Netflix’s animated Spellbound does not really play by the usual princess rules. That, more than the sparkles, is what caught my attention.
What Makes This Movie Different
In a lot of animated fare, the villain is obvious and the ending clicks shut like a music box. Spellbound wanders off that path. We follow Princess Ellian as her parents turn into monsters, not because an evil witch meddled or a sorcerer cursed them, but because they cannot stop arguing.
For a kids’ story, that choice feels gutsy, maybe even risky. Instead of blaming a shadowy outsider, the film points inward. It suggests that families, at times, come apart through patterns they create themselves, often slowly, then all at once.
The Story That Surprised Everyone
Ellian grows up in Lumbria. When the transformation happens, she assumes the solution must be out there somewhere, a rare spell or a buried charm. So she heads out, over mountains, through forests, chasing something that might not exist.
What she finds is not a potion. It is a reckoning. The constant conflict between her parents is framed as the cause of the curse, their fury shaping them into something unrecognizable. Breaking it asks for honesty and acceptance, not a magic word.
Here is the part that lingers. The parents do not slide back together at the end. They choose to separate, carefully, and still hold onto their bond with Ellian. The family changes shape, yet it does not vanish.
Why Some People Love It and Others Don’t
Reactions have been mixed. Some viewers and critics seem to value the candor around family dynamics. Rachel Zegler gives Ellian a voice that feels lived-in. Alan Menken’s music leans familiar without feeling stale, and Nicole Kidman with Javier Bardem add weight to the monster parents.
Others think the tone leans heavy for a family film. Many children are used to tidy fairy-tale endings with all the bows tied. Spellbound invites something knottier, which can land awkwardly, depending on the day and the kid.
On IMDb it sits around 5.5 out of 10, a middle lane that hints at strong, split responses rather than indifference.
What This Means for Kids’ Movies
Spellbound lines up with a trend that has been building. Turning Red, Encanto, and a few others keep circling complicated family stuff. These stories do not always step back when things get uncomfortable.
Some parents feel uneasy with that shift and prefer pure escapism for movie night. Others argue that kids manage nuance better than adults assume, and maybe that is true more often than not.
The likely answer lives somewhere between those poles. Children notice conflict and separation in real life, and a film that treats those realities with some gentleness might help them name what they are already seeing.
The Technical Side
Director Vicky Jenson, of Shrek fame, keeps the craft steady. The images pop with color, the staging reads clearly, and the performances sound grounded rather than sugary.
Production stretched over years. Development kicked off in 2017 under different titles and studios, then Netflix stepped in and the release finally landed in November 2024.
Final Thoughts
Spellbound may not become a universal favorite. It asks harder questions than it answers, and it sits with the mess a bit. That might be a feature, not a flaw.
What it circles, again and again, is the idea that love can persist while shape-shifting. Families reconfigure, ties loosen in one place and hold fast in another. It hurts, and still, there is a way through.
Whether it hits or misses for you, it nudges people to talk. For a so-called kids’ movie, that is a quiet kind of magic, the kind that hangs around after the credits, or at least it did for me.
