Quest for Camelot

Quest for Camelot (released internationally as The Magic Sword: Quest for Camelot) is a 1998 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation, directed by Frederik Du Chau, and very loosely based on the 1976 novel The King's Damosel by Vera Chapman. It features the voices of Jessalyn Gilsig, Cary Elwes, Gary Oldman, Eric Idle, Don Rickles, Jaleel White, Jane Seymour, Pierce Brosnan, Bronson Pinchot, Gabriel Byrne, John Gielgud (in his final film role), Frank Welker, and Sarah Rayne. Andrea Corr, Bryan White, Celine Dion, and Steve Perry perform the singing voices for Gilsig, Elwes, Seymour, and Brosnan. The story follows the adventurous Kayley (Gilsig), whose father was a Knight of the Round Table killed by the power-hungry Sir Ruber (Oldman). Ruber renews his attempt to usurp Camelot from King Arthur (Brosnan) by stealing Arthur's sword Excalibur, but the plan goes awry. Kayley enlists the help of the blind hermit Garrett (Elwes) and a two-headed dragon, Devon and Cornwall (Idle and Rickles), to help her retrieve the sword and save the kingdom.

Initially titled The Quest for the Holy Grail, the film was announced in May 1995 as Warner Bros. Feature Animation's first project. Bill Kroyer and Du Chau were tapped to jointly direct the film. It began production later that year, but it faced delay when animators were reassigned to help finish Space Jam (1996). During the interim, the story was heavily re-tooled, including changing the central focus from the Holy Grail being to Excalibur. Creative differences spurred by these alterations resulted in prominent members of the animation and management staff, including Kroyer, leaving the project. Due to its troubled production, the film's release was six months later than intended, from November 1997 to May 1998. Animation was mostly done in Glendale, California and in London.

Quest for Camelot was released by Warner Bros. under their Family Entertainment label on May 15, 1998 in the US and Canada. It received mixed reviews and was a commercial failure, grossing $38.1 million against a $40 million budget. One of the film's songs, "The Prayer", won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.