Sneha Jaiswal's Blog, page 59
November 30, 2024
Everyone in my Family Has Killed Someone: Book Review
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
This murder mystery was a solid 4-star read until the climactic chapters rolled in, revealing the killer’s identity! It was like enjoying a fantastic three-course meal, only to be hit with a stale, sour dessert at the end. Also, for those who don’t like the narrator breaking the fourth wall and addressing the reader (like Deadpool or Fleabag), this could be annoying. I’m ambivalent about this literary device; sometimes I enjoy it (in this case, I did), in other cases—not so much.
The Cunningham family is quite colorful, and some members are more evidently murderers than others. Take protagonist Ernest’s elder brother Michael, for instance, who goes to jail for murdering a man. In fact, it’s his release date that prompts the family reunion at the snowy hotel. Audrey, their mother, is the family matriarch. She is upset with Ernest for testifying against Michael and is married to their shrewd stepdad, lawyer Marcelo. Since Michael’s history of murder is clearly established in the first chapter of the novel, he becomes one of the strongest suspects.
Benjamin Stevenson starts off the novel by listing Ronald Knox’s 10 Commandments of Detective Fiction, where rule number is pretty clear – The criminal must be someone mentioned in the early part of the story, but must not be anyone whose thoughts the reader has been allowed to follow. Ernest, the narrator promises to stick to Knox’s rules and swears he isn’t going to be the murderer, since we’re allowed to follow his thoughts. Ernest like his name, does try to not mislead us, and Benjamin’s easy, mildly humorous writing style makes this a novel a largely breezy read. That is, until we finally know who the killer is!
The revelation was unexpected, it definitely catches the reader (or at least me) off-guard, but it doesn’t hit the way a fantastic murder mystery would. Let’s call the killer Nat – short for either Natalie or Nathaniel, there are no characters by those names, it’s just to keep things gender neutral and spoiler-free. Now, like all good murder mysteries, author Benjamin Stevenson makes the reader suspicious of almost everybody in “Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone”, including Nat. But nobody’s motive is crystal clear until the very end, so when the big reveal about the murderer happens, despite a lot of new information and story twists, Nat’s motivation doesn’t feel satisfactory. It doesn’t give you the ‘aha!’ kind of satisfaction.
But of-course, some readers might not mind the ending and this could still end up being a 4 or even a 5 star read for you! One of the best bits about reading “Everyone in my Family Has Killed Someone” was how easily I could visualize the stories and characters, in-fact, I kept thinking of how actor Timothy Simons (Veep/Nobody Wants This) would be perfect to play Michael, Ernest’s brother, if this novel gets a live-action adaptation.
My rating? 3 on 5 stars.
Read Next: Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing Book Review
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A Balloon’s Landing Review: Visuals Soar, Plot Runs Aground
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
“In 2003, Leslie Cheung passed away, so did my parents…“
Gotta love how Taiwanese film “A Balloon’s Landing” (original title: Wo zai zhe li deng ni) pays an ode to acting legend and queer icon Leslie Cheung. That said, the 2024 romance directed by Angel Ihan Teng, falls pretty short in terms of storytelling & execution, despite stunning cinematography, and charming lead actors.
The plot follows popular Hong Kong author Gu Tian Yu (Terrance Lau) who is mired in controversy due to plagiarism accusations by another writer. Overwhelmed by feelings of loneliness, hopelessness, and despair, Tian Yu plans on making a trip to Taiwan, to find the ‘bay of whales’, that a pen-friend used to write to him about. In Taiwan, Tian Yu runs into small-time thug Jin Run Fa (Fandy Fan), who promises to take him to the ‘bay of whales’. Unsure if the goon really knows the place or is simply trying to fleece him, Tian Yu lets the cheery Run Fa becomes his guide, and the two travel together over days, bonding unexpectedly over little misadventures and fights.
While the first half of A Balloon’s Landing is intriguing and entertaining, its slow-burn pace keeps you wondering if it really is a romance movie. The answer is: not really. It delves more into themes of friendship, and that’s what it really should’ve been about—two men bonding on a platonic level—because the romance is extremely thin. The successful author Tian Yu and poor thug Jin Run Fa work better as two men from clashing worlds, sharing a bumpy road trip together. There’s also unexpected magical realism in the tale and a heartwarming subplot about how Tian Yu communicates through letters with a young boy. It’s these letters that help him through difficult phases of his life. For the young boy, too, Tian Yu’s letters are a lifeline, a source of hope and inspiration. How their paths cross unexpectedly is very contrived in the movie.
