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Cast

Antonio Banderas
as Sir Clorex

Freddie Highmore
as Justin

James Cosmo

Saoirse Ronan
as Talia

Mark Strong (II)
as Heraclio

Tamsin Egerton

Charles Dance
as Legantir

Barry Humphries
as Braulio

Rupert Everett

Alfred Molina

David Walliams

Julie Walters

Olivia Williams

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Critic Reviews for Justin and the Knights of Valour

Audience Reviews for Justin and the Knights of Valour

• May 26, 2015

  Minor effort about a kid, who's granddad was a big deal of a knight in shining armor, aspiring to be the same. As with many animated works before, its all looks but precious little scripting and you'll be checking for possible dirt under your fingernails before the end of it.
  Kevin M. W Super Reviewer
• Sep 28, 2014

  This has nothing to do with this film, since it was apparently released in 2013, but this year has been absolutely anemic for quality animated films. 2013 was also pretty bad, but somehow 2014 has been worse. Then again I guess you did have How to Train your Dragon 2 this year, which I've not seen...but that's about it. But I digress, this film didn't really have much going for it. The animation is fine, but it, obviously, lacks a certain level of polish and creativity seen in the top tier Pixar, or even the best Dreamworks, films. This is far more forgivable when you consider the fact that this movie probably doesn't even have NEARLY as close to the same budget as Pixar, or Dreamworks, films have. But the film still looks a little too bland for my tastes. Because of that bland animation, a lot of the scenes lack the style and life that this movie so desperately is searching for. A perfect analogy would be a cute girl with dead eyes. There's no charisma, or life, in her eyes. That's what this movie is. Except the animation isn't really "cute", that's just the closest I could come to a perfect analogy. The movie isn't really funny, nor does it even really try. At the very least it doesn't try to appeal to anyone above the 8-10 year old demographic. And even then, I think some kids might be amused, but they won't exactly be losing their minds over this film. The 'funniest' character would have to be the effeminate Sota brother. But even then this character provides nothing more than a few chuckles. I suppose Antonio Banderas' character as this womanizing coward who wants to pretend to be a knight without any of the responsibility is also fairly amusing. Also got a few slight chuckles with this character, but nothing worth noting. The story is fairly standard kids' stuff about following your dreams and shit like that. It's not particularly good because there really didn't seem to be any effort put into it, it's shamelessly borrowing from other films to create its "own" story. The voice acting is uninspired, clearly just a paycheck film for most of those involved. I doubt this would happen, but it sounds so uninspired that it comes across as if some of the actors were followed around with tape recorders instead of actually going into the studio to record their lines. That's a new level of uninspired. I suppose the voice acting is serviceable enough, but it's another part of the film that simply lags behind the best animated films. It's almost like Usain Bolt running against a man with no legs. It's not like it's really fair. With that said, I didn't think this film was any good. It didn't make my brain blow up with how bad it was. Even though I gave this film a lower rating, I wouldn't say that this film is worse than Cars 2 or Shrek The Third. They're not even in the same league of badness. While this film did absolutely nothing well, I could actually tolerate this. I could get through it without losing my mind. Cars 2 and Shrek The Third were so dreadful that I would prefer to be tortured by the CIA than to watch those two films in a row. Of course, I'm using hyperbole to prove my point. This film isn't even close to that. The reason those two got a better rating is because of better animation and voice acting. I'm on quite a roll with the reviews lately. Out of the last 6 films I've reviewed, this one included, only one, The Rover, has gotten a positive review. It is what it is I guess. This isn't particularly good and there's no real reason to watch this unless you're the cast's and crew's families.
  Jesse O Super Reviewer
• Jan 24, 2014

