Spellbound

A solid if fairly derivative attempt to steal Disney’s thunder. There’s enough pep and vigour here to keep kids interested, if not quite enough for the grown-ups. 

So, too, may viewers of "Spellbound" occasionally sense the enchantment zones of their brains lighting up, more as a reflexive response to dim memories of past animated features than as a genuine reaction to the derivative pastiche onscreen.

Zegler puts her amazing vocal range to great use in a playbook of quality songs from Alan Menken and Glenn Slater.

Spellbound largely conforms to the typical beats of a road narrative, albeit sprinkled with some surprising moments. Most striking are the visuals, rendered with vivacity and poignancy.

Spellbound struggles to connect its somber emotional material with its whimsical and formulaic genre approach.

It’s not quite Cocomelon but it exists in an entirely other universe far, far away from the many Disney films it’s trying to file itself next to.

It manages to recover in time toward its conclusion in the best way possible, but you can't shake the feeling that it could have been much more well-rounded. [Full review in Spanish]

You just wish the journey were a little more entertaining. The jokes are OK, not hilarious, and the songs are merely fine — certainly below Menkin’s best work.

Spellbound is more enchantment than curse.

Skydance is a puzzlement. They have more money than Daddy Warbucks and a lot of talented people working there. And yet their first film, Luck, was terrible and this one is not a lot better.