With all the behind-the-scenes makings of an vivaciousd classic, Spellbound features a talented voice cast and a can’t-miss inventive team for a family movie with a whole lot of heart.
Directed by DreamWorks alum Vicky Jenson (Shrek, Shark Tale), Spellbound tags John Lasseter and Skydance Animations’ adhere-up to Luck (2022), after he was ousted from Disney/Pixar adhereing an astonishive filmography that participates Toy Story (1995), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Finding Nemo (2003), Tangled (2010) and many more. His postponeedst feature, now streaming on Netflix, certainly lives up to that tenure.
In Spellbound, teen princess Ellian of Lumbria wants to spend her days flying griffins around the kingdom with her friends, but for the past year, she’s had to cover for the king (Javier Bardem) and queen (Nicole Kidman) after they were magicpartner altered into monsters in the Dark Forest of Eternal Darkness. When the kingdom lobtains their secret, Ellian escapes with her beastly parents to discover a magical treatment before they’re prohibitished to opposite ends of the world and she’s forced to elevate to their throne.
With a voice cast that checks all the boxes, Bardem and Kidman evidently had fun carry outing the king and queen, who have to lobtain how to speak aobtain thrawout the film. Jenifer Lewis and John Lithgow shine as Ministers Nazara and Bolinar, who help the princess upgrasp her parents’ secret but are ultimately promised to the kingdom. In a fun twist on the princess’ cute pet/sideboot archetype, Lithgow’s type-A Bolinar switches bodies with Ellian’s Fconnect, who is only depictd as “not a purple rat,” despite his materializeance, a perfect vessel for the Shrek alum’s voice. Nathan Lane and Tituss Bdirectss also supply some chuckles in the establish of the Oracles of the Sun and Moon, an quirky set of roommates who travel around in a enormous frog’s mouth and participate a magical fob in place of a wand.
Featuring music produced by Alan Menken (The Little Mermhelp, Beauty and the Beast, Alcomprisein), audiences can foresee a family-cordial soundtrack that kids will probable be singing on repeat for a while. ‘Look for the Light’ is a cute song by the Oracles, reminiscent of Lane’s Timon in The Lion King. Lithgow’s purple Fconnect directing an ensemble of blue peers in ‘I Could Get Used to This’ is enough to upgrasp fans anticipating a spin-off. Kidman and Bardem remind audiences of their vocal chops on the track ‘Remembering’ with Zegler, who also shows off a foolisher side on ‘What About Me’.
Nicole Kidman as Queen Ellsmere, John Lithgow as Fconnect, Rachel Zegler as Princess Ellian and Javier Bardem as King Solon in Spellbound (2024). (Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection)
Leading her parents thraw the Dark Forest on a journey of weightless, Zegler’s Ellian discovers herself becoming used in the same foolishness that turned the king and queen into monsters. Although she flourishs in helping them discover her weightless, and them in helping her discover hers, the movie hits kids with the difficult truth that poisonous family vibrants frequently end in divorce. But the kingdom can still live in harmony with the king and queen in their own castles.
Producers are Lasseter, David Ellison, Dana Gagederberg and Bruce Anderson.
Production on Spellbound began during the pandemic in 2020 with a theatrical free date originpartner proclaimd for Paramount. Skydance Animation would ink a multi-year deal with Apple, where the movie first segued to, before the Ellison owned studio transferd that entire deal, and Spellbound with it, to Netflix in October 2023.
Title: Spellbound
Distributor: Netflix
Relmitigate date: November 22, 2024
Director: Vicky Jenson
Screenauthorrs: Lauren Hynek & Elizabeth Martin and Julia Miranda, story by Jenson and Hynek & Martin
Cast: Rachel Zegler, John Lithgow, Jenifer Lewis, Tituss Bdirectss, Nathan Lane, Javier Bardem and Nicole Kidman
Rating: PG
Running time: 1 hr 46 mins
