On the surface, Netflix’s Spellbound looks like a knock-off Disney princess movie. And that couldn’t be further from the truth. Spellbound has something that a lot of Disney movies don’t have: a lesson that kids can understand. The modern Disney princess movies are about saving your people, finding love, sisterhood, or opening a business. But they it miss the mark on some of the more nuanced feelings that kids go through. Also, they truly don’t focus on kids. They’re ideals of what things could be like in the future. They don’t address the now.
Spellbound addresses the now. A very specific now that plenty of kids go through and that no one explains. Divorce. It’s always, “You’ll understand when you’re older” or “These are grown up problems. Just know we both still love you.” And sure, some parents get their kids into therapy to understand divorce. But not enough do. Instead, as kids we’re meant to just wait, as if our feelings aren’t big when we’re kids. They are. And they continue to be to this day. Those big feelings is what Spellbound addresses. It gives kid viewers a relatable and easy to follow story about those big feelings that happen during divorce.
Introducing Princess Ellian
This story is told through the eyes of Princess Ellian, voiced by Rachel Zegler. She’s a kid who had to grow up fast and take on the responsibility of a whole kingdom after her parents get turned into monsters. She should be worrying about having fun with her friends and lessons. Instead, she’s worried about people finding out about her parents and breaking this dark spell that has transformed them into beasts that don’t remember her. And with every minute that you watch Princess Ellian, the more you come to see the weight on her shoulders and how much she wants things to return to normal or “how they used to be.”
Her journey in Spellbound is one where she reconnects with her parents and hopes that they reconnect with each other again. But no matter what she does, there is a divide with her parents, one that leads to them taking a step back to decide how they’re going to move forward and separate of each other. Because they can’t be together and there’s no use denying it anymore. That right there breaks Ellian, a dark spell of her own falling upon her. And while her parents step up to help her, it’s Ellian herself who has the realization needed to break the dark spell. Because yes, things have changed and her parents are getting divorced. But there is no way to go back to the way it was before.
This is the part of Spellbound where I cried.
During Zegler’s “What About Us – The Way It Was Before (Reprise)” she says, “I wish there was a way back to the way it was before. But families don’t all grow in one straight line. And since we can’t just stay back, well, it’s time to close that door. Don’t be scared. We’ll be fine.” If that feels cathartic to hear as an adult, I can’t imagine what a movie like Spellbound (or hearing these lyrics) must be like for a kid. Because families come in different shapes and sizes. And they never stay the same. Life never does. And learning that as a kid, cementing that concept in your mind, it helps ready you for whatever life throws at you.
Spellbound is a life lesson that normalizes the big feelings that children have. It does that in a fantastic world with some of the most unique character designs I’ve seen in ages. And sure, it drags at some bits, leaving you feeling a little unmoored at the direction the story is going to go in. But its strongest beats rest with the divorce of it all where Ellian’s feelings are acknowledged and brought to life with visual and magical elements that a kid can understand. Because sometimes it’s not about the princess finding love or ruling her kingdom. Sometimes the princesses’ family is changing and she needs someone to tell her it’s going to be ok and we’ll be fine. Spellbound does that.
Spellbound is now available on Netflix.
