Avalon High (2010)

Number Rolled: 25

Movie Name/Year: Avalon High (2010)

Genre: Drama

Length: 89 minutes

Rating: TV-G

Affiliated Companies: Jaffe/Braunstein Films, Disney Channel

Executive Producer: Howard Braunstein, Michael Jaffe

Director: Stuart Gillard

Writer: Julie Sherman Wolfe, Amy Talkington, Meg Cabot

Actors: Britt Robertson, Samuel Levi, Gregg Sulkin, Joey Pollari, Devon Graye, Molly C. Quinn, Don Lake, Christopher Tavarez, Ingrid Park, Steve Valentine, Anthony Ingruber, Jordaan Tuitama, Anton Tennet, Gareth Sanuels, Craig Hall, Jazmyne Van Goslinga, Alison Bruce, John Leigh, Andrew Grainger

Allie is the daughter of two professors specializing in King Arthur and Camelot and they’ve had to move around a lot. In fact, Allie isn’t used to staying anywhere for longer than six months. When she finds out that her family intends to stick with their new residence until she graduates, she’s thrilled to get the chance to dive deeper into the life of a high school student. Thing just don’t seem normal at her new school.

This movie was certainly unique. The thing that made it stand out as much as it did was how completely mediocre it was, until it wasn’t.

Avalon High brought Camelot into the present day. The movie accomplished that feat by mixing a usual drama-teen romance plot. However, as you get further into the movie, a pinch of supernatural mixes in. It’s fine, but with history buffs already pointing out every single line out of place on a suit of armor, you need to be damn sure you’re keeping everything else real enough to suck in viewers.

A good example of a movie that brought historical lore into the present day and managed to succeed was Robin of Locksley (1996). Of course, that movie didn’t have the added obstacle of trying to make the supernatural look real.

I spent the first part of the movie, and most of the middle, completely disinterested in the storyline. It didn’t help that only about half the cast managed to pull off their characters with any amount of believability. In a movie like Avalon High it’s incredibly important that the actors embody their characters as much as possible because you’re already suspending a lot of disbelief for the setting and the script.

None of this sounds all that spectacular, so why the high score?

The movie gets awesome at the end. Everything is not as it seems and there’s a twist I wasn’t sure Disney Channel was capable of. Even the actors that I disliked seemed to get better.

Avalon High is a great movie for adults as well as kids. Brilliant for a family night.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – None

Netflix’s Prediction for Me – 3/5

Trust-the-Dice Score – 3.5/5

Movie Trailer: