Merlin: The Return

This quasi-Arthurian fantasy, set mainly in the present, falls somewhere between slightly camp chainmail TV serial, dashing sword 'n' sorcery saga and sweetly naive Children's Film Foundation yarn. The wizard - a spectacularly bearded but otherwise restrained Mayall - teams up with a 14-year-old boy, recently arrived in leafy rural England from Idaho, to fight off Mordred (Sheffer), the evil sorcerer released from the netherworld into the present. Merlin, having in ancient times sent Arthur and his knights into the slumber of ages, must now re-awaken them in order to save the world. The attack on a steely oil-tanker by a befuddled band of knights is the one strictly humorous episode. Otherwise the fight 'twixt good and evil is a serious business. The film is mostly indifferently directed, but it's a harmless adventure that works best as a mild horror flick, with cheap but enjoyable special effects providing the biggest thrills.