Rating: 
Summary: Put the sword back...
Review: Although not one of the shining gems in Disney's "canon" crown, this movie still has a charming quality some will appreciate.Loosely based on White's "The Once and Future King", although "Sword in the Stone" does no justice to the original material, it is still a fun filled romp that children will love. The Transformation bits are the best. The young Wart (the future King Arthur, believe it or not) is transformed into a bird, a fish, and a squirrel to teach Wart lessons that he will need to know once he becomes king. These are the highlights of the film. Younger audiences will enjoy the dancing dishwashing sequence. The final conflict between Merlin and Mim is almost anti-climatic. But we do get to see Wart withdraw the Sword from the Stone and become King Arthur. I rather liked the few references to modern technology that Merlin throws at an unknowing Wart. It gives him an aura of "I know what's going to happen" that is sorely needed by Merlin as the wizard that trains Wart. Note that I would have given this DVD four stars if it had been presented in letterbox format (true 16X9 ratio) as well as the included pan-and-scan version. Worth looking at for any library of children's videos, and well worth adding to a collection of Disney's classics.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Fun
Review: What's the problem...with some people?! The style of animation is unique to the time, to what they had at the time...and it's an interesting, almost sketchy look at times. They've since moved beyond that...but it's a part of the studio's history. Anyway, I like it. The film is good. Merlin is a riot! "When, blasted it all, when!" And his owl...and Wart is a good character, and how can you NOT love the scene when they're squirrels? How cool is that? And you feel sorry for the girl squirrel when she finds out he's a human, and Merlin uses the incident to teach Wart that love is a powerful force...Merlin's always teaching him little lessons, and... While not the best Disney film, in my mind, I have fond memories of it. It's funny (and not in an over-bearing way), gentle...and smart, with some good music, to boot. Just let yourself enjoy it...
Rating: 
Summary: Late-sixties Disney at their worst.
Review: Along with THE JUNGLE BOOK (which at least has one great hot-jazz musical number to recommend it), this is probably the worst Disney animated film made in Walt's lifetime. A genuinely philistine desecration of T.H. White's masterpiece of a novel, the movie is dumbed-down, shrill, crude, and apallingly unfunny. By this time, three things had seriously damaged the quality of the Disney Studio's animated work. 1: The Disney "style" of adaptation had turned into a rock-hard formula, and not a very good one. 2: Disney had discovered that more cash could be made from relatively cheap live-action sit-comedies (remember the flood of stuff like THE BOATNIKS, or THE WORLD'S GREATEST ATHLETE?), which essentially led to a loss of interest in the cartoons on the part of the studio, and 3: Walt himself lost interest in the movie division generally, following the failure of SLEEPING BEAUTY, and transferred his tremendous energy, talent, and enthusiasm to the creation of Disneyland, which occupied him almost obsessively for the rest of his life. The cinematic results were movies like this one. The current Disney corporate line, "All Disney is classic, all Disney is great" has been bought into buy quite a few comped-by-the-company professional critics, but at the time this movie was released it was generally described by reviewers as junk, and junk it is. The thirty or so years of DisneyCo self-mythologizing allow them to sell nearly anything to parents that has the Disney name on it, but you'd be better off watching moss grow than to sit through this unfortunate thing.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyed best when the kids were 2 to 4 years old.
Review: When one watches this movie they keep waiting for it to turn into the story they recognize, it never does and then suddenly the movie is over. We rank this 20th of 41. This is a solid, 3 star movie that has average entertainment value. This was never a movie that the children watched very much once they reached about age 4. But when they were 3 and 4 they did watch and enjoy it. We had a lot of fun by gathering the family together to rank the 41 Disney movies we have that include some cartoon work. All the kids, ages 6 to 27, participated along with mother and dad. Lion King was selected number 1 of the 41 as the family favorite, but narrowly. Peter Pan was 2. Pete's Dragon 3, Beauty & the beast 4, Sleeping Beauty 5, Snow White 6, Robin Hood 7, 101 Dalmatians 8, Fox and the hound 9, Cinderella is 10th, Rescuers 11, Hunchback of ND 12, Aladdin 13, Aladdin King of Thieves 14, Jungle Book 15, Little Mermaid 16, Hercules 17, Winnie the Pooh 18 and Rescuers Down Under 19.
Rating:
Summary: Disney should take a hint...
Review: This is one of my favorite momies (I'm 20 years old), and also my dad's absolute favorite (he just turned 57). The situations Wart finds himself in are absolutely hilarious, not to mention the poor wolf that's thrown in every now and then. Disney should take a hint from movies like this (and the more recent "Lilo and Stitch") and stop putting out so many [perhaps inferior] sequels to movies that are 60 years old.
Rating: 
Summary: Widescreen or not...that is the question.
Review: I remember "The Sword in the Stone" as a widescreen movie, so I was dismayed to find that Disney had released this animated favorite to DVD in a cropped/pan-and-scan format. However, on further investigation, I discovered that, to my surprise, "The Sword in the Stone" was not a widescreen motion picture... at least not originally. Apparently, like "101 Dalmations" and other films of the late 1950s and early 1960s, "The Sword in the Stone" was made to be projected in one of two formats: either widescreen or full-frame, depending on the theater where it was shown. It seems that the Disney animators designed the film with a bit of 'extra picture' at the top and bottom of each frame; that way this 'extra' could be cut off without ruining the image in theaters playing it in widescreen. In other theaters, and on television, the film could be shown in a standard full-frame (1.33:1) format. So, according to Disney, the current full-frame DVD of "TSITS" is indeed the film in it's "original format'. Admittedly, it may not be the way that most of us remember this great little movie, but it is the way the folks at Disney made it.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding as Usual
Review: You just can't go wrong with a Walt Disney film. It captivates the imagination in both children and adults of all ages. Parents can always count on Disney for entertaining their children. My 12 month old son laughed and giggled at the wizards battle. How cute is that!?!
Rating:
Summary: An interesting twist on Arthurian legend
Review: Very loosely based on the legends of Arthur and Camelot, but still a magnificent movie from Disney. One of my personal favorites, actually. Though, I'm rather a huge Disney fan, so I'm probably biased. The older films, while lacking in the breath-taking and fluid animation of today, are still gems in their own right. And this one still manages to be superb years and years later. Heaped with gallons of cheese and probably a bit of a snore for parents, this one is a must-have for any Disney fan and child-at-heart.
Rating:
Summary: A decent DVD to own
Review: Although I'm not impressed with the amount of bonus materials on the Disney Gold Edition DVDs, The Sword in the Stone is a decent Disney animated movie that Disney fans and families will enjoy. The picture and sound quality are improved over the VHS version and there are a few bonus features that make this DVD worth the purchase.
Rating:
Summary: Hocus pocus with Merlin and Wart
Review: I remember watching this film when I was only 4, and I never forget the transfiguring scenes, the hilarious Archimedes, and Merlin's long beard. Now I have the DVD and it is fantastic!! Much better than the VHS! The quality is 100+1% clearer, new features such as new interviews with the musicians of the songs from the film, and a lovely collection of the original storyboards and concept art (my favourite!). As an art student who studies multimedia and illustration, I would say this film has inspired me greatly. Even today when I have an "artist block" I just turn on my computer and watch the movie (better than sitting around watching theshowaboutnothing on TV), and voila, Merlin's magic put on me and I return to my drafting table back with my creativity.
I think this is one of Disney's best yet production, among my top 5 favourites. Don't get the VHS!! Get the DVD and see the bonus!
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