SPELLBOUND
(director: Vicky Jenson; screenwriters: story & screenplay by Lauren Hynek, Elizabeth Martin, Julia Miranda/Skydance Animation; cinematographer: Tod Heapy; editor: Susan Fitzer; music: Alan Menken; cast: Rachel Zegler (voice-Princess Ellian), John Lithgow (voice-Bolinar, Jenifer Lewis (voice-Nazara), Tituss Burgess (voice-Sunny-oracle of the sun), Nathan Lane (voice-Luno-oracle of the moon), Javier Bardem (voice-King Solon), Nicole Kidman (voice-Queen Ellsmere); Runtime: 110; MPAA Rating: PG; producers: John Lasseter, Davud Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Bruce Anderson, Linda Woolverton; Netflix; 2024)
“It fails to get the magic needed to be convincing.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Vicky Jenson (“Post Grad”), the co-director of “Shrek,” directs this bland, derivative and uninspiring animation. It’s based on the story & screenplay by Lauren Hynek, Elizabeth Martin, and Julia Miranda. The animation is by Skydance Animation. The music is from the Oscar-winner Alan Menken, whose songs for his other Disney pics have been amazing but not so here.
The fairy-tale is about a 15-year-old princess about to become a queen on the demands of the public, and the troubles she faces as she must go on a quest into the Dark Forest of Eternal Darkness for answers to what turned her parents into monsters.
It’s set in a remote place called Lumbria, where humans and creatures coexist. But a mysterious spell has fallen on its King Solon (voice-Javier Bardem) and Queen Ellsmere (voice-Nicole Kidman), who have each been transformed into giant beasts.
The royal advisers Bolinar (voice-John Lithgow) and Nazara (voice-Jenifer Lewis) censor the news about the royal couple from the public, while they seek to reverse the curse. With time running out, their succession plan involves placing the reluctant Princess Ellian (Rachel Zegler) on the throne. She’s the only human now in the royal family. In the film’s most robust song, she richly sings “My Parents Are Monsters.” A song I think quite a few of the kiddies in the audience can relate to.
The ruling crisis forces Ellian to search for a cure for her parents, and she uses the goofy Oracles (voiced by Nathan Lane and Tituss Burgess) to help her. There’s even something woke in the story that suggests people with bad thoughts can turn into monsters or bad parents. This is used as a lesson for children in dealing with their domestic problems.
But the film is strictly meant as an entertainment vehicle, as it stumbles without a real villain, which leaves the fairy-tale without someone to hiss at (which is one of the reasons I appreciate fairy-tale stories). Since the animation and story are far from great, the film comes across merely as a coming-of-age tale that doesn’t age well. It fails to get the magic needed to be convincing. Though it maybe gets a few kid friendly gags right, it’s too witless and tasteless to reach the adult viewer.
REVIEWED ON 12/1/2024 GRADE: C+
dennisschwartzreviews.com