Spellbound is an assortment of familiar ideas all compiled into one and the result is somewhat of a mess. While the story at the heart is wonderful about the darkness within having a physicality that can transform someone into literal monsters and at its core a metaphor for separation or divorce. The film revolves around Ellian (Rachel Zegler) whose parents returned back from a quest one fateful day as monsters with no resemblance to their true selves, apart from color scheme. Devoted to break the curse at all cost, Ellian must go on her own quest to change them back to their former King and Queen selves, not to mention her mother and father. 

 

All the while, the kingdom is chasing her down as they believe the Princess has been taken prisoner by these two monstrous creatures. As one can imagine for a story involving monsters and a princess and curses, there is magic involved from time to time. Although with a world of magical wands in the zeitgeist you’d think it may have been used a little more often than it actually does. Apart from a bit of travel assistance near the jump and a body swap occurring between a royal advisor (played by John Lithgow) and the family pet. 

 

The film is also a musical, littered with songs and numbers that sadly aren’t anything to write home about. While the last Netflix animated musical I watched may have been Leo and that film had even less purpose when it came to its music. These songs at least have a catchy tune and a talented vocalist at the forefront. If there's always a positive to give to Zegler it’s that she can really use her vocal range in a musical setting. 

 

Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem play Princess Ellian’s monster parents when they magically get their voices back. They’re both perfectly fine in their roles, bickering back and forth with one another in a less than stellar relationship. You continuously see this anger between the two even when they’re both animalistic monsters with no humanity behind the eyes. 

 

The first act of the film had me narrowly deciding not to shut it off as the musical number to set the stage and the animation wasn’t proving to be of any creative substance. Luckily as the film moves through its acts, the animation slightly heightens with the world they are building and the musical numbers become less of an exposition dump of lyrics. 

 

The animals as with most animated films are a large improvement over their human counterparts, ever since Toy Story introduced CG Animation this has continuously become an issue. Luckily for the most part this tale only has one human on their journey with two monsters and a small guinea pig-like creature. The humans when on screen throw everything off-kilter and draw away from the immersive story the film struggles to provide. 

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At its heart lies a story about divorce in its own unique way. It's a revelation that truly works an emotion trigger for the film. Another reason the film is uneven, with a terrific later half and a misguided beginning. Not being a child of divorce, I still fully gravitated towards this issue and understood how a film like this could better explain the ideology of divorce in the simplest of terms.

 

As the title suggests, the film will presumably be much more spellbinding for children looking for a new fairytale depicted on screen. The songs and humor should strike well enough for a younger audience, but parents and older may have to distract themselves from this rather derivative tale.