Justin And The Knights Of Valour is a chivalric contender

All of these boxes are ticked in this underdog – in the sense that it’s made by Spanish production companies rather than Pixar/Disney or Dreamworks – animated release.

Antonio Banderas, a popular choice for voiceovers and the actor behind Puss In Boots in the Shrek films and their spin-offs, plays producer here as well as adding hilarious braggadocio to the character of Sir Clorex, one of Justin And The Knights Of Valour’s would-be villains. Hopefully, he’ll enjoy enough success behind the scenes with this project to give him momentum to make more such films, as worthwhile competition for the big-budget players in animation can only help improve what is already a very strong niche.

The classic story in this case involves a youngster who aims to prove his worth by embarking on a quest, and a villain who aims to conquer a kingdom, with the two characters coming into conflict at some point. It’s been done a million times before, but the style and wit in this particular re-telling mean that Justin… is more entertaining in many ways than Pixar’s Brave, which examined similar themes but with more high-concept ideas involved, which just ended up muddying the waters.

There’s a string of likeable characters including Talia (Ronan), Justin’s initially reluctant love interest; Melquiades (David Walliams), a whacky loon who plays Merlin to Justin’s Arthur, so to speak; and Blucher (James Cosmo), who becomes Justin’s trainer, friend and mentor. There are baddies at both ends of the spectrum, with the evil Heraclio given sinister menace by Mark Strong while his lieutenant Sota (Rupert Everett) – though intelligent and ruthless – is an outrageous dandy.

The simplicity of the storyline is maintained throughout, but there is plenty of clever detail that augments the experience rather than bogging it down. Snappy one-liners and clever visual references abound, giving the film the cross-demographic appeal that is such an important part of a successful animated piece.