User reviews

A sweet film but more so an important topic! There are better animations such as The Wild Robot that also tackles a heavy topic, but I am glad animations like these exist for kids. Give it a chance!

The music is decent and the voice actors are okay, but showing that families do not operate in straight lines or are perfectly constructed, is probably more important for kids to see than an excellent animated production.

Let's celebrate more films like these that are courageous enough to tackle important topics and critique them less harshly. Your kids will enjoy this film and the parents will likely reflect on a few things they could do differently too.

This is a good movie, particularly for families navigating the challenges of divorce. At its core, this film is really about the emotional struggles and complexities that arise in such situations, especially for children. I do wish it had been marketed with this theme in mind, as it's not something we would have chosen as a family if we had known. However, it does provide an opportunity to explore and discuss a child's feelings of anger and confusion when caught between parents. That said, the movie is much heavier than what most viewers are likely expecting. While I enjoy musicals, the songs were unfortunately not very memorable and felt overly long, which detracted from the overall experience.

While the animation and voice acting was great about half way through I got a sinking feeling that the movie was going to try and pivot hard into a topic that was both poorly suited for this vessel and potentially within the last 30 minutes. And of course it did but instead of being a something that could sufficiently be covered for the childhood audience in 30 minutes it was something much harder to adequately cover. Divorce.

I enjoy animated movies that contain some mature themes but this felt poorly done and the messages in the last few songs and scenes were plain awful messaging for an audience under 10.

The worst part of this is the deceptive omission of this movies content, advertised as a kids movie, but ultimately potentially harmful for children to view without parental input.

Really a shame because there is great talent in the cast and production.

Wow, it's funny that I went from watching the best Netflix animated series in Arcane Season 2 to now watching one of their most average and forgettable animated movies in Spellbound (2024). Yeah, I wasn't that big of a fan of this movie, but I didn't hate it.

Positives for Spellbound (2024): The animation in the movie looks fantastic. I thought that Rachel Zegler was decent as the main character and while I have my criticisms toward some of the things that she's said, she was good in the movie. And finally, there are some good musical numbers in the movie.

Negatives for Spellbound (2024): This movie is just very forgettable and I am struggling to remember the plot of this movie. Also, why are Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem and John Lithgow doing here, their characters barely do anything in the movie except show up when the plot needs them the most. And finally, this movie has that generic Netflix atmosphere to it, to where I feel like I seen this type of movie from them too many times.

Overall, Spellbound (2024) is an animated movie that exists on Netflix and that's it. Maybe, some people are going to enjoy more than me, but this movie was just whatever for me.

After 3 songs I could not even remember the melody of the first song. The story is forced and just try to follow the a storyline that is a mix of previous films. The characters are not developed and the animals are just a mix of different animals to make it look like fantasy, but it is just cheap script to try to captlize on other stories. The family was very disappointed with the story even if it is a adventure, there is too that is genuinely funny and lilte that iS original. Trying to make "Frozen" mixed with Pokémons is not very inovative. I couldn't make all of the kids sit through the whole movie.

Spellbound may be built on a mix of various ideas from other animated movies however, it also has a fantastic message tucked inside of its fantasy adventure centring on the effects of divorce and how it can threaten to break a family apart. It comes to a satisfyingly mature conclusion and weaves its main message into most of the set pieces along the way which is enough to make up for how clunky the dialogue can be throughout by over-explaining the themes.

Rachel Zegler offers further proof that she can really belt out a tune whilst anchoring the film with an unwavering determination to help her parents. There's a solid amount of fun to be had watching Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem have to relearn human behaviour and John Lithgow is the best part of this. He's fine at first but once he swaps bodies into a much cuter character he becomes the highlight and gets the best musical number.

Vicky Jenson's direction keeps proceedings vibrant and playful, never going too long between musical interludes and despite a run time going towards 2 hours, it's actually nearer to a clean 90 minutes excluding credits. The animation ends up being the middle ground between Disney and straight to dvd with music by Alan Menken that brings some life into the film whenever it's beginning to falter even if all the songs here are forgettable and comfortably some of his weakest.

Moviebeautifully explores the emotional upheaval children endure when the core of their family life shifts. Through the perspective of a young protagonist, the film captures the silent anguish that often accompanies a changing home when parents are not themselves, and the once stable foundation cracks. It portrays how deeply such changes affect a child's emotional world, leaving them to navigate feelings of confusion, loss, and isolation, even when they can't fully express it.

What makes Spellbound particularly compelling is its sensitive portrayal of the child's inner turmoil. While the adults in the story grapple with their own struggles, the film focuses on the quieter, more hidden emotional toll on the child. It shows how children, caught between two realities, often remain unable to voice the full weight of their pain or confusion. Their journey through all those emotions is depicted with great care, highlighting the way children are often left to process their experiences alone.

