Spellbound (2024)

image for Spellbound (2024)

Short takes

Not suitable under 6; parental guidance to 8 (scary scenes, fantasy themes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Spellbound (2024)
  • a review of Spellbound (2024) completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 26 November 2024.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 6 Not suitable due to scary scenes.
Children aged 6–8 Parental guidance recommended due to scary scenes.
Children aged 9 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Spellbound (2024)
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild upsetting scenes (BBFC)
Length: 109 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the 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 and Nazara are hiding the fact that her parents, King Solon (Javier Bardem) and Queen Ellsmere (Nicole Kidman), have turned into large monsters – keeping the public unaware. Ellian seeks help from the Oracles of the Sun, Sunny (Tituss Burgess), and the Moon, Luno (Nathan Lane), to transform them back into their human selves. The Oracles tell Ellian she must follow the light and not be consumed by the darkness in order to undo the spell.

Ellian sets out on her journey with her monster parents but not before the General (Olga Merediz) discovers the monsters and is determined to banish them from the kingdom, unknowing who they are. Ellian has to 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.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Fantasy; Family; Divorce.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some ‘comic’ violence in this movie, including:

  • Characters getting squashed behind doors, knocked over etc.
  • The monsters pick up people in their mouths but they are unhurt.

Other violence includes:

  • Seven of eight messenger birds were turned to stone on their journey. The eighth one dies on its return and Ellian accidentally pulls its head off trying to retrieve the message.
  • The Queen/mother monster eats the Oracles but then spits them out.
  • The monsters toss Ellian up 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, 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 seen covered in projectiles and then sinks into the ground.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • Ellian’s parents are blue and green monsters.
  • The kingdom has large, cat-type creatures with wings which are used for transport.
  • The Oracles appear as purple, shadowy creatures with white eyes.
  • Musical instruments come to life on their own and start playing.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • Ellian enters a dark room where a piano is playing by itself. She carries a lantern and remembers how her life used to be with her Mum and Dad.
  • The monsters are locked in their room but manage to escape. They cause mayhem, chasing sheep. Cordona, the General, orders them to be sent far away. They’re tied up and put into cages under the guard of soldiers carrying swords.
  • Bolinar swaps bodies with Flink, Ellian’s small, fluffy pet creature.
  • Ellian’s carriage drops through a hole in the ground and travels fast on an underground route.
  • Ellian and Bolinar enter a cave full of blue lights. When she speaks, blue bubbles come from her mouth but when Bolinar speaks, red lightning bolts come from his mouth. Soon the cave is covered in red bolts.
  • The darkness appears as a black, swirling tornado.
  • Ellian and her monster parents sink into quicksand, as do the soldiers who pursue them.
  • A baby cat/bird falls over a cliff. Ellian tries to save it and falls over the cliff too. Mother monster comes to the rescue.
  • Ellian enters a sand cave that is full of eyes.
  • Ellian gets angry with her parents and is surrounded by the darkness.
  • The soldiers capture the monsters and put iron muzzles over their mouths.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

  • Ellian’s parents turned into monsters because they were always fighting. At the end of the movie, they decide to live separately and Ellian thinks this is a good thing as she now has two homes to live in and is spoilt by both parents.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

  • None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Some drinking at a party.

Coarse language

  • None noted.

In a nutshell

Spellbound is an animated, musical movie about family and dysfunction of family. The film has a few intense moments and some scary scenes, which makes it unsuitable for under 6’s. The music is quite uplifting, however, and the animation is colourful and bright. Due to its themes, Spellbound is more suited for older children and teens.

The main messages from this movie are not to let dark thoughts and feelings consume you and that there is always hope that things will get better.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Bravery
  • Courage
  • Taking responsibility
  • The importance of family, which can come in different shapes.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • Having negative and dark thoughts can consume you – this is represented in the movie by the ‘darkness’ surrounding Ellian. Parents could talk to their children about the importance of looking for the good or the light in situations and not to be overcome by dark thoughts.
  • The movie also talks about the fact that Mum and Dad were too busy arguing about things than to care properly for their daughter. This could give parents the opportunity to discuss whether a child feels safer when parents in this situation decide to separate but still share the upbringing of their child.