Exploring the enchanted kingdom of Spellbound with Shrek director Vicky Jenson

Last Updated on November 25, 2024

For as long as I can remember, fairy tales have been an integral part of storytelling in animation. In my youth, I remember Disney princesses and nightmarish monsters bringing new twists on the stories of Grimm, Andersen, Aesop, Carroll, and more to life with vibrant colors, engaging characters, and endless amounts of imagination. As Grandfather Time traversed the timeline, the tradition of reimagining cautionary tales endured, bringing characters like Alice, Aurora, Pinocchio, Rapunzel, and Saoirse to screens. Today, fairy tales feel as if they’re few and far between. So, it’s fitting to see Vicky Jenson, the director of Shrek, helming a film that invites many characters to join the adventure, bringing the genre back to form with Skydance Animation‘s enchanting new film Spellbound.

JoBlo recently attended a sneak peek at Spellbound, where several of the project’s filmmakers shared their insight and passion for Skydance Animation’s latest foray into a fairytale kingdom. On deck to give us a guided tour around the film’s enchanted land, Lumbria, were Vicky Jenson (Director), Susan Fitzer (Editor), Brian Pimental (Head of Story), Brett Nystul (Production Designer), Guillermo Ramirez (Character Art Director), with entertainment journalist Scott Mantz moderating.

Before we dive into what we’ve learned, I want you to have all the background. Spellbound follows the adventures of Ellian, the tenacious princess who must go on a daring quest to save her family and kingdom after a mysterious spell transforms her parents, the King and Queen of Lumbria, into monsters.

Work on Spellbound began seven years ago when Skydance Animation approached Vicky Jenson to direct the project. Jenson, who’s no stranger to fairytale filmmaking thanks to Shrek, says Spellbound is a “fairytale take on a modern story.” The creative team behind the film used classic elements like a kingdom, king, queen, and princess to share a new allegory focusing on family. Concerning the world of Spellbound, Jenson wanted the project to reflect her Latin roots, so instead of taking inspiration from Anglo motifs, the team studied Ancient Spain and Moorish influences to complete Lumbria’s look and surrounding territories.

Creating the kingdom of Lumbria was a labor of love between artists from Skydance Animation and Madrid. Instead of presenting the forests as a dark, foreboding labyrinth of twisted trees and briar patches, the team added pops of color to the environment to give it a more magical feel. Lumbrians built the royal castle atop a spiraling tree containing several layers as the wood curls toward the sky. Like Tool’s 2001 studio album “Lateralus,” Spellbound emphasizes spirals at every opportunity, weaving the shape into architecture, swirling waterways, and other masses of natural splendor.

While Spellbound strives to touch on many colors of the electromagnetic spectrum, the artists kept the palette simple while designing Castle Lumbria and its neighboring edifices. However, the fortress’s surrounding area contains interconnected islands bordering a circular waterfall that holds the secret entrance to the kingdom. Lush green hills and flower fields envelop the watery entrance on all sides, much like the vast poppy field in The Wizard of Oz, but with less asbestos raining from the sky.

Rachel Zegler, who voices Princess Ellian, signed onto the film early in its production cycle. Vicky Jenson says they found her online before she started shooting Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. The team at Skydance Animation was so impressed with her early performances that many of them made it into Spellbound‘s final cut. Ellian is athletic, playful, goofy, a little clumsy, and unspoiled by the effects of social media. Princess Ellian wears various outfits throughout the film to help her feel like an actual person instead of a static character. Despite her wardrobe variety, Ellian’s outfits have a certain cohesion, and many include spirals to keep with Lumbria’s overall design.

If you study the character designs for King Solon (Javier Bardem) and Queen Ellsemere (Nicole Kidman), you’ll notice their monster forms reflect their human counterparts. The royal couple are already in their monster forms when the story begins, with their human forms presented in flashbacks and later in the narrative. When King Solon is a monster, he curls up into a ball to reflect his protective nature, while Queen Ellsemere’s monster disposition is quieter and more reserved. You could even say she’s cat-like. Initially, Spellbound focused more on magic, with neighboring kingdoms at war, wielding spells and incantations to overcome others. However, Jenson and her team felt the magic overshadowed character growth and focus. Instead, the team scaled back the magical elements and concentrated on the royal family dynamics.

Many animated movies introduce outstanding sidekick characters, like Archimedes (The Sword in the Stone), Pascal (Tangled), Cri-Kee (Mulan), and Ray (The Princess and the Frog). Spellbound includes Ellian’s traveling partner, Flink, a mute hamster, weasel, raccoon, and munchkin-like creature who unwaveringly supports the princess in any scenario. Netflix’s sneak peek at Spellbound included a drawing session with the film’s Character Art Director, Guillermo Ramirez, who took us through a step-by-step tutorial on drawing Flink. You can check out the results of my drawing below. My art chops are rusty, and I always draw with Crayola crayons, so erasing lines to clean up the sketch isn’t possible. Still, I like the way my drawing of Flink turned out.

