Disney’s new movie “Avalon High” begins with a young girl preparing for her first day in a new school and ends with the return of King Arthur. The events that lead to the mystical moment of Arthur’s return challenge your expectations at every turn. Most Disney movies seem to follow a narrow Disney cookie-cutter path, but not this one. This movie has a good blend of ordinary and extraordinary events that seamlessly merge into a captivating tale chronicling the beginning of an epic adventure.
Legend says that King Arthur will return when the world most needs him, and he will bring back Camelot. Of course, most people agree that Camelot isn’t going to suddenly reappear; bringing back Camelot is a metaphor for bringing back the glorious heights that Camelot represented. In its day, Camelot was a progressive, advanced city where Arthur presided over a golden age of peace and prosperity for all in his kingdom. When King Arthur returns, he is supposed to bring another golden age, eliminating the darkness. The world today is in a fairly dark place, and could certainly use a strong leader who can turn it all around. The time is ripe for Arthur to return.
“Avalon High” says that Arthur is back – in the form of a teen in high school. The concept is really compelling on a number of levels.
The problem with the concept is that taking the Arthurian legends and mixing them with Disney is guaranteed to get a very predictable result. Right? Well, actually, no – very wrong! “Avalon High” is not the expected Disneyfied movie at all.
Genuine Arthurian legends permeate this movie. Although the legends are kept fairly minimal in order to keep the action in the present day, the bits of legend presented are fairly accurate. As Disney has a nasty habit of completely rewriting classics until they become entirely different stories, especially if anything they consider unsavory or unpleasant is involved, this strong adherence to the source is quite refreshing. The only glaring inaccuracy is the repeated assertion that Arthur was so deeply emotionally hurt when he discovered Guinevere’s infidelity that his feelings caused him to take actions that tore Camelot down. While Guinevere and Lancelot’s affair does play a major role in the events leading to the final tragedy in many versions of the legend, any hurt feelings Arthur may have had have never played a role in causing the ending of Camelot to unfold. However, given that “Avalon High” is a Disney production, this really is a change they had to make. They use this “deep hurt” rewrite to closely tie the tragedy of Camelot’s fall into the modern-day soap opera going on in the lives of this special group of teens. It becomes an object lesson that they reference as they try to avoid creating a similar tragedy in their own lives. The actual edit is a very light touch, but it is woven so tightly into the story that it feels right and natural there.
Meanwhile, the story contains a lot of surprises. The plot contains many unexpected twists. The ending veers off in an astonishing direction. All of these developments are organic and plausible; they all “fit” perfectly into the reality of the movie. The execution of the storytelling is truly masterful.
The only disappointment of the movie is the typical Disney ending to the battle showdown, where the bad guy suddenly turns into a babbling idiot to end the fight. He had been canny and intelligent all along, and then, suddenly, because it is convenient for him to lose it, poof, he does so. This is the typical Disney cop-out maneuver they use when it might be bad to do something more decisive, such as knocking the bad guy unconscious and tying him up.
Otherwise, “Avalon High” builds a rich world with true depth. King Arthur is reborn! The ending is really just the beginning.