Despite the heavy emotional landscape, Spellbound also offers a message of hope. It illustrates how, even in the aftermath of profound family change, parents can still maintain healthy, respectful relationships for the sake of their children. The film suggests that it's still possible for love to take new, nurturing forms ones that prioritize the child's well-being.

Spellbound is an insightful, eye-opening film that sheds light on the often-hidden emotional impact of family transitions. It encourages reflection on how we can better support children through life's challenges and reminds us that, despite everything, love and healing can endure.

This movie claims to be for kids, but the heavy focus on divorce feels out of place. Sure, kids' movies can tackle serious topics, but this just feels awkward.

The story components and settings are all over the place, like someone asked an AI to come up with a random plot and threw it on screen without bothering to connect anything. There's no real backstory. It's hard to care about the characters or their world.

The music? Completely forgettable. Nothing catchy, funny, or even worth admiring-it's just there.

In the end, it feels like a mediocre "B movie" with a big-budget animation makeover. The visuals might be nice, but the rest of it falls flat. Definitely not worth your time. Not a top 100 kids movie, not even one of the better ones on Netflix let alone anywhere else. Definitely don't plan a family movie night around this.

I watched this movie with my 5-year-old daughter, and it was absolutely fantastic! The songs, composed by the legendary Alan Menken (known for Tangled and Enchanted), are nothing short of magical. The world in which the story unfolds showcases the filmmakers' incredible craftsmanship and attention to detail.

Prepare for an emotional journey-it's a perfect movie to watch while cuddled up together. The scenery is breathtaking, the creatures are beautifully designed, and the story is a heartfelt adventure that unfolds at just the right pace. It kept us captivated the entire time, as the characters face fresh challenges at every turn on their way to achieving their ultimate goal.

As an adult, I enjoyed it just as much as my daughter did. There's plenty of humor for all ages, making it a well-rounded family film. If you loved Frozen, Avatar, or Wish, this movie will surprise you and quickly become a must-watch on your 5-year-old's movie list.

Princess eillen just wants a normal life, but unfortunatly for her, her parents are monsters. But not those type of monsters. Actual monsters turned by a curse fueled by their hatred for eachother. But eillien knows theres a way and after her 15 birthday she starts to do what it takes to get them back. We can gloss over her mom being australian and her father being spanish because this is an anination and its beautiful. Kidman and barden are interesting choices it has to be said. Also props for Rachel zegler for not only doing a good voice in this but also for being able to sing which ill say a lot of these films lake. Spellbound is a perfect family movie getting close to christmas. With some catchy songs, lovely animation and overall just nice.

It would have been nice to know that this movie was mainly about divorce before sitting down with my family to enjoy a nice family movie.

The toddler enjoyed the first song or two, but she had lost interested by the midway point, definitely was not paying attention during the climax.

I say midway, but the pacing of this thing was all over the place, so I'm not really sure how far we were in or how long the movie was.. but at some point it took a turn and went from being a movie about a girl breaking the spell her parents are under (like Spirited Away) and dove straight into a "we need a divorce, but its not your fault" movie.

I didn't see anything about this in the marketing, although to be fair I don't know if I say any marketing besides a quick trailer.

It might not have been so bad if this movie hadn't also been so bad, I chuckled at a few throw away lines/sight gags, but that's about it. The plot was weak, the voice acting could have been better, and the animation felt off to me, but I can't quite describe what exactly. The lips didn't feel like they lined up right?

One of the most uneven movies I have encountered as of late. On the one hand you have beautiful animation, amazing invented fantasy settings on par with Tolkien and a hauntingly beautiful song about loosing your family and broken pieces that are left behind... on the other hand there is a musical number about how tasty it is eating larvae.

I feel the movie is suffering from is bad pasting and several unnecessary characters. The monsters have been living that way for a year, and if captured they will be sent to a forest far away.. yeah ok, there is no sense of urgency, no fight against time, just a leisure walk towards some vague thing that vill most likely fix everything no questions asked and no requirements needed. Because two random dudes in a frog said so... The oracles are unnecessary characters, they add nothing to the story, I assume they are there for comedic effect or whatever but they are not funny. One oracle would have been enough and any correspondence could have been done by mail. Killing several birds in the first few scenes in the movie are also not any sort of highlight, yet again made for some comedic value but nobody is laughing. Most of the characters are and stay one dimensional throughout the film, and that would have been ok of we are focusing on the character development of the main characters but there isn't much of that either. Honestly the most sympathetic character is a flying cat, that with no words still manage to convey love, fear, and pride for it's kitten to the viewers.

Speaking of voices, Lithgow is great, the rest mediocre at best. The girl singing Ellyan's songs is also talented.

