Nicole Kidman in Netflix Animated Fantasy

Charges of beastly parents take on a literal meaning in Spellbound, a moving if somewhat familiar animated fantasy musical from Skydance Animation. When protagonist Ellian (Rachel Zegler) describes her parents as monsters, she’s not echoing the clichéd allegation lodged by teens everywhere. She’s being dead serious. Nearly a year ago, while ambling through the forest, her parents were turned into unruly behemoths. 

Few people in their kingdom of Lumbria are aware of this transformation, since, with the help of royal advisors Bolinar (John Lithgow) and Nazara (Jenifer Lewis), the princess has managed to keep her parents hidden away for the better part of the year. In a charming early sequence, Ellian cites the very normal adolescent desire to spend more — not less — time with Mom and Dad as the reason she can’t hang out with her friends. But the masquerade is not sustainable, and on the eve of her 15th birthday, Ellian makes a breakthrough in her effort to break the curse.

Helmed by Shrek co-director Vicky Jenson, Spellbound follows Ellian as she journeys across the land to save her parents. The film flaunts vivid animation and some pretty striking moments, captured with close-ups and unexpected angles — but similar to Skydance Animation’s debut venture Luck, Spellbound inspires a sense of déjà vu. Its focus on the relationship between a young person and a parent who’s been transmuted from human to animal form recalls the plots of Pixar’s Brave and Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away. 

Spellbound tries to differentiate itself early on. Lauren Hynek, Elizabeth Martin and Julia Miranda’s screenplay withholds the cause of the parental transformation until quite close to the end — a smart choice that puts viewers in the throes of action from the first song, which Zegler belts with typical panache. The number (music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Glenn Slater) quickly establishes the fact that King Solon (Javier Bardem) and Queen Ellsmere (Nicole Kidman) are monsters, and explains how Ellian assumes the position of the country’s de facto leader.

It also gets to the emotional core of the narrative— the isolation Ellian feels as a young person forced to care for her parents and maintain hope in the face of despair. (That no one in Lumbria questions the suddenly reclusive nature of their monarchs requires some suspension of belief.)

Shenanigans ensue in Spellbound’s first act. Ellian meets the Oracles (voiced with humor by Nathan Lane and Tituss Burgess), who initially appear to have a solution to the monster problem. Unfortunately, they don’t turn out to be very helpful, and when the citizenry eventually discover the truth about their royal leaders, panic sets in. Forced to come up with a plan, Bolinar and Nazar decide to crown Ellian as ruler and take the monster king and queen elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Ellian, propelled by a renewed desperation to protect her misunderstood family, seeks out the Oracles again for advice. The plot zigs and zags like this for a while, sometimes confusingly, before heading in a more straightforward direction.

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Once Ellian, her monster parents and her pet rat leave the court, 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. There are wide shots that help us appreciate the kingdom’s picturesque and herbaceous landscape and close-ups that prove these monsters have an inner life. 

Memorable scenes include when Ellian and her parents are in a cave, where their echoes become radiant orbs. The two monsters humorously mimic their daughter, whose melodic voice reverberates through the dark corridor. It’s the first time we hear Kidman and Bardem’s voices, and there’s an emotional weight to the moment as Ellian realizes that her parents, after a year of grunts and incoherent sounds, can understand her. The trek is littered with moments like these, in which Ellian finally gets to reconnect with her mother and father, after being deprived of their material and psychic support for so long. Kidman and Bardem also get a chance to sing, in a mostly moving tune about memory and their past lives as humans.

The closer Ellian and her parents get to their solution, however, the more Spellbound edges into forgettable territory. When the film widens its scope, turning its attention away from the parents, it sags from familiarity. The forest, its creatures and the challenges posed by the landscape start to feel like things we’ve seen before. Even the songs, while assured, seem more ephemeral. 

But revelations about life for Ellian and her parents before they were turned into monsters revive the stakes of the film. The third act, which I won’t spoil here, does offer something truly different in terms of lessons about children, their parents and the chasm of misunderstanding that widens with each conflict. The closer Spellbound sticks this message, the more it packs an emotional punch.