  It's hard to look at this film an not think of "Jason and the Argonauts"... or "Josie and the Pussycats". Yeah, it's even harder to look at an animated family film that's about warriors of an ancient time and features Antonio Banderas and not think about Puss in Boots, and it doesn't help that Banderas is so passionate about this project that most of the marketers precede this film's title with "Antonio Banderas Presents" on the promotional material, even though Banderas is only one of four producers, and only in a supporting role. Man, he just has to be more involved than that in this project, because they've just gone ahead and called this a Spanish film, even though, in so many ways, it's so British that it stars Freddie Highmore and Saoirse Ronan. Yes, of course I know that Ronan is Irish, but as eager as she is to do any accent except her own, she may as well be deemed so big of a traitor that she is an honorary Brit. The ironic part is that this is actually the first feature film in which she uses her original Irish accent, but hey, forget it, for we shouldn't be talking about the Brits, we should be talking about that Spanish... apparently. Well, I suppose this project is adequately armed with Spanish filmmakers, or at least not as British as I make it sound, because, really, how ye olde English can this film be when its lead is named Justin? I don't know, I always felt that Jason was a little too modern of a name for "Jason and the Argonauts", and that name is actually Greek legend, but hey, it made for a decent legend, as surely as Justin makes for a decent film, even if a slightly anachronistic-seeming name for its lead is the least of its worries. Even in concept, there's only so much to this film, whose story is kind of kiddy, with a limited sense of consequence that is, of course, further watered down by its being just so familiar. Thematically and narratively formulaic, with hardly anything refreshing in characterization and other aspects of storytelling, this film is consistently generic, and, to tell you the truth, it's sometimes trite in its shamelessly retreading familiar territory. Quite frankly, as energetically told as this story is, there is a certain laziness in this pratfall-rich interpretation of a kiddy tale which is made all the more glaring by a tendency to devolve into particularly shameless approaches to conventional kiddy humor. Now, when I said that the genericisms sometimes get to be downright trite-feeling, that boast particularly applies to the humor, for although lowlights in generally decent humor rarely, if ever prove to be grating, they're often a little too lacking in subtlety for comfort, not unlike other elements in storytelling. The film isn't quite as cloying as I feared it would be, possibly because its story is too thin to bloat all that overtly, but cheesy sentimental moments and bluntly thin characterization reflect an unsubtle overambition to engage that, as irony would have it, primarily shines a light on shortcomings, particularly the natural ones behind this thin concept. Yes, I've already touched upon how thin this narrative is in its bite, but it really does all come down to natural shortcomings, and it probably shouldn't, as there is a potential and a heart to this project that, when backed by a certain inspiration, is enough to make an endearing final product, but not enough to challenge the familiarity, cheesiness, overambition and, most of all, natural narrative limitations which challenge this effort's memorability. Of course, while it has your attention, the final product keeps you going enough to be reasonably fun, at least on a visual level. Well, in all honesty, this low-profile family flick's animations are improvable, sometimes considerably so, with stiff, almost amateur areas, but not enough for the animation to be terribly underwhelming on the whole, for limitations in life are adequately compensated for by color, dynamicity and overall energy within the designs, as well as life within the voice acting. Certainly, there's not a whole lot for this decent cast to work with, and when there is material, some of it is admittedly obnoxious in its energy, yet just about everyone's charm is distinguished, molding a fair deal of memorability to the characters, even if the film itself isn't all that memorable. The technical value and performances most consistently impress, and even then, it's not like they stand out all that much, yet they add to the color which is initially established through genuine, if less recurring highlights in storytelling. Again, conventions and cheesiness within Matthew Jacobs's and Manuel Sicilia's script sometimes bond to establish a near-trite feel, but the strengths are ultimately more predominant, particularly within the generally quite amusing, if familiar humor, which is often enhanced by lively set pieces which are themselves sold by equally lively direction, courtesy of Sicilia. There's a touch too much of a sense of ambition to Sicilia's often unsubtle direction, to be sure, but it's often met pretty comfortably by inspiration, which sustains enough momentum through atmospheric energy to entertain consistently, and not without the help of heart. While reflective of areas in which the fulfillment of potential falls short, the palpable sense of ambition to Sicilia's colorful storytelling has a heart to it that endears, which is good, as there's only so much to praise in this film, no matter how charming. Don't get me wrong, the decent writing and voice acting behind highlights in animation and direction certainly help in getting the film by as decent, but at the end of the day, the sheer heart put into this project endears as an instrumental attribute of the entertainment value that is in turn an instrumental attribute in getting the final product by, even if it carries things only so far. Overall, a thin narrative's limitations to engagement value are stressed enough by clichés, cheesy subtlety lapses in humor and storytelling, and a sense of overambition for the final product to go threatened by mediocrity, ultimately overpowered by the energetic, if improvable animations, colorful voice acting and writing, lively direction and charm that make "Justin and the Knights of Valour" a fun, if forgettable, low-profile family flick. 2.5/5 - Fair
  Cameron J Super Reviewer

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