From the creatives behind Toy Story, Cars, A Bug’s Life, and Shrek comes Spellbound, a whimsical animated adventure from Skydance Animation for the whole family! What happens when the rulers of a kingdom become magically transformed into monsters, and their only hope of being restored is their determined daughter and a population of frightened followers in the grips of panic? We’re about to find out, thanks to Skydance’s Spellbound trailer!
Here’s the official synopsis for Spellbound courtesy of Netflix:
Every kid has trouble getting along with their parents sometimes, but this is ridiculous. In the new animated adventure Spellbound, Ellian (voiced by Rachel Zegler) squares off with her mother and father, the king and queen of Lumbria. But this isn’t your typical family drama — a mysterious spell has transformed Ellian’s parents into massive, rampaging monsters.
Beneath all of the magic and mayhem, Spellbound is a human story, a brand new one that director Vicky Jenson (Shrek) told Netflix uses fantastical elements to tell an all too relatable tale: “If we start with the familiar — the kingdom, a princess, a king, a queen, and a spell — we could use that to express the story of this family.”
Jenson said, “For me, the story is even more universal than the specifics of this family dynamic. For me, it speaks to kids and their parents, to the kind of alienation that can happen as we grow up, and the steps we have to make towards each other to weather it together and come through the other side with better understanding.”
So, as Ellian hits the road to try to break the spell on her parents, don’t be too surprised if you see a few things in Lumbria that you find recognizable along the way. The film’s new trailer showcases just a few of those similarities to our world, from a rideshare uh, frog who receives five literal stars to a “wand” that functions like a car key fob. “Finding the allegory, finding the fairy tale paradigm, the shape of it, I think is what was a real breakthrough for us,” Jenson said.
Spellbound stars Rachel Zegler as Ellian, whose dream has been to participate in an animated musical since she was a child—and with music arranged by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater, no less.
Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem star as Ellain’s royal parents. “Nicole’s the biggest actress there is. She’s super in demand,” Jenson said. “But then, when she saw it, even [on a] laptop, she goes, ‘Oh, I love it. I want to be a part of this.'”
Meanwhile, Bardem had his own journey to Spellbound. “He just would come straight from the set of Dune: Part Two,” Jenson said. “He’s like, ‘I apologize, I’ve been wearing a rubber suit all day.'” Bardem channeled his hot days into a not-so-kingly soundtrack: “A lot of the animal noises, some of the monster dad sounds, he definitely created,” Jenson added. “He played around with wolf growls and stuff, and incorporated that into his laugh.”
Today’s Spellbound trailer teases spirited voice performances from an eclectic cast, including John Lithgow, Jenifer Lewis, Tituss Burgess, and Nathan Lane. Vicky Jenson directs Spellbound from a script by Lauren Hynek, Elizabeth Martin, and Julia Miranda.
Jenson’s Spellbound aims to make magic on Netflix this holiday season, beginning November 22.