You ever watch a show that everyone else seems to love, but you just could not get into it? That is the relationship I have with Merlin, I have friends that love this show however, it never clicked with me and as someone that hates pretty much everything the BBC stands for, Merlin was always going to have a tough time winning me over.
How to Download Merlin
You can download or stream the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice. If you like series based on Arthurian legends, check out also The Seven Deadly Sins.
The Movie Review
Let me start by saying that I feel like Merlin has a great idea. This is a reimaging of the classic King Arthur of Camelot story and there are some ideas in the story that I do like. It is kind of like a Merlin origin story. We have young Merlin who ends up hearing the voice of a dragon and this dragon tells Merlin that he needs to protect the son of the King, who just so happens to be Arthur.
Merlin travels to Camelot and he and Arthur do not see eye to eye at first. Merlin sees Arthur as an arrogant jerk and Arthur is not impressed with Merlin either! However, Merlin does save Arthur’s life and as a result, he becomes Arthur’s manservant! A huge problem that Merlin has is that in Camelot, magic is outlawed and punishable by death!
This means that the adventures Merlin and Arthur end up going on must be done in secret as if word gets out about Merlin’s abilities, he is in big trouble. Look, as I write this, I realize that Merlin should be a show I love! I love fantasy stories, love the legend of King Arthur, but I had such a hard time getting past my dislike towards the BBC.
However, my wife liked the show so I did end up watching it each week! I will say that I feel Merlin became a much better show in the third season when Morgana became the villain of the show. This actually got me way more interested than I was in those first two seasons which I will admit were rather hard for me to sit through.
The acting in the show is decent enough and I like the practical sets that are used here. This is a great version of Camelot and the practical stuff they did is well done. However, the CG in Merlin is straight-up bad! I know I have said multiple times in this review that I do not like the BBC, but I have always felt that BBC shows that use CG tend to look very, very fake. It is a shame too as the practical effects in Merlin are very well done.
On paper, Merlin should be a show that I love! I will say that the series was very popular and most people I know who watched it love it so I guess it has to be a somewhat good show right? However, as someone that has a hard time supporting anything the BBC does, I just had a hard time getting into this. I did start to enjoy the show more from the third season, but I could not see myself watching those first two seasons ever again.
