Spellbound (2024) Review: If Only This Animated Musical Could Break the Spell of Mediocrity
On paper, Spellbound looks like this Skydance Animation-produced Netflix animated feature has all the right spells for success. The movie boasts Vicky Jenson, the co-director behind Shrek and Shark Tale and this also marks her first solo directorial effort for an animated feature. Not to mention a star-studded cast including Rachel Zegler, Javier Bardem and Nicole Kidman while former Pixar head John Lasseter served as the movie’s co-producer. The studio even enlists Alan Menken, the legendary Disney composer behind some of the House of Mouse’s animation hits from The Little Mermaid to Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and Pocahontas.
With such talents involved both on and off-screen, what could possibly go wrong? Well, it turns out Spellbound is cursed by both disappointingly generic writing and direction. The story — credited to Lauren Hynek and Elizabeth Martin of 2020’s live-action Mulan alongside Julia Miranda, who wrote TV series episodes like Robot and Monster and Lab Rats — dives straight to the point where we learn the teenage Princess Ellian’s (voiced by Rachel Zegler) parents, Queen Ellsmere (Nicole Kidman) and King Solon (Javier Bardem) are already monsters. They have been monsters after their journey in the Dark Forest of Eternal Darkness but the thing is, where is the first act? It makes me feel as if the studio has messed up the final product of this movie with a few butchering here and there. It turns out we just have to go along with the half-baked story right from the get-go.
The story, which takes place in some magical kingdom of Lumbria, is already in dire situations, even though it doesn’t take long before the musical numbers happen, hoping that Menken’s involvement can distract us enough to sing along. So, Ellian’s parents are currently under the supervision of ministers Bolinar (John Lithgow) and Nazara (Jenifer Lewis) and keep them away from the public. With Ellian’s parents remaining in monster forms, she enlists the help of two oracles Sunny (Tituss Burgess) and Luno (Nathan Lane) in the hope they can find a way to break the spell.
But things do not go as planned and the people eventually find out that their royal leaders have turned into monsters. This leads to The General’s (Olga Merediz) decision to protect the citizens from harm by making sure the monsters are exiled from the kingdom, prompting Ellian to help her parents escape. The rest of the movie continues with Ellian’s journey with her parents to the Lake of Light, the only place that can reverse the spell. It takes a long while before we get to hear the voices of Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem where they can finally speak at some point. We also learn more about the underlying marital problem revolving around Ellian’s parents.
Too bad the story is haphazardly put together while lacking the much-needed conflict in this movie. Sure, Ellian’s parents have issues and she finds herself caught in the middle trying to make things right, hoping everything will be back to normal. But the writings are hopelessly bland where the stakes just flatline. The animation is nothing spectacular, though it’s bright and colourful enough with cute-looking creatures, notably Ellian’s pet purple rodent Flink. The songs are okay at best but otherwise, they are mostly forgettable.
The voice cast is fairly adequate with Rachel Zegler doing her best voicing a perky princess. Given her impressive vocal talent in the West Side Story remake and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, she continues to prove her worth with her wonderful singing voice. John Lithgow, who voiced two characters as Bolinar and Flink where they swap bodies at one point, provides decent comic relief.
Spellbound is currently streaming on Netflix.
