Spellbound – An Excellent Message But A Disappointment

Spellbound is the second official film from Skydance Animation after 2022’s Luck. Ellian (Zegler) is the young daughter of the rulers of Lumbria who struggles to keep the secret that her parents, King Solon (Javier Bardem) and Queen Ellsmere (Nicole Kidman), were transformed into monsters by a mysterious spell. To save her parents, Ellian must go on a daring quest to undo the spell before it’s too late, realizing that, either way, her family may still be changed forever. Coming in full of potential, as well intended and heartfelt as it is, a fair share of issues ultimately hold it back from being anything more than more middle of the road entertainment geared for families.

Featuring a terrific voice cast who deliver fun work across the board, led by Zegler, Nathan Lane (Luno), and John Lithgow (Bolinar) being the highlights. While the film may have its heart in the right place, its mature subject matter may come as a surprise but its underlying message is still an important one for younger audiences. However, it is a shame that everything else surrounding it is forgettable at best. In terms of the animation, for the most part, it looks fine but there are times where it looks unfinished which should not be the case. Despite the fun character designs, the characters themselves aren’t anything to write home about with the exception of Zegler’s Ellian. Setting the stage by bringing a promising fantastical world to life, from there, the film fails to truly take advantage of that world or do all that much with it. Instead, the film’s story and character beats feel derivative and pulled from several better animated films.

In the end, the biggest issue with Spellbound lies with the fact that it is a musical. Princesses, castles, and adventure typically go hand in hand with animated musicals, but for one reason or another, the musical segments created here just didn’t quite work. That being said, a few of its songs fair better than others with those being sung solely by Zegler, and her beautiful singing voice, being the standouts. Hitting the right emotional beats, the remainder of the songs are unmemorable and not catchy in the slightest despite how out of its way the film tries to make them. There are simply too many musical numbers and making matter worse, they only get increasingly worse as they film goes on, with a large number hitting cringeworthy territory.

While Spellbound carries an excellent message for younger audiences, it is a bit of a disappointment that should and could have been so much more. A film that feels very similar to a lot of other much better films, its musical components mostly fall flat. For those who are big fans of animation, this one might be worth checking out but otherwise, there is very little reason to watch and audience will be better off watching any of the countless better animated films out there. Though it is the furthest thing from a great film, the position it finds itself in is an unfortunate one, being dumped on Netflix with very little promotion on the same day as another high-profile musical, Wicked, opens wide theatrically and merely a few days before another high-profile animated musical about a princess hits theatres in Moana 2, two films which are more than likely to be big draws at the box office. As a result, one can’t help but feel like the film was set up to fail.

still courtesy of Netflix

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/