13 September 2013
A Spanish company produced this undazzling kids’ cartoon with Antonio Banderas on board as producer. They’ve assembled a fine cast (Freddie Highmore, Saoirse Ronan, David Walliams, Rupert Everett, Barry Humphries) but the storyline, about a limpid teen called Justin and his quest to find his grandfather’s sword, is a mess — confusing but also unoriginal and crude. Banderas’s character, the preening hunk Sir Clorex, for example, is a knock-off (see Beauty and the Beast’s Gaston), while Everett’s camp villain, Sota, is borderline offensive. The silver lining is a crocodile who wants to be a dragon. His name is Gustav and he alone will stop your kids climbing the walls.
