The Sword in the Stone
Director: Wolfgang Reitherman
Year Released: 1963
Rating: 3.0
Young Wart receives some valuable tutelage from goofy wizard Merlin and a very wise owl named Archimedes before he pulls the magical sword from the stone and reveals himself to be the future King of England. There isn't much in terms of plot, but the characters are quite compelling, and the scenes in which Wart gets transformed into various creatures to discover how to outsmart powerful opponents, sneak out of danger and learn about love are clever (the one in particular in which Wart, as a squirrel, tries to sneak away from a female squirrel is my favorite sequence in the film). I've grown a little apathetic about modern-day Disney releases (Lilo and Stitch, Chicken Little) for the most part so it's nice to look back and really examine the company's earlier work (which I've somewhat neglected to do up until now).