Other characters in Spellbound include the Oracles, played by Nathan Lane (Luno – Oracle on the Moon) and Tituss Burgess (Sunny – Oracle of the Sun). Despite his decades of excellence on the stage and screens, Lane believed he was unfit for the part and suggested getting Jason Alexander (Seinfeld) instead. Once Lane realized the team was serious about him being perfect for the part of Luno, he joined the film enthusiastically. While in the recording booth, Lane improved a lot of dialogue, and many of his clever, off-the-cuff bits made it into the film’s final cut.

While many contemporary animated films tend to avoid musical numbers, favoring fast-paced action sequences and villainous monologues, Spellbound embraces its musical roots. The songs play an integral part in telling Ellian’s story and help bring the kingdom of Lumbria to life. Not only do the lyrics bring nuance to the characters and their emotions, but they also reveal aspects of the plot. Brian Pimental cleverly incorporates the music into environments and character actions throughout the film. There’s a moment in the movie when Ellian reflects on her parents’ situation while walking the remnants of a ruined castle. As her song begins, droplets of water fall from the ceiling, landing on the strings of an open piano, the notes serving as the opening for her tune. It’s tiny flourishes like this when the music in Spellbound elevates beyond a straightforward narrative number.

During a Q&A session, I asked Vicky if she had a favorite fairytale and if any story in particular helped lay the foundation for Spellbound. She says she likes “dark” fairytales, like The Little Mermaid. She enjoys it when characters have challenges to overcome or when they have a deep wish, and a spell makes it possible. Instead of taking inspiration from one fairytale, Jenson says Spellbound takes cues from various stories. One tale that comes to mind is The Twelve Dancing Princesses by the Brothers Grimm, featuring a spell cast over an entire kingdom. Other stories that come to mind when thinking about Spellbound are Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks, and The Unknown World.

Like many fairytales from generations past, Spellbound hopes to explore the subconscious and tap into metaphorical storytelling. When they’re upset, young people often see their parents as monsters. In Spellbound, Ellian’s parents are monsters, bringing the metaphor to life with sharp teeth, armored scales, and unpredictability. There’s still so much we’ve yet to see regarding Spellbound, though it will resonate with young audiences who see themselves in Ellian and the challenge before her. Dark forests hold more than glowing eyes, gnashing teeth, and sharp claws. As you traverse the shadowy wood, you meet your nightmares head-on and emerge stronger on the other side. Spellbound wants to hold your hand as you cross the thicket and sing you a song to light the way.

Spellbound director Vicky Jenson spoke with me about her latest film to add more insight to our coverage.

At the start of our conversation, I asked Vicky about dedicating seven years of her time and effort to Spellbound. I wanted to know what stood out about the film to warrant that level of commitment. “It had a lot to say, which I really appreciated,” Vicky said. “It’s the story of a family going through a really difficult time and finding their way back to each other by the end. It’s about having a happy ending, but not the one you’d expect. I adored that. I thought it was a story that needed to be told, that hadn’t been told.”

Perhaps not so surprisingly, Vicky then mentioned how aspects of Spellbound are reminiscent of the classic Robin Williams comedy Mrs. Doubtfire, saying, “Families like Eilian’s hadn’t really been explored like this in an animated film. The closest thing I could think of is Mrs. Doubtfire. It’s super fun but very real and honest about facing the hard stuff. At the same time, with a lovely ending that makes you feel good.”

Next, I asked Vicky where she would go in the kingdom of Lumbria to relax, somewhere she could curl up with a good book. She said, “Wow, that’s so cool,” in response to the question. Yeah, I’m bragging. What? Anyway, she continued, “Some of the rooms around the castle are so beautiful. I love the trees. You never know what might have grown or been carved by the gardener’s hands throughout the kingdom. I wish we could have done more down by the water. The market square is really wonderful, but we have these waterways throughout, with beautiful boats on them, but we just soar past them.” Vicky continued, “We surrounded the whole castle with a Niagara Falls-like waterway, like a moat in reverse.

Lastly, I asked Vicky if there’s a moral or message she hopes audiences take away from Spellbound. She said, “I’ll try not to get too preachy, but if there’s love, there’s family. It doesn’t matter what the family looks like. If parents can extend themselves and really listen to their kids and make them feel loved, that goes miles.” She added, “It goes the other way, too. Kids need to understand that parents are people, they’re not just monsters. People make mistakes, but making each other feel loved, that’s family.”

Spellbound arrives on Netflix this Friday, November 22, 2024.