Here’s a film that got lost in itself. It’s a shame because Spellbound had a lot going for it – good animation, a young and likable protagonist, some silly shit going on, a lively soundtrack, and a decent metaphorical plot: 15-year-old Princess Ellian (voice of Rachel Zegler) has parents who have literally turned into monsters.
And Princess Ellian has to figure out how to change them back before the either 1) the changes become permanent or 2) She’s crowned queen Ellian.
Well, “decent” plot might be an exaggeration. There is decent adventure. But the plot is silly, and I wondered why we didn’t just crown Queen Ellian five minutes in; it looked like she had everything in hand.
Lumbria is a magical kingdom with lush greenery, a royal castle guarded by a waterfall, and can every animal in this place fly? What is up with that? And what;s the point of a gate if everything in the kingdom can take wing? Princess Ellian likes to horsefly around with her friends before making royal decrees and crap. It all seems like it’s working – I mean, the place looks pretty good and people look relatively happy. Sure, there’s a statue of the royal family right in the courtyard which seems fretty fascist, but :shrug:
The problem is that -despite acting as queen of the land for the past few months- Ellian isn’t ready to be queen quite yet, so it’s time to consult the gay oracles to figure out how to get mom and dad back to being Queen Ellsmere (Nicole Kidman) and King Solon (Javier Bardem), respectively.
Ahhhhh, we’re in for adventure, and enchanted forests … oh, and a decent soundtrack. Ok, Ok, so composer Alan Menken wrote some songs that sound an awful lot like his 1995 soundtrack for Pocahontas … but what watchers of this film would see that but me?
Capturing the magic fob from the gay oracles, Ellian and monster parents go out to the Hidden Valley Ranch forest and recreate what turned them into monsters. Turns out the parents don’t get along with each other, and the monster part is a metaphor for being controlled by emotional response. You see, dark emotions turn people into literal monsters.
Huh.
Well, that’s a but heavy-handed, isn’t it? Is the lesson here never to be emotional? Is this what you want 
to teach your children, to swallow it all up and accept emotional pain internally at all times?
I see where that message is coming from – my parents essentially taught me the same thing … but that in itself is a bit monstrous, no? And it speaks directly to either absentee or “tough love” parenting, which -take it from me- isn’t parenting at all; it’s simply controlling. You don’t like the behavior, so you simply criticize or punish until you don’t see the behavior again. Oh, you may achieve some results you want with this type of parenting, but you’ll also achieve results you presumably do not want … and those other results just might linger forever.
Spellbound had a chance; it really had a lot going for it – catchy derivative songs, some fun characters, some great looking animation, and a magical dilemma. But, boy did this film lose itself in the cringe of a lecture. Lumbria did turn out to be a bit of a shithole after all.
There once was a princess named Ellian
Who was something of a royal chameleon
For she queened by day
With the ‘rents at bay
And the kingdom at the mercy of this ordeal-eon
Rated PG, 109 Minutes
Director: Vicky Jenson
Writer: Vicky Jenson, Lauren Hynek, Elizabeth Martin
Genre: Iffy message movie
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: The family of the animator
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Anybody who has ever resented being told to “calm down”