Unlike the Taiwanese romantic movie , where a lot of angst, despair, and tragedy experienced by its lead male pair was justified, “A Balloon’s Landing” feels unnecessarily tragic. It’s also needlessly cryptic about the sexuality of its protagonists, rarely giving us honest emotional moments between the leads. For most of its runtime, it plays out as a joyous road-trip story, only to throw in a violent twist that feels forced and manipulative rather than natural. Fortunately, the magical-realism element saves the climax, offering an intriguing twist that leaves Tian Yu and Jin Run Fa’s story open-ended. Still, by the end, I couldn’t help but feel cheated—this wasn’t the dramatic romance the trailer had promised. The film squanders its magical potential to deliver a memorable love story, though its visual appeal might make it worth a one-time watch.
Rating: 5 on 10. You can watch “A Balloon’s Landing” on Netflix.
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November 28, 2024
Dan Da Dan Episode 9 Review: Teens Vs Aliens
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The creepy aliens are back—the Serpoians—and this time, they want Okarun’s ‘banana.’ Episode 8 of Dan Da Dan ends with the aliens stripping Okarun naked, and just as they were about to rip him apart, Aira transforms into Acrobatic Silky and rushes to his rescue!
Titled “Merge! Serpo Dover Demon Nessie!”, episode nine focuses on Okarun, Aira, and Momo teaming up to fight the Serpoians, who turn their school into an alternate spiritual dimension that can only be entered by powerful beings. But remember how Momo misunderstands that Okarun and Aira were making out on campus? Well, while fighting the aliens, there’s a lot of funny bickering between the three of them due to teen jealousies.
Episode nine feels like it takes a page out of Osamu Tezuka’s manga creations; it’s very sexually charged, but all of it is mixed with hilarity. To fight off the aliens, Momo and Aira ride Okarun like how Momo rode Okarun to attack Turbo Granny in episode 4 of Dan Da Dan, but the difference is—this time, Okarun is butt naked. And c’mon, you know how that sentence sounds, so imagine what it looks like, L-O-L.
The pace, animation, and music in this episode are fast and entertaining, but some of the combat sequences fall a little flat. The aliens hire a “gig worker,” or as they literally call it, a “gigu warka” (said with a Japanese accent), who kinda looks like a giant mantis and tries to pulverize the teen trio. The face-off starts with a burnt-orange tint for the first few minutes, but the second half shifts to green tones—a perfect choice to match both the mantis-like enemy and the bizarre, manipulated matrix dimension they’re trapped in.
I definitely think the previous episode was more fun, but “Merge! Serpo Dover Demon Nessie!” still ends with a wild, hilarious cliffhanger and is sure to get some big laughs from viewers willing to ride the manga madness!
You can stream ‘Dan Da Dan’ on Netflix and CrunchyRoll.
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Lucky Baskhar Review: Banks on Dulquer Salmaan But Story Arc Doesn’t Cash In
“If I win and then lose, I’ll only remember the loss. If I lose and then win, the victory remains in history. Because history only remembers how you finished. I don’t know how will history remember me. How will you remember me?”
This is the closing quote of the 2024 movie Lucky Bhaskar, starring Dulquer Salmaan as the titular protagonist, a struggling bank employee who embezzles his way into a fabulous life of wealth. Now, history is too vast a subject, but for an almost 3-hour-long film, it’s easy to remember how it begins, no matter how smart its ending might be. And for the first full hour, director and writer Venky Atluri (Vaathi/Rang De) fumbles at establishing Bhaskar as a likable protagonist.
Bhaskar is shown to be a hardworking, middle-class bank employee, knee-deep in debt because he is the sole breadwinner in a family consisting of an ailing father, two younger siblings who are college students, a homemaker wife (Meenaakshi Chaudhary), and a school-going child. But the year is 1989, Bhaskar lives in Mumbai in a house of his own, and he rides a scooter to work—two big luxuries for the time, and certainly not “borderline poverty” like Bhaskar claims at the beginning of the tale. I mean, c’mon! He doesn’t have to pay rent in Mumbai and has a bank job! The house is so big, one entire family could live in his hall and pay him rent. It seems more like a classic case of financial mismanagement.
