It's cute and visually imaginative, and the child actors are all strong. It's way too long though - by about a half hour or so - and overstays its welcome by the end. B-

This is an all right film. I suspect much of the praise for it stems from what it is not (and what it does not do), same as Bumblebee last month. It does not instantly date itself with references to popular culture, instead favoring a Generation-X-critic-friendly Amblin Entertainment spirit. It is short on lowest-common-denominator crude humor. And its central child actors are capable and never so cute as to be cloying. It feels wholesome, sturdy, and respectable, which is comforting. But there are definitely significant flaws: since Rebecca Ferguson's decrepit, vine-imprisoned Morgana is a largely stationary antagonist, most of the action sequences revolve around her skeletal henchman and their fire-breathing horses. These chase and fight scenes are handsomely shot and coherently cut, but the imagery grows repetitive. And the film is almost obscenely overlong at two hours. It reaches a perfectly satisfying, even sweet conclusion () and then lumbers on for another 30 minutes, including another, lengthier, more conventional and chaotic final confrontation and more don't-despair-youth-of-Britain messaging. It belabors its point and overstays its welcome, and I felt my goodwill evaporating by the minute.