by Nick Nitkowski

Animation is an art form no matter what anybody else thinks. It’s not just cartoons to entertain or distract children while parents try to sneak away for a few precious minutes of alone time. It’s a unique way to visually tell a story that otherwise couldn’t be told. It is art in every frame and that art can be conveyed in various animation forms and styles that captivate the audience. But every once in a while, we do get animated films that are strictly for kids. 

The latest of which is “Spellbound”, a movie about a young princess of her kingdom with one big problem… her parents, the king, and queen of the kingdom, have been mysteriously turned into monsters. Now, it’s up to the princess to find a way to reverse this enchantment and bring them back to normal. Did I mention that it’s also a musical? Yeah. If you read that and felt a chill just then, then this movie is definitely not for you and you can stop reading now. But if you’re still curious about this movie, allow me to dive deeper.

The very moment that this movie started, I knew I was in trouble. Starting with the animation style. While not overly off-putting, it practically screamed “limited budget strictly TV/streaming network” quality of animation. I imagine the budget for the animation had to be slightly above that level. Let’s just say that I’m not at all surprised that this movie is going straight to Netflix. But what I did find incredibly surprising is in the next paragraph. This perhaps explains why the animation was not the greatest.

This movie has a stacked cast. And I truly mean stacked. This movie stars Rachel Zegler as Princess Ellian, Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem as the King and Queen, Jennifer Lewis and John Lithgow as Royal Viziers to the Princess, and Nathan Lane and Tituss Burgess as Oracles. These are big names voicing these characters and what’s more this movie was produced by John Lasseter of PIXAR fame. With all these names attached to this film, I’m left baffled by how this movie presents itself.

Speaking of which, I did say that this was a musical, and the songs in this movie, to me, felt very uninspired. None of the songs were catchy, memorable, or in most cases furthered the plot. From the moment the first song started, my very first thought was “On, no!” and that’s coming from someone who actually enjoys musicals. The only difference is that I enjoy them when they are done correctly. To make matters worse, the original songs of this film were done by Alan Menken who you may know as the man responsible for a handful of some of the greatest Disney songs in history. 

As for the voice acting, it was fine I suppose. There was really nothing memorable about it. I honestly didn’t know most of the voices until the end credits started to roll. I knew the voices of Nathan Lane and John Lithgow instantly. The rest of the cast I had no idea were in the movie. So, take that information how you will.

The one noble thing I can say about “Spellbound” is the fact that it does try to take on a specific topic that most animated films geared towards children are not bold enough to take on and that is parents that fight and grow apart. It’s a strong topic and an important one at that especially for children in this day and age where the divorce rate is astronomically high. I just wish that it had been told better in perhaps a different way that would resonate with adults as well. But as it stands, I give them credit for trying. Still could have been handled a lot better than this. Maybe with a larger budget and a more polished story, it could have been so.

Overall, “Spellbound” was mediocre at best for me. It had slightly above straight-to-streaming animation quality with bargain-priced musical numbers all wrapped in a storyline that can only satisfy children. They’ll easily be distracted by the colorful images which may even resonate with them when they start thinking about why mommy and daddy aren’t together anymore. But as an adult watching this, let’s just say that the magic just wasn’t there. This movie didn’t cast any kind of working Spell on me and is Bound to be forgotten in no time.

2.5 stars