Rachel Zegler’s Netflix musical is missing the magic

There is a scene in the middle “Enchanted“, new Netflix animated musical film starring Rachel Zeglerwhere we briefly wander through a vast forest captured in a strange one-shot montage. Looking down at a group of characters venturing into the unknown, we see a shot of butterflies flying into the sky.

At that moment, my thoughts immediately turned to the wonderful things this year.”Wild robot“, where a similar scene plays out. However, despite the similarity in general terms, the execution of each of them was significantly different. While the wonderful “Wild Robot” patiently allows us to sit with its stunning and vibrant visuals, allowing us to fully enjoy the thrill of the moment, “Spellbound” simply lets it slip away. There’s no wonder or whimsy here: the animation looks rather flat to the eye rather than being filled with any depth that’s breathtaking. Instead, it ends with a derivative dad joke.

This brief moment is just one of the many ways in which Enchanted fails to emerge from the shadow cast by several other excellent works, although it best betrays the film’s complete lack of imagination, which it never overcomes.

Leading all this is Zegler’s determined princess Elliane, a young elven girl who is unexpectedly tasked with overseeing the kingdom of Lumbria as her parents, an otherwise kind king (Javier Bardem) and Queen (Nicole Kidman), not quite themselves. In particular, they became quite monstrous. This is literal, as they were transformed into huge creatures by a mysterious spell after wandering into a dark forest. Elliane tries to keep it all a secret while trying to find a way to return them to normal, although people in Lambria begin to ask questions about what happened to them.

When she receives a response from a pair of bumbling oracles about a potential solution, she ventures into the lands outside the castle with her monster parents, pursued by the kingdom’s soldiers who intend to lock them away forever. Oh, and although the trailers don’t reveal it, this is a musical. This excuse an increasingly common tactic befalling Hollywoodit’s a shame, since the tunes are the best part of a mediocre film, and younger, less discerning viewers might even find it fun to sing along to them when they hit the high notes.

With that in mind, Zegler has more than proven her singing abilities in films such asWest Side Story” And “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes“Enchanted” rarely gives her the opportunity to truly shine. Although their presentations are completely different, they end up being similar to her upcoming film.”2000” both in how aimless and confusing they manage to be, and in how each ends up wasting Zegler’s talents. For too many large stretches of Enchanted it feels like we’re bogged down in the expository setup of the energetic, fun adventure film it wants to be. It reaches a point where it feels like it’s in danger of never getting there, leaving moments that should be the focus feel rushed and superficial. The central emotional relationship with her parents seems detached from anything like impressive “Spirited Away”, albeit without any of the more deserved lasting emotions that this film gave life to.

It’s not for lack of trying. You can feel the film increasingly reaching for a depth it can’t quite capture. Directed and co-written by Vicki Janson, who previously co-directed the originalShrekand “2015”Shark Tale” is no stranger to exploring more playful yet thoughtful themes about family relationships, although they come too close to the end of “Spellbound” for it to have any impact. The problem is that Elyan’s relationship with her parents is mostly limited to the occasional ghostly flashback before the film starts to explain exactly how you’re supposed to feel. It goes from describing the mechanics of the plot to also covering the thematic and emotional components, resulting in it becoming just as mechanical.

There’s a sincere core to it, but it never becomes well-drawn enough to come to light. All the supposedly central conflicts are based on contrivances that mostly just distract from the internal emotional struggle. “Enchanted” does not pay attention. By the time the film asks us to find out what kind of characters Elliane and her parents are, you realize how little you know about them beyond the largely broad archetypes the film half-heartedly gave them. When we then get something of a forced joke about ridesharing app ratings, it only distracts from what were previously underdeveloped characters and are now even more developed. When we then go in search of some powerful meaning, it is difficult for us to feel involved in the journey.

All this could be ignored if the animation were somehow bright and memorable. Unfortunately, like the previous Skydance feature Luck, the various designs, from landscapes to characters, never appear on screen. It consistently looks like every other generic computer-animated film of the last decade and doesn’t stand out in any way. Expressions miss the mark, with characters clearly emoting and the world they find themselves in feeling like just a stagnant series of backgrounds rather than something truly alive. For all the subject matter the film supposedly covers, it is destined to fade from memory entirely.

The use of computer animation is not a problem because, again, “Wild Robot” shows that something visually stunning can be created using this technique. The problem is that it’s all in the service of something that rarely flies or seems remotely magical. While there are some fairly funny bits scattered throughout the film, they don’t coalesce into what could be a compelling whole. The image of butterflies is once again imprinted in the memory: not because “Spellbound” makes them stand out, but because you want to fly away with them into a better movie.