Not sure why nobody else in Bhaskar’s family is chipping in. The college-going siblings could tutor kids in the evenings, and his educated wife, who harps on about wanting to start a home-food business, never actually gets a job to help out. Add to that, Bhaskar pins all his hopes on a promotion, and when that doesn’t happen, he picks a fight with his senior at work, only to immediately shut up when the senior points out that Bhaskar has a side hustle, which is illegal. Most of this is established in the very first ten minutes, by the way. Venky Atluri tries to paint Bhaskar as a pity-worthy, middle-class man pushed by hardships into a life of bank fraud to make quick cash. Why not just show him as he is—an opportunistic wolf in sheep’s clothing, living beyond his means?
At the beginning of Lucky Bhaskar, there’s a disclaimer that says, “Although the entire story takes place in Mumbai, all the characters speak in Telugu for the convenience of the Telugu audience.” They should’ve just added, “P.S. We don’t know much about Mumbai. He He.” The entire movie rests on Dulquer Salmaan’s shoulders, so the entertainment value of the film depends on how onboard you are with Bhaskar’s backstory of financial woes. I patiently slogged through the entire film to see if Bhaskar faces the music for his misdemeanors at some point. No such luck.
The second half of Lucky Bhaskar tries to pull a Wolf of Wall Street, with Bhaskar becoming a millionaire through market manipulation of stocks. Things do get interesting for about 30–40 minutes in between. As he keeps getting richer and greedier, he faces some minor setbacks in his personal life and conveniently learns a tough lesson through someone else’s misery. This could’ve been a highly entertaining movie if only director Venky Atluri had taken the risk to show his protagonist as a more aggressively morally gray character, instead of throwing in sentimental scenes to make viewers feel bad for him. Like a scene where Bhaskar and his family walk out of a birthday party because his sister-in-law begrudges his son an extra piece of cake, telling the kid, “This is enough for your face” (lol, wut?).
How will we remember Bhaskar? As the guy who had his cake and ate it too. Watch the film if you’re a Dulquer Salman fan.
Rating: 2 stars on 5. “Lucky Bhaskar” is on Netflix.
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Janitor 988 Short Film Review
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“Janitor 988” is an incredibly short film—under four minutes—and it popped up on my home feed, courtesy of the YouTube algorithm gods. As soon as the film began, with a scene of an unnamed janitor cleaning an office floor after hours as the only person left at work, my mind immediately went to those viral LinkedIn posts about janitors. You’ve probably seen them too—the ones quoting, “You should treat the janitor the same way you treat the CEO.”
While watching Janitor 988, I couldn’t help but think about how janitors are often invisible in workplace settings, rarely noticed, and sometimes completely isolated from the rest of the staff. This is certainly the case for the janitor in the film, who oscillates between despair, fleeting joy, and emptiness as he moves through a deserted office. His loneliness during work hours becomes a metaphor for the social isolation many people face in life. That’s the core theme of the film, as hinted at in the title: the protagonist lacks an identity beyond his employee number, ultimately reduced to a statistic after his passing.
For a film just four minutes long, Janitor 988 delivers a swift, ad-like production that might leave some viewers spiraling about what it means to feel invisible, unappreciated, and unheard. And of-course, here’s the thing about loneliness: it doesn’t care who you are. Janitor or CEO, it can hit anyone.
You can watch it now on YouTube. It’s also embedded below.
Cruel Intentions Review: Barely Bold, Mildly Entertaining
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Look, I’m sorry if you’re a big fan of the original 1999 movie Cruel Intentions, but I only saw it on TV much later, sometime in the mid-2000s… and aside from the salacious plot involving two incestuous step-siblings manipulating a sweet blonde girl played by Reese Witherspoon, I honestly don’t remember much about it. So, this review won’t make comparisons between the 2024 series and the movie, which BTW was based on the French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos.
Plot overview: After a hazing incident at an elite college places student fraternities/sororities under scrutiny, Caroline (Sarah Catherine Hook), the President of ‘Delta Phi Phi,’ conspires with her step-sibling Lucien (Zac Burgess) to seduce Annie Grover (Savannah Lee Smith), the daughter of the U.S. Vice President, in a bid to maintain their power and influence on campus. A major sub-plot focuses on how Caroline orchestrates a sly coup to oust the Alpha-Gamma President with the help of her loyal sidekick CeCe Carroway (Sara Silva) and friend Blaise Powell (John Kim), paving the way for the dim-witted Scott Russell (Khobe Clarke) to take over.
