The House of Magic

The House of Magic – When a kitten is abandoned by the roadside, he finds himself in a spooky house, chased by a mean rabbit (Jack) and mouse (Maggie). After being welcomed and named Thunder by the house’s owner, an old magician called Lawrence, Thunder is determined to stay in his new home along with all the sentient inventions that also live there despite Jack and Maggie’s schemes. However, when Lawrence winds up in hospital, his nephew sees his chance to get his hands on the old man’s house by nefarious means – can Thunder and his new friends stop him before their beloved home is taken away from them?

The House of Magic (2013) – Director: Jeremy Degruson, Ben Stassen

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43953943

Rating: U

Running Length: 85 mins

Starring: Brianne Brozey, Doug Stone, Grant George

Genre: Animated, Action/Adventure

REVIEW: ‘THE HOUSE OF MAGIC’

Starting a kids’ movie with a cute kitten being unceremoniously abandoned by its owners is certainly a risky move so ‘The House of Magic’ gave itself a big task to make itself enjoyable rather than morose slog to get through. Thankfully, the movie lightens in time to save itself and the adventures of the newly named, aforementioned kitten, Thunder, in his new home can begin.

What ‘The House of Magic’ does best is beautiful, enchanting animation with a plethora of the weird and wonderful, most notably Lawrence’s sentient automatons who never speak but have lovely little personalities. The characters are all either interesting or fun; ‘Jack’ and ‘Maggie’ are worried about keeping their positions in the family which translates into them being nasty and sometimes aggressive towards the cute newcomer – worried they will get the boot themselves.

Unfortunately the plot of the movie is a little thin on the ground, with around two-thirds of it being solely about the house’s inhabitants thwarting Lawrence’s nephew’s plans to sell the house and sending the old man to a retirement home. However the gorgeous visuals and dynamic characters more than make up for the lack of meaty storylines.

CONTENT: IS ‘THE HOUSE OF MAGIC’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

The opening scene may be a little intense for younger children. It starts with a car pulling up to a curb and a ball is thrown out, a kitten jumps after it and starts to joyfully play with it. While the cat is distracted, the car door is closed and the vehicle pulls away, leaving the cat behind. He suddenly realises and desperately follows along the road but is almost run over numerous times and loses the car.

Shortly after, he comes across a dog who aggressively and relentlessly chases him for around 30 seconds until he runs into the garden of a spooky-looking house which the dog is afraid of. Once inside the house, the cat is continuously terrified by the items inside, including a large dark figure which looms over him (a mannequin), and a creepy toy clown. In his scramble to get out, he ends up on his back and watches in horror as large spiders drop down towards him in close-up (this is shot from his point of view so it looks like these spiders are heading towards the viewer).

A figure pushes against the front door of the house, trying to get in. The door gives way and the feet of the man are seen walking through the house to where other characters are. They are afraid at first but it turns out to be a relative of the house’s owner.

The characters of Jack and Maggie are nasty to Thunder, expecting him to leave when they make vague but menacing threats to him. At one point they are in a box which is strapped to a bicycle and Thunder sits on top of it. There are several breathing holes in the box which Jack jabs a pencil through in order to scare and upset Thunder. Thunder’s panicked movements cause the bike to crash and puts the rider, Lawrence, into hospital. Thunder comes across a dog who makes him feel guilty about what has happened saying ‘You sent him to the hospital or maybe to the cemetery’.

Lawrence has made several sentient strange-looking automatons who Thunder gets on well with. When he returns to the house, feeling guilty about the part he played in Lawrence’s accident, he tells the toys what has happened. They suddenly freeze in place and then start to silently move towards Thunder, he becomes increasingly afraid and tries to back away but is surrounded and the toys reach out to him. After a few seconds, Thunder realises that they are not being aggressive but are attempting to console him instead.

A character catches Thunder and delightedly says ‘It’s the Boston River for you!’

Removals men arrive at the house but Thunder and the others set up elaborate traps to scare them. Although it is clear that it is being done by the ‘good’ characters for good reasons, the visuals appear to take the viewer through a haunted house with one scare quickly following another. At one point, a Fortune Teller attraction which is illuminated by an eerie red light is pushed in front of one of the men for several seconds. A big black, ghostly figure looms over the men, grinning and cackling at them.

Lawrence’s nephew, Daniel, gets increasingly frustrated at his schemes being thwarted and eventually turns up at house with a gun. He shoots at Thunder numerous times, clearly intent on killing him. As Thunder tries to get away, he is increasingly cornered and ends up in the top floor of the house, a box falls on top of him, seemingly crushing him.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘THE HOUSE OF MAGIC’ FOR KIDS?

Gorgeous and fun but with a lack of strong plot, ‘The House of Magic’ is an unusual but brilliantly put together movie that the whole family can enjoy. While it should be appropriate for all ages, we recommend parental supervision for the opening scene.

• Violence: 2/5
• Emotional Distress: 1/5
• Fear Factor: 2/5 (some scenes could be quite intense for young children especially as they are quite prolonged with little light relief to ease any fears)
• Sexual Content: 0/5
• Bad Language: 0/5
• Dialogue: 1/5
• Other Notes: Deals with themes of abandonment, standing up for yourself, finding your place, greed, trust, and betrayal.

Words by Laura Record

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