Merlin
Year: | 1998 |
Production Co: | Hallmark Entertainment |
Director: | Steve Barron |
Cast: | Sam Neill, Helena Bonham Carter, Isabella Rossellini, Martin Short, John Gielgud, Rutger Hauer, James Earl Jones, Miranda Richardson |
Neill is the titular mage who grows up struggling with his newfound powers, falls in love with a woman he can't have, helps a young king found a court with a round table and battles the evil spirit goddess that's also his mother.
An all-star cast comes together for a TV-standard script and TV-standard special effects, by turns ham-fisted and dourly underplayed. But, bankrolled by greeting card company Hallmark, I guess we're lucky it wasn't more full of tear-jerking moments and short poems.
Directed by Steve Barron, none other than the auspicious visualist behind 1990's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles .