Spellbound

Spellbound is a surprisingly nuanced film exploring themes of love and family, and the effects of parental separation on children. Starring Rachel Zegler, Nicole Kidman and John Lithgow, this charming animated musical, scored by Alan Menken, follows Princess Ellian from the magical kingdom of Lumbria. The film begins with her 15^th birthday celebrations being disrupted by her aggressive and misbehaving parents, who have taken the form of two monsters. Unable to communicate and acting very animalistic, their actions cause grief to Ellian who struggles to keep the kingdom happy while hiding the secret of the king and queen’s plights. On top of that, she’s also a grieving teenage girl who misses the comfort and love of her mother and father. Touching and full of adventure, Spellbound takes notes from and makes references to other animated films while telling a unique story not commonly tackled in this medium of kid-friendly filmmaking.

One heartwarming highlight of the feature is Ellian’s journey of trying to break the spell that caused her parents to turn into monsters. As far as storytelling goes, there’s something gratifying in seeing the two bumbling creatures slowly regain their memories and love for Ellian, and it’s wonderful to witness her relentless efforts and unconditional love for the two of them, regardless of their appearance. These moments are preceded by solitary imagery of Ellian and a musical number with clever incorporation of flashback sequences to Ellian’s happy memories with her parents, which heightens the viewers’ emotional investment in the characters. Spellbound explores the effects of infighting within the family, specifically between husband and wife, and how these can negatively impact their children; the burden they may feel in trying to fix what they think is broken, and how separation can lead to children harbouring feelings of resentment towards both sides – and even in themselves for not being good enough to fix things. It’s a weighty topic, and although not always perfect in its execution within the picture, there’s a genuine effort to handle Ellian’s characterisation with care.

That being said, the film does suffer from overuse of exposition in the dialogue, lyrics and use of montages, making it feel very fast-paced and bloated. There’s a rush to cram so much information, so many different events, references and characters in the film that there are certain parts of the script that feel clunky and underdeveloped. This also leads to uncanny transitions from scene to scene. The music, although very catchy and energetic, doesn’t showcase the range of Zegler’s vocal capability – as seen in films like Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story and Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes – and isn’t quite as memorable as Menken’s other works in animations like The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. Speaking of which, Spellbound does have little Easter Eggs and references to other animated features, like the use of a carriage very similar in fashion and materialisation to that of Cinderella as well as the carpet in Aladdin. But it has the most parallels with the Dragons franchise – mainly, certain sequences of events fall in line with specific scenes in the How to Train Your Dragon film. The animation style and quality also bear a resemblance to Race to the Edge, which is a Dragons series also released by Netflix. Spellbound’s visual presentation overall has moments of charm, awe and wonder, but isn’t overly detailed or remarkable.

What will truly endear the audience to this piece is the strong bonds on heavy display between Ellian and her parents. The side characters are also quite fun to follow, specifically Lithgow’s Minister Bolinar who injects an exuberant yet obnoxious energy into the picture. His entire development is just the cherry on top of an already magical film full of mischief, grand adventures, and of course, familial love.

Mae Trumata

Spellbound is released on Netflix on 22^nd November 2024.

Watch the trailer for Spellbound here: