Story
Ellian (voice of Rachel Zegler) is celebrating her 15th birthday as the Princess of Lumbria with the help of her assistant Nazara (Jenifer Lewis). Ellian’s parents, King Solon (Javier Bardem) and Queen Ellsmere (Nicole Kidman), have turned into large monsters, and Ellian and Nazara are hiding this fact from the public.
To transform her parents back into their human selves, Ellian seeks help from the Oracle of the Sun, Sunny (Tituss Burgess), and the Oracle of the Moon, Luno (Nathan Lane). The Oracles tell Ellian that to undo the spell, she must follow the light and not be consumed by the darkness.
Ellian sets out on the quest for the light with her monster parents, but not before the General (Olga Merediz) discovers the monsters and decides to banish them from the kingdom, not realising who they are. Ellian must tackle many dangers along the path, including entering the Dark Forest of Eternal Darkness, sinking into quicksand, and meeting strange creatures, all the while being pursued by the General and her army.
Ellian is undeterred, however, and bravely seeks to find the light which will bring her parents back to her.
Themes
Fantasy; family; divorce
Violence
Spellbound has some comic violence. For example:
- Characters are squashed behind doors, knocked over and so on.
- The monsters pick up people in their mouths, but people aren’t hurt.
There’s also other violence. For example:
- Seven messenger birds are turned to stone on their journey. An eighth bird dies on its return, and Ellian accidentally pulls its head off trying to retrieve its message.
- The Queen monster eats the Oracles but then spits them out.
- The monsters toss Ellian into the air, and she falls heavily to the ground.
- Bolinar, the main keeper of the land, falls from his bird onto a carriage and then onto the ground.
- The monsters fight and are surrounded by red lightning bolts.
- A fight breaks out between the soldiers and an army of Flinks, who throw projectiles at them. A soldier is covered in projectiles and then sinks into the ground.
Sexual references
There are no sexual references in Spellbound.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
Spellbound shows some use of substances. For example, there’s some drinking at a party.
Nudity and sexual activity
There’s no nudity and sexual activity in Spellbound.
Product placement
There’s no product placement in Spellbound.
Coarse language
There’s no coarse language in Spellbound.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Spellbound is an animated musical movie about family and family dysfunction. The movie’s music is quite uplifting, and the animation is colourful and bright.
Spellbound has a few intense moments and some scary scenes, which makes it unsuitable for children under 6 years. And because of its themes to do with family dysfunction and divorce, this movie is more suited to older children and teens.
The main message from Spellbound is not to let dark thoughts and feelings consume you, because there’s always hope that things will get better.
Values in Spellbound that you could reinforce with your children include bravery, courage and responsibility. You could also emphasise the movie’s exploration of the importance of family, which can come in many forms.
Spellbound could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the real-life consequences of things like letting negative and dark thoughts consume you. This is represented in the movie by the ‘darkness’ surrounding Ellian. You could talk about the importance of looking for the good or the ‘light’ in situations instead.
Spellbound also explores what happens when parents are argue so much that they can’t care properly for their child. You could talk about whether children might feel safer in this situation if parents decide to separate.