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‘Spellbound’ Review: Alan Menken Brings Vintage Disney Vibes to Skydance’s Second Animated Feature
Rachel Zegler plays a princess trying to manage her monster parents in 'Spellbound,' an uneven fairy-tale cartoon saved by half a dozen great tunes.
Still, you can see what they’re going for — an instructional lesson that’s more relevant to today’s kids than any previous princess movie — and the music’s so strong (especially the main song, “The Way It Was Before”), repeat viewing may solve the problem that the film’s point doesn’t reveal itself until quite late. Tituss Burgess and Nathan Lane play the Oracles of the Sun and Moon, who read as some cross between mystical monks and benevolent guncles, kind enough to leave behind an enchanted key fob that makes the early going a little easier on Ellian. Accompanied by her adorable pet Flink (a purple, hamster-like critter with big eyes and an appetite for bugs), Ellian is pursued by a pair of Lumbrian ministers — fussy castle adviser Bolinar (John Lithgow) and the more belligerent Nazara (Jenifer Lewis) — who’ve hatched a plan to oust the king and queen and install the princess in their place.
Or read this on Variety
