With all of the behind-the-scenes makings of an animated traditional, Spellbound encompasses a gifted voice solid and a can’t-miss inventive workforce for a household film with a complete lot of coronary heart.
Directed by DreamWorks alum Vicky Jenson (Shrek, Shark Story), Spellbound marks John Lasseter and Skydance Animations’ follow-up to Luck (2022), after he was ousted from Disney/Pixar following a powerful filmography that features Toy Story (1995), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Discovering Nemo (2003), Tangled (2010) and plenty of extra. His newest characteristic, now streaming on Netflix, actually lives as much as that tenure.
In Spellbound, teen princess Ellian of Lumbria needs to spend her days flying griffins across the kingdom along with her mates, however for the previous yr, she’s needed to cowl for the king (Javier Bardem) and queen (Nicole Kidman) after they have been magically remodeled into monsters within the Darkish Forest of Everlasting Darkness. When the dominion learns their secret, Ellian escapes along with her beastly mother and father to discover a magical treatment earlier than they’re banished to reverse ends of the world and she or he’s compelled to ascend to their throne.
With a voice solid that checks all of the bins, Bardem and Kidman clearly had enjoyable taking part in the king and queen, who should learn to converse once more all through the movie. Jenifer Lewis and John Lithgow shine as Ministers Nazara and Bolinar, who assist the princess preserve her mother and father’ secret however are finally loyal to the dominion. In a enjoyable twist on the princess’ cute pet/sidekick archetype, Lithgow’s type-A Bolinar switches our bodies with Ellian’s Flink, who is barely described as “not a purple rat,” regardless of his look, an ideal vessel for the Shrek alum’s voice. Nathan Lane and Tituss Burgess additionally present some laughs within the type of the Oracles of the Solar and Moon, an eccentric set of roommates who journey round in an enormous frog’s mouth and use a magical fob rather than a wand.
That includes music composed by Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Magnificence and the Beast, Aladdin), audiences can count on a family-friendly soundtrack that youngsters will possible be singing on repeat for some time. ‘Search for the Gentle’ is a cute music by the Oracles, paying homage to Lane’s Timon in The Lion King. Lithgow’s purple Flink main an ensemble of blue friends in ‘I May Get Used to This’ is sufficient to preserve followers anticipating a spin-off. Kidman and Bardem remind audiences of their vocal chops on the monitor ‘Remembering’ with Zegler, who additionally exhibits off a darker facet on ‘What About Me’.
Nicole Kidman as Queen Ellsmere, John Lithgow as Flink, Rachel Zegler as Princess Ellian and Javier Bardem as King Solon in Spellbound (2024). (Netflix/Courtesy Everett Assortment)
Main her mother and father by the Darkish Forest on a journey of sunshine, Zegler’s Ellian finds herself turning into consumed in the identical darkness that turned the king and queen into monsters. Though she succeeds in serving to them discover her mild, and them in serving to her discover hers, the film hits children with the exhausting reality that poisonous household dynamics typically finish in divorce. However the kingdom can nonetheless dwell in concord with the king and queen in their very own castles.
Producers are Lasseter, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Bruce Anderson.
Manufacturing on Spellbound started in the course of the pandemic in 2020 with a theatrical launch date initially introduced for Paramount. Skydance Animation would ink a multi-year take care of Apple, the place the film first segued to, earlier than the Ellison owned studio moved that complete deal, and Spellbound with it, to Netflix in October 2023.
Title: Spellbound
Distributor: Netflix
Launch date: November 22, 2024
Director: Vicky Jenson
Screenwriters: Lauren Hynek & Elizabeth Martin and Julia Miranda, story by Jenson and Hynek & Martin
Solid: Rachel Zegler, John Lithgow, Jenifer Lewis, Tituss Burgess, Nathan Lane, Javier Bardem and Nicole Kidman
Score: PG
Operating time: 1 hr 46 minutes
