TV Talk: Netflix’s ‘Spellbound’ seeks to cast a spell on viewers

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week.

Netflix’s new animated musical “Spellbound” introduces a soundtrack of songs by Alan Menken (“The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast”) and Glenn Slater (“Tangled”) in a tale that emphasizes the need to accept change.

Ellian (voice of Rachel Zegler, “West Side Story”), daughter of the rulers of Lumbria, goes on a quest to save her family a year after her parents (voices of Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem) were transformed into monsters by a mysterious spell.

Written by Lauren Hynek and Elizabeth Martin (live-action “Mulan”) and Julia Miranda (“Descendants: Wicked World”) and directed by Vicky Jenson (“Shark Tale”), “Spellbound” comes from Skydance Animation, run by former Pixar leader John Lasseter, who produced “Spellbound,” streaming Friday.

“I’m kind of known for a modern take on fairy tales,” Jenson, co-director of the original “Shrek,” said during a September virtual press conference for “Spellbound.” “But the thing is, this movie is more of a fairy tale take on a very modern story. … Myths and fairy tales are defined through allegory truths about the many different stages of being a human. We started with familiar things like a kingdom, a king, a queen, a princess and a spell. We used those well-loved elements to craft a new allegory, a new myth, a story about family and what truly binds us together, even as things in that family might change.”

What producers didn’t start with was the notion that “Spellbound” would be a musical.

“The first script did not include any songs,” Jenson acknowledged. “At Skydance, we did have a head of creative, Bill Damaschke (now heading Warner Bros. Animation), who I worked with for many years at DreamWorks. He’s very involved in musicals on Broadway. And one night at dinner, he just said, ‘What about a musical?’ And from that moment, there was no turning back.”

Menken and Slater were brought in as the film’s story was reshaped into a musical.

“The great thing about a musical is that it allows you to speak the internal thoughts through a song,” said “Spellbound” head of story Brian Pimental, “as opposed to (using) dubbing or (voiceover). You’d have to do a whole monologue of a character standing there talking about their feelings. But with a song, you get to go inside their head.”

Production designer Brett Nystul said each song exists in its own genre and emotion, including “Step by Step,” a flamenco about staging a “benevolent coup” sung mostly by Lumbria ministers Nazara (Jenifer Lewis) and Bolinar (John Lithgow).

There’s also Ellian’s introduction song, “My Parents Are Monsters,” which gets turned on its head as “My Monsters Are Parents” in the final act. And “Spellbound” features a traditional Disney animated musical “I want” song, “The Way It Was Before,” which serves a similar purpose as “Part of Your World” in “The Little Mermaid” or “Waiting on a Miracle” in “Encanto.”

Jenson said “Spellbound” offers several themes, including the idea there’s not just one way for a family to be a family.

“It’s really love that is the spell that holds us all together, no matter what that family looks like,” she said. “I really hope that families — adults and kids alike — will go home and talk about that.”

Pimental said “Spellbound” also explores the idea that change is the only constant in our lives.

“There’s a really great universal thing about change and just how hard sometimes it is to allow that into our lives,” he said. “We wanna hold onto the past, and we’ve gotta just go with it to grow.”