The ending is well done, obvious if you are a grownup but maybe a "twist" for younger viewers. He movie has a strong theme and it had potential, but mainly it feels like someone saw Hayao Miyazaki's "Spirited Away" and drew some inspiration but not enough.

My 5 year old thinks thins film is fantastic, but it never reaches the heights it had potential to reach. It's worth a watch, but to most people it will probably be forgettable.

Set in the magical land of Lumbria, Princess Ellian (Rachel Zegler) along with royal advisors Bolinar (John Lithgow) and Nazara (Jenifer Lewis) have been attempting to maintain order in the kingdom for the past year as the King (Javier Bardem) and Queen (Nicole Kidman) have been transformed into wild destructive monsters. Having nearly exhausted excuses to quell suspicion among high ranking figures such as General Cardona (Olga Merediz), Ellian enlists the aid of Oracles Sunny (Tituss Burgess) and Luno (Nathan Lane) to find a way to break the curse which sets Ellian on an adventure with her two monster parents to find it, only to be challenged with the reality of the situation.

Spellbound is the sophomore feature of Skydance Animation, the animation division of Skydance Media which is notable for its controversial association with former Disney Animation head John Lasseter. Much like 2022's Luck, Spellbound was one of the two projects announced by the company during its initial formation under the working title of Split when it was setup at Paramount. Following Paramount's decision to depart from Skydance's projects the film along with Luck wound up at Apple TV only for Apple to drop Spellbound after Luck's release and the film along with a continuing distribution agreement wound up at Netflix who will now be the distributor for Skydance Animation's films going forward. Spellbound much like the company's previous effort Luck has a lot of talent behind it including Shrek director Vicky Jenson returning to the director's chair for the first time in 15 years and noted composer Alan Menken composing the music, but unlike Luck it actually has a story and stakes that feel fleshed out with an emotional core even if there are still some rough spots thanks partially to studio growing pains as well as trends in modern animation that I'm not a fan of.

In terms of its visuals, the film looks great and everything from the textures, to the architecture, to the creature and character designs looks and feels very vibrant and alive. The animation ranges from playful and comedic such as with Ellian's chipmunk-like sidekick Flink or the oracles Sunny and Luno wonderfully played by Nathan Lane and Tituss Burgess and stealing all their scenes, to more dramatic and emotional sequences in which Ellia longs for things to return to how they once were or getting brief glimpses of her parents as the people she once knew. Rachel Zegler is quite good playing Ellian and definitely gives her a strong sense of youthful energy while also expressing a frustration at being the one to hold things together for the sake of normalcy in spite of her parents' monstrous tantrums. Javier Bardem and Nicole Kidman are also quite good as the king and queen with Bardem's king being more of a strong willed but goofy character while Kidman's queen is more pragmatic but still nurturing and level headed and they do a good job in showing them regain their human faculties throughout the runtime.

Admittedly some of the writing occasionally does the thing a lot of modern animated fantasy films do where they add forced modern day lingo for awkward laughs such as phrases like "keeping it cazh" or other things of that nature. Granted this isn't a strictly new issue with animation as it's been a quasi-mainstay of animation ever since 1992's Aldaddin became the highest grossing film of that year with many attributing it to The Genie, and and then with 2001's Shrek sort of building upon the humor and style of The Genie it sort of developed from there. I also wasn't a huge fan of the way the screenplay has Ellian break the fourth wall in the beginning and end of the movie to directly address the audience but this is more a personal preference thing than an issue with the movie. I also admit that Alan Menken's song were just okay as while I didn't dislike any of the songs I'm kind of struggling to remember them even this soon after watching.

While the movie's story doesn't stray too far from this kind of animated fairy tale (you can definitely see shades of Frozen, Tangled, and Brave) despite having a fair share of flaws, I actually did like how it tackles the issue of divorce in a way that's approachable and fits relatively well within the world the film creates. Films aimed at children certainly are no stranger to discussing divorce as Mrs. Doubtfire had it as a major plot element and even shows like Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street have tackled the subject, and I feel Spellbound does a nice job of giving the message that sometimes two people just can't be together but they can still love their children and be a happy family. A harsh truth, sure, but one you can also take comfort in.

I honestly liked Spellbound a lot more than I expected. While it does have some flaws that are sometimes its own and sometimes of mainstream filmmaking's expectations for "animated films", it has a good heart and a good message that's told in a mostly successful way. It's a marked improvement from Luck because it does tell a more cohesive story with a set direction and it's made optimistic enough about the potential of this studio.

