Vicky Jenson's latest musical adventure comedy film Spellbound has explored a world of fantasy featuring the voices of stars Rachel Zegler, Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem. The movie was released on Netflix on November 22, 2024, after the streaming service took over distirbution rights from Apple TV+ in 2023.
Julia Miranda has done the screenplay for Spellbound along with co-writers Lauren Hynek and Elizabeth Martin. Skydance Animation has produced the film with mind-blowing songs and background scores by Alan Menken.
Menken has been previously associated with multiple Disney projects. He has worked alongside Tony Award-nominated lyricist Glenn Slater for this movie. The official synopsis of Spellbound reads:
"Spellbound follows the adventures of Ellian, the tenacious princess who must go on a daring quest to save her family and kingdom after a mysterious spell transforms her parents, the King and Queen of Lumbria, into monsters."
Disclaimer: This article may contain spoilers from the movie Spellbound. Please be advised.
What do we know about the story of Spellbound?
Princess Ellian (Rachel Zegler) is the daughter of Queen Ellsmere (Nicole Kidman) and King Solon (Javier Bardem) who rule the magical kingdom of Lumbria. While Ellan should be celebrating her 15th birthday with all the pomp and royalty, she instead learns that a mysterious magic spell has been cast on her parents.
The King and the Queen are thus transformed into monsters and escape the palace. Chaos builds up in the kingdom and Princess Ellian takes matters in her own hands.
Spellbound explores Ellian's quest to unleash her parents from the dark spell before things get worse. But there might be bigger challenges even if she accomplishes her dangerous mission.
Lead star Zegler has told Tudum in a statement:
"Taking on this job was so cool for my inner child. I was obsessed with so many animated films as a child, including Beauty and the Beast, which had such a gorgeous, sweeping score by Alan Menken, who did the music for our film … Films like these made me fall in love with musical theater, which ended up changing my life entirely."
Who has done the music for Spellbound?
Music icons Alan Menken and Glenn Slater have reunited for the magical journey of Spellbound. The duo has contributed to more than 400 songs for the big screen, TV shows as well as theatres.
Menken has reportedly told Netflix in a statement:
"What was presented to us was both really exciting and really challenging. The story was based on a very specific way of looking at this particular issue, a therapeutic model that looked at the problem from a specific angle and had a series of steps with which you view that social situation."
Slater has further added on this, saying:
"It was a story idea that was not only meaningful and untapped, but something that we knew would have a big impact on our audience, and that gave us the opportunity to work in a mode that we hadn’t really worked in before. Spellbound has an underlying layer to it which gives it a groundedness and a meaningfulness in our regular world that felt like something new and different, something that nobody had really attempted in an animated film before. And we jumped at that opportunity."
The other voice cast members of Spellbound comprises John Lithgow (Minister Bolinar), Jennifer Lewis (Minister Nazara Prone), Tituss Burgess (Sunny, the Oracle of the Sun), Nathan Lane (Luno, the Oracle of the Moon), and Jordan Fisher (Callan).
Trending
Spellbound is currently streaming on Netflix.
Reply