Sarah Catherine Hook looks every bit the snooty, manipulative, and privileged Caroline, complete with “mommy issues” and a willingness to stoop to any level to get what she wants. But the character often feels robotic, kinda like M3GAN from the techno-horror movie, but with even less personality. Zac Burgess, on the other hand, doesn’t quite sell the role of the man-slut Lothario Lucien, who can’t seem to get it on without a camera. Sure, Zac Burgess is undeniably cute, but he feels more like the guy you’d cast as Troy Bolton in High School Musical—you know, the “sweet, cute, nice” type—rather than the suave hotshot who can seduce any woman he sets his sights on. And I suppose that’s one of the biggest casting misfires in “Cruel Intentions”. Savannah Lee Smith is gorgeous as Annie Grover, but her character is extremely one-dimensional and boring. So, the seduction and power-games in this series is just not strong.
It’s Sara Silva as CeCe Carroway, who is the most fun to watch in this eight-episode series, a high-functioning, anxious young woman, who is like a robotic minion to Caroline. However, despite CeCe always running around doing errands, she is a lot more human. She constantly works, ensures all sorority events are perfect, becomes TA to History Professor Chadwick (Sean Patrick Thomas), and juggles both roles with surprising ease. Khobe Clarke, who plays the “dumb” Scott Russell, is the next most amusing characters in “Cruel Intentions”. After suffering some brain damage in a hazing incident, he becomes the source of the show’s silliest conversations. For example: when an inspection committee auditing the fraternity says, “We just need to take a look at your records,” Scott earnestly replies, “Yeah, we just use Spotify.”
John Kim is pretty sharp as Scott’s manipulative best-friend and secret boyfriend represents the not so privileged members of the fraternity, having to try extra hard to keep his place in the elite clubs. Brooke Lena Johnson plays Beatrice Worth, an activist-style student who leads the anti-Greek movement on campus. She campaigns for the disbandment of the “classist” social clubs, accusing them of misusing college funds and perpetuating a system of discrimination and bullying. All the college clubs function like exclusive cults, with ridiculous activities, including crazy expensive costumed parties. And while ‘realism’ is the last thing on the creators’ mind, they really have enough comedy, or even satire infused in the script to keep you glued to the screen. Although, to be fair, I was engaged enough to watch all episodes in one go, but the pace wasn’t to my liking.
It’s all the side characters in the series that are a lot more interesting, and that’s not a good thing for a show that’s looking to be back for a season 2. Unless the other characters get more screen space if a next installment happens. And for a show heavily centered around sex as a key theme, “Cruel Intentions” is barely sexy, steamy, or racy. There’s little sexual tension between step-siblings Caroline and Lucien, and I can’t even say anything about the onscreen chemistry between other characters, because they simply do not have enough scenes together.
Overall, “Cruel Intentions” is a very good-looking series, courtesy a gorgeous cast, lavish sets, some beautiful sequences, however, it’s just not as bold, or saucy as one would want it to be. At least this is more entertaining than Prime Video’s “Maxton Hall”, another 2024 series which follows rich kids in an Elite school.
Rating: 5 on 10. Watch the series on Prime Video.
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November 27, 2024
Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing Book Review
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Between the 40% and 70% mark of this book, I thought about quitting Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing several times. But, much like this novel’s protagonist, who doesn’t like to leave things unfinished, I have a self-destructive habit of finishing any book I start, no matter how tedious it becomes. Thankfully, the climax is quite nice & open-ended, versus just how unreadable the novel becomes in between.
More than anything, this novel is about Cleo McDougal repeating the same points over and over again—the world is tough for women, being a single mother is extremely difficult, and she isn’t a very good person. Okay, yes, we get it, Cleo—men have it easy & motherhood is hard. You don’t need to say it 200 times! Author Allison Winn Scotch doesn’t stick to the basics of writing: “show, don’t tell.” Ironically, Cleo McDougal, a senator aspiring to run for President, seems to have things conveniently fall into place for her all the time, despite her constant whining. The ambitious Cleo, in-fact, is the biggest villain of her life, courtesy some calculated mean moves & poor decisions.
“Cleo McDougal is not a good person. She does good, yes, but doing good and being good aren’t the same thing, now, are they?” – opening lines of the Op-ed.