This animated movie had an awesome plot, but the stupid force singing was overwhelming and this is not in a good way. It like all the words was written first, then an idiot thought, let put these word into music, will sing the words and force a Melodie. All the song was words that was force to music, I even check to see if this animation was made with AI, I mean, who could ever have thought that this was a great idea? This reminded me of the Coca Cola commercial that was made with AI in November 2024, it was the most overwhelming Christmas commercial I ever seen, this was not a compliment and I wasn't the only one that thought that. I don't know why they couldn't have put more effort in the music like "Encanto". All the music in Encanto, was to me uplifting, awesome Melodie's that made the movie worth watching again and again. Even "Wish" animation had good music. Don't get me wrong, the plot and story-line is different, but I guess the person who wrote this story had to put their life experience in it, they couldn't keep a fairy-tale in the fairy-tale land, they had to make it real. The ending was more for teenager and adults, but I feel that it wasn't necessary. On the other hand, graphics and color was over the top, the adventure and obstacle was inventive, but the stupid force music ruined it from the beginning. Every time they started to sing, I was getting more annoying and annoying! If it wasn't for the fact that I wasn't watching this alone, I would of skip over all the force song. Who ever thought that this was a great idea, should be fire! I hat seeing all this great effort by this.

It's been a while since I've seen an animated movie with so many cheesy clichés. Teenage princesses in musicals breaking the fourth wall like it's a Nickelodeon show. After 20 minutes there were already at least 3 or 4 songs, which transform any non-Disney animated film into a bad imitation.

The plot is repetitive, boring, endless with irrelevant events that could have been omitted to leave this feature film at least in 90 minutes.

The final message is interesting, but the journey was too long and boring to pay it the attention it deserved. The visual aspects were good, but there are also details that look unfinished, to say the least.

In short, a forgettable film in the Netflix catalog.

I think people may misjudge the film due to the way it has been advertised. I decided to watch it expecting it to be terrible, but I think it's a beautiful film.

Trying not to spoil anything, but I think it would be a very nice film to help kids understand divorce a bit better, and how to cope with the emotions that come from it.

I hope that people do give it a shot and don't just judge it straight away like a lot of people seem to be doing.

Animation is a little funky at times, and some parts of the storyline are predictable, but the overall storyline and focus of the film is lovely. Bit of a tear jerker at times if you're sensitive like me hahaha.

Princess Ellian (Rachel Zegler) of the kingdom of Lumbria is turning 15. For the past year, she has been hiding a secret. Her parents have been turned into monsters.

The animation is perfectly fine. It has an imaginative touch although the Dark Forest of Eternal Darkness is not actually dark. This movie seems intent on a cute singing Broadway show when it should concentrate harder on a fantasy adventure with some darker edges. The story needs to get moving faster, but the songs do delay the progression. The quest needs to go sooner and be more adventurous. As for the reveal, I don't see it as that much of a reveal. I expected that idea from the beginning. The movie is more interested in Broadway than me. That keeps it from taking off.

The story was new but didn't hold my attention. The starting of the story was not captivating, it started off very randomly.

They could have portrayed the struggles of the girl in a better way. Portraying her struggles through songs was more on happy side, it never showed the pain.

The shock for me (and shocking for the princess as well..lol) was the ending. I really didn't except an animation movie to talk about it. No child would want their family to go through that phase, and this director and production house decided it was a good thing to show kids about it. That is the disappointing thing for me.

But definitely, the overall plot of how darkness entangles a person's life and makes them monster is a great plot. If the plot revolved around the main idea, it would have been a great movie.

Skydance and its new stage under the Netflix umbrella offer us a tender and daring animation proposal that, although not completely rounded, is a pleasant family pastime with a fairly clear and emotional message for many.

Directed by Vicky Jenson, co-director of Shrek, she is responsible for taking us on this animated fantasy that has quite funny moments that combine perfectly with the sense of drama that the film hides behind it, facing a common story in everyday life, but which is very rarely exploited on the big screen and here they risk it to give us that experience adorned with a fantasy that generates empathy for adults and children about such a common and everyday theme in society.

Certainly, the proposal is well worked and it becomes an adorable pastime that both the youngest and the oldest will be able to enjoy, taking into account that it is a film that is designed for both audiences due to its theme and its message. However, the journey is not entirely convincing, because at times the film gets a bit stuck in wanting to emphasize where the final message takes us and there we lose a bit of emotion added to the fact that not all of its songs are effective unfortunately.

As for animation, Skydance is a studio that always stands out and on this occasion it does so again with a proposal full of colors and creatures that shine on the screen just like its main characters do, with whom you can empathize and have fun in an authentic way. It is a fantasy world and in that the studio does not limit itself to creating, coloring and making all its imagination shine.

Vicky Jenson returns to sign a fun and good animated film for Netflix, although it does not have the same impact as Shrek, it is an adventure that will bring the whole family together in a daring theme, full of messages and moments worth appreciating. A proposal to enjoy in an animation genre where Netflix continues to make the note with its proposals for its platform.