marcelino Almansa (The Missing Lynx), Antonio Banderas (Shrek 2), Kerry Fulton (Ana and I) and Ralph Kamp (The Guard), producers; Ilan Eshkeri (Kick-Ass), composer; Javier Fernandez (film debut), cinematographer; Claudio Hernandez (The Missing Lynx), editor
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
In a medieval kingdom where bureaucracy has replaced knighthood, a young man named Justin (voiced by Highmore) sets out on a quest to become a member of the legendary Knights of Valour. Receiving mentorship from the beautiful and feisty Talia (voiced by Ronan), an eccentric wizard named Melquiades (Walliams), the handsome Sir Clorex (voiced by Banderas) and three wise monks (voiced by Cosmo, Dance and Humphries), Justin soon proves to be the only person strong enough to stop the banished ex-knight Sir Heraclio (voiced by Strong) from returning and taking over the kingdom…
WHY SHOULD YOU BE EXCITED?
Oddly released just as the kids are going back to school for another year, Justin and the Knights of Valour is the perfect September weekend treat for families everywhere with its fun story and considerably large voice cast.
If you hadn’t already assumed from the list of people who worked on this new animated film, it is actually the latest product from the Oscar-nominated Spanish studio Kandor Graphics (their animated short, The Lady and the Reaper, was nominated in 2010) and their second feature film after 2008’s Spanish-language The Missing Lynx. The small animation studio is also noticeable for having a big name on board as a business partner and producer: one Antonio Banderas, himself no stranger to cartoons thanks to the Shrek series and his subsequent voice role of Puss in Boots.
Banderas is also comfortably inserted into the film’s voice cast for its English dub, the list of which is BLOOMIN’ MASSIVE! Boasting a wide foray of English, Irish and Australian talents also on microphone duty, including younger actors like Freddie Highmore, Saoirse Ronan and Tamsin Egerton and much older and experienced thesps like Charles Dance, James Cosmo and Julie Walters, there appear to be more names here than there are in the Isle of Man phone book (though that’s just a rough estimate!). For a major animated film the mere size of its high-profile voice actors is expected, but there thankfully seem to be many additions that can hold their own in putting the life and soul into a CG character.
Its story, while perhaps not the freshest in its field, is simple enough for even the youngest of children to follow with ease while also entertaining its older viewers with some funny moments of slapstick and the inevitable message it tends to relay to their young ones, provided that the message is a good and warm-hearted one, of course!
All of this is just about enough to convince you that Justin and the Knights of Valour is a nice little animated flick which serves to entertain families all across the country with its warm, tender storyline and absolutely humongous voice cast. Take your children to see it, and they will not be let down whatever the outcome.