The plot is pretty simple and the novel does begin on an interesting note – Senator Cleo McDougal wakes up to find out she’s gone viral after her estranged childhood best-friend writes a nasty opinion piece stating “Cleo McDougal is not a good person”, while also insinuating that her son could be from an affair with a professor. Cleo and her team spring into damage control mode, worried that public opinion might jeopardize her chances of running for President. Acting on her political advisor Gaby’s suggestion, Cleo heads to her hometown to publicly apologize to a former friend MaryAnne —on camera, of course. Gaby also encourages her to tackle a list of 233 regrets (yep, she’s got them all written in a diary) as a way to show the world she’s a fallible, relatable human. I won’t write about what those regrets are, if you’re planning on reading the book, because well, they are the only interesting bits in the story. This book is all about Senator McDougal stumbling through her personal life in an attempt to score brownie points on her political journey.
Author Allison Winn Scotch’s writing style is simple and easy to follow, but the narration gets frustratingly repetitive. The protagonist, Cleo McDougal, isn’t exactly likable—whether it’s how she handles her professional affairs or how she deals with her teenage son, Lucas, a lot of her behavior screams “red flag.” For example, while snooping on her kid might be something many parents give in to, Cleo takes it further by jumping to serious accusations based on assumptions and hearsay instead of just talking to him like a reasonable adult. The other characters don’t get enough space in the book to form strong opinions about them.
For a self-made lawyer-turned-politician, Cleo has surprisingly little tact—it feels like you’re reading about a teenager running for school elections, not a 37-year-old, shrewd woman who lost her parents early, got pregnant while still in law school, and worked tirelessly to balance being a single mom and a driven law student. Or at least, the author rarely shows readers the more likable sides of her character. If things work out in the end for Cleo, it’s because the other people in her life aren’t as narcissistic as her, and surprisingly quite forgiving and helpful. Good for Cleo.
Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing has a fun start and an emotional ending, but left me feeling plenty of ‘regret’ as I slogged through its boring middle sections.
Rating: 2 on 5 stars. The novel is also on Kindle Unlimited.
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November 26, 2024
Merry Gentlemen Review: A Flat ‘X-Mas Romance Meets Magic Mike’
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
The 2024 film The Merry Gentlemen starts with what is supposed to be a Christmas-themed dance show called Jingle Belles on Broadway, but the choreography makes it look like a school function number performed by primary kids—the kind only the relatives or parents of participants would enjoy watching. Perhaps the creators were aiming for something like the Jingle Bell Rock number from Mean Girls, but it’s nowhere near as entertaining or funny.
Britt Robertson plays Ashley, a lead Broadway dancer who is fired and replaced by a much younger talent just days before Christmas. Already struggling financially, Ashley heads home after years and learns that her parents’ business—a performance venue—is in trouble. To save it from shutting down, she organizes an all-male revue to raise funds. Ashley persuades local hunk Luke (Chad Michael Murray) to team up with her, a ‘nice young sing man’ who usually helps her parents with their plumbing issues. What unfolds next is a formulaic Hallmark Christmas romance meets Magic Mike. Sort of.
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Here’s the problem: in trying to cater to two major genres—a festive Christmas romance and theatrical dances featuring shirtless men—The Merry Gentlemen ends up delivering neither a compelling love story nor the kind of expertly choreographed dance routines that would leave you thrilled. Remember The “Step Up” movies? They may have lacked strong plots, but at least they made up for it with spectacularly choreographed dances. To be fair, some of the dance scenes are fun to watch, but the exaggerated media attention they receive in the story feels far too unrealistic.
Brit Roberston and Chad Michael Murray make a good-looking onscreen couple, however, that barely makes “The Merry Gentlemen” entertaining. I don’t mind the familiar story of a big-city girl returning to her small town, helping her parents’ struggling business, and falling in love; however, the script needed a lot more punch! The climactic twists are far too predictable, making this a title worth exploring only if you’re in the mood for a generic Christmas romance or some eye candy with shirtless men dancing.
Rating: 4 on 10. The movie is on Netflix.
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Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions Episode 21 Review
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How are Ron and Toto not living together already? Or maybe they are, we just don’t know it yet, because the show’s focus is almost always on the murder cases they are solving. For instance, Episode 21 of Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions starts with a scene of Ron playing with a toy (yes, seriously), while Toto just walks into his place in what’s definitely casual home clothes, with no real agenda.
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“When you said you’d go crazy from boredom without a case, did you really mean it?!”
Toto freaks out and asks Ron if he is losing his sanity after catching our genius detective sitting on the floor and playing with a toy like a toddler. But nope, Ron Kamonohashi is only trying to piece together some missing memories of his childhood. Meanwhile, yes, he is dying to get his hands on another murder case!
