Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Justin and the Knights of Valor Blu-ray Movie Review

The Dark Side of the . . . Oh, Different Knights

Reviewed by Michael Reuben June 30, 2014

The latest family-friendly animation import from ARC Entertainment bears the noteworthy calling card "Antonio Banderas Presents", was produced by a consortium of Spanish companies and has already been released throughout Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. Nevertheless, the film was made in English, and Banderas, who was one of the producers, was no doubt instrumental in securing the impressive array of vocal talent, mostly British, that is one of the main attractions of Justin and the Knights of Valor (or "Valour", if one adopts the U.K. spelling). Another big attraction was 3D, but alas that is not available on ARC's U.S. Blu-ray. (The film was not released here theatrically.)

The film's story is the joint creation of director Manuel Sicilia and screenwriter Matthew Jacobs, one of the many authors on Disney's The Emperor's New Groove and a veteran of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and its TV movie spinoffs. It's an "original" story only in the sense that Sicilia and Jacobs had no direct source, but any tale about a boy who dreams of running off to a life of adventure and heroism, and then does so, is following such a well-worn path that the authors hardly need a map. In an effort to keep things lively and interesting, Sicilia and Jacobs have thrown in every imaginable plot device and peopled their story with "types" drawn from multiple sources. That the result is at all intelligible, let alone entertaining, is a tribute to the voice actors, especially Freddie Highmore, reverting to his native intonation on a break from Bates Motel. Highmore's central performance as Justin holds the film together.

Justin and the Knights of Valor takes place a long time ago in an unknown kingdom far, far away, where an order of knights formerly kept the peace and protected the people. At some point, however, the Knights of Valor were banished, their role replaced by an elaborate system of laws overseen by expert lawyers such as Justin's father, Reginald (Alfred Molina). Naturally, Reginald expects his son to follow in his footsteps. Indeed, Justin (Highmore) has already been accepted to law school on the strength of his father's reputation. But Justin isn't interested. He dreams of becoming a Knight of Valour, like his late grandfather, Sir Roland, whom he knows only through books and tales told by his beloved grandmother, Lily (Julie Walters).

Reginald is appalled at the idea. He doesn't even want to hear his father's name spoken. Now, if all of this sounds a little like Luke Skywalker vs. Uncle Owen over the subject of Anakin Skywalker, well, the similarity is hard to resist. But don't go looking for a Darth Vader in this story. He didn’t leave a sweet, elderly widow to honor his memory, and Grandma Lily is very much the keeper of her husband’s honorable reputation. She's even remained friends with the Queen who outlawed the Knights of Valor (Olivia Williams). Acting more like a fairy godmother than a grandma, Lily gives Justin cryptic instructions and a key so that he can fulfill his heart's desire and be trained as a knight by three Yodas, er, masters in a distant monastery: Legantir (Charles Dance), Braulio (Barry Humphries) and Blucher (James Cosmo).

Justin's training doesn't come a moment too soon. One of the exiled knights, a fierce warrior named Sir Heraclio (Mark Strong), has returned from exile seeking vengeance on the Queen who banished the order. He is joined by another, much less fearsome knight, the fey Sir Sota (Rupert Everett), and together they raise an army of criminals to attack the city. Gee, I wonder whether there's a connection between Sir Heraclio and the mystery surrounding Justin's late grandfather, Sir Reginald?

Now, all of this sounds like enough story for one movie, but director Sicilia hasn't even scratched the surface. On his way to be trained, Justin encounters a sorcerer with a split personality (or maybe he's just a lunatic) named Melquiades (David Walliams), as well as a feisty bar maid with an Irish accent name Talia who ends up as a sort of sidekick (Saoirse Ronan). He also has a vain and self-absorbed love interest in town named Lara (Tamsin Egerton from Grand Piano). There's also a kind of makeshift dragon (you have to see it for yourself), and just when you think the movie can't accommodate anything else, a servant in the Queen's palace named Clorex (Banderas) decides that reinventing himself as "Sir" Clorex would be a good way to attract fame, fortune and women. It works well enough until the city is actually threatened and he has to, you know, fight.

To his credit, director Sicilia keeps all these balls in the air and sustains the film's forward momentum, but the plot is so busy that the underlying mythology never snaps into focus. There's never any sense of what it means to be a Knight of Valor or of what the kingdom was like under their protection. All we get is a vague nostalgia for a storybook existence and a mockery for reason run amuck that is a recurrent theme in Terry Gilliam's films. In many respects, Justin and the Knights of Valor plays like a long, extremely busy origin story for an adventure yet to come.

Justin and the Knights of Valor Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Spain's animation shop Kandor Graphics was nominated for an Oscar for their 2009 short, The Lady and the Reaper (La dama y la muerte). Their work is first-rate. Still, it's impossible not to notice, as Justin and the Knights of Valour unfolds, that most backgrounds are static, while motion is largely confined to the figures in the foreground. Many of the shots were clearly designed for 3D, and they lose some of their impact in a flat presentation. Among animation experts, only Pixar still leads the pack in filling the frame with tiny details that reward repeat viewings.

ARC's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray provides a satisfactory viewing experience, as is usually the case with CG animation on Blu-ray, since no analog stage intervenes between creation and the viewing screen. Detail is precisely what the animators drew; focus is sharp; blacks are solid; and colors appear to be accurate (though only the filmmakers know for sure). The average bitrate is a surprisingly low 13.60 Mbps, with substantial space on the BD-25 left empty, but I can't say that this resulted in noticeable artifacts. In this respect, the relative simplicity of many of the landscapes must have allowed for an exceptionally tight level of compression.

Justin and the Knights of Valor Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Justin's original 5.1 track is encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA, and it comes aggressively to life in key scenes like Justin's encounter with the "dragon" (I really can't say more), his training exercises, Sir Sota's marshaling of "troops" and, of course, Justin's fateful battle with the renegade Sir Heraclio. Stereo separation adds drama to the conversations that the sorcerer Melquiades holds between his two personalities (from opposite sides of the screen), and a gala ball held by the beautiful Lara provides a pleasing ambiance. The track has very good dynamic range, although the bass extension is modest by American action movie standards. The swashbuckling score is by Ilan Eshkeri (Kick-Ass and Stardust).

Justin and the Knights of Valor Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Making Of (1080p; 1.78:1; 7:23): This promotional featurette includes interviews with most of the principal cast as well as director Sicilia. It provides an introduction to the characters and the story, but little more.



• Trailer (1080p; 2.40:1; 1:54): "In a kingdom with too many rules . . ."



• Additional Trailers: At startup, the disc plays trailers for Axel: The Biggest Little Hero, Animals United and The Reef 2: High Tide, which can be skipped with the chapter forward button and are not otherwise available once the disc loads.

Justin and the Knights of Valor Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Justin and the Knights of Valor is harmless family entertainment, although I suspect kids will enjoy it more than adults, because they aren't as likely to notice the missing 3D or the chaotic plot. Freddie Highmore's voicing of Justin makes him a warm and relatable presence for the boys in the audience, and Saoirse Ronan's Talia grows in importance until she becomes a kind of heroine to whom the young female contingent can also relate. Like most of ARC's animation releases, Justin carries a Dove Foundation seal of approval. On that basis, recommended.