Titled “The Case of the Psychological Research Lab Murder”, Episode 21 of Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions takes Ron and Toto to the Maruyama Laboratory in Tokyo University. The two basically tag along with crime reporter Chikori Monki, hoping she might lead them to an interesting new case. And, of course, as with every moment in the anime series, they stumble upon a rather shocking new murder to unravel. In a slight departure from most of their earlier cases, this time around the characters feel a little more personally connected to the victim, leaving Toto slightly shaken by the crime.
The first half of this episode is fun and comedic in tone, with most of the humor stemming from Chikori’s fangirl-level admiration for Toto’s “deduction skills.” However, things take a tense turn in the last few minutes when a premeditated explosion brutally kills someone, and multiple suspects emerge. Unlike the “Hummingbird – Talent Kidnapper” case, where the suspect was fairly obvious, this time there’s plenty of suspense over who the killer in the lab murder could be. We’ll have to wait until the next episode to find out!
Stream the series (Kamonohashi Ron no Kindan Suiri) on Netflix or CrunchyRoll.
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Spellbound Review: Enchanting But The Songs Lack Magic
Director: Vicky Jenson
Writers: Vicky Jenson, Lauren Hynek, Elizabeth Martin
Review by: Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Ah, it’s such a joy to see movies where the creators aren’t afraid of colors! And if ‘too colorful’ sounds like a nightmare to you, steer clear of the 2024 animated movie “Spellbound”.
Actor Rachel Zegler (Westside Story/Shazam! Fury of the Gods) voices Princess Ellian, who is about to turn fifteen and has already been dealing with more than a teen can handle – running an entire kingdom, because her parents are monsters. Quite literally. King Solon (Javier Bardem) and Queen Ellsmere (Nicole Kidman) are cursed during a forest trip, turning into giant, destructive, bickering (but cute-looking) beasts. Princess Ellian must find a way to turn them back into humans, or they will remain monsters forever!
The first half of “Spellbound” is super cute and a lot of fun, with Princess Ellian pouring all her time and energy into managing her chaotic, monster-ified parents. Thankfully, she’s got her trusty ministers, Nazara (Jenifer Lewis) and Bolinar (John Lithgow), to help out. Eventually, Ellian seeks guidance from the Oracles of the Moon and Sun—Luno (Tituss Burgess) and Sunny (Nathan)—who suggest taking her parents to a magical lake. The catch? The journey involves trekking through a dark, danger-filled forest. And with the King and Queen constantly bickering in their hybrid animal forms, it’s anything but smooth sailing.
The animation by Skydance Animation, just like their previous work “Luck”, is very bright, vibrant, with adorable fantasy creatures. “Spellbound” kicks off with Ellian riding an adorable magical creature—a fluffy mix of tiger, cat, and owl, complete with wings. And one thing I loved about Princess Ellian is how, unlike most Disney princesses, she rocks pants and riding boots instead of impractical gowns. In one scene, she even wears something that looks like it’s inspired by Indian dhoti pants (seriously, look it up!).
One of the weakest aspects of Spellbound is its music. Aside from the opening track, which is entertaining thanks to Ellian’s quirky take on her “monster parents,” the rest of the songs feel repetitive and uninspired. For a musical, this is a glaring shortfall—the creators should have put more effort into crafting memorable tracks. Unlike Encanto, Frozen, and other popular animated films, Spellbound lacks a single standout song to leave a lasting impression.
The second-half of “Spellbound” is quite dragged out, with an unnecessary sequence of Princess Ellian saving a helpless creature in the dark forest, to establish her brave spirit. Seriously, she’s been running an entire kingdom for a year and caring for her cursed parents like a devoted pet parent. We didn’t need extra scenes to know she has a heart of gold. Ellian’s charm is obvious from the very first few frames of the film!
When Ellian finally reaches the lake, Spellbound dives into some emotionally heavy themes—but it doesn’t quite explain them in a way that kids would fully grasp. For older viewers, though, it works as a clever metaphor: bickering parents can seem monstrous to their children, unintentionally forcing them into adult responsibilities. Teen Ellian is completely drained from trying to ‘fix’ her parents when she should be focusing on herself and enjoying life as a teenager. While Spellbound has its heart in the right place, the overly stretched second half makes the ending a bit of a slog to get through.
Rating: 6 on 10. Watch ‘Spellbound’ on Netflix.
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