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movie review - Secret Magic Control Agency

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Kokubunji, 2021.07.03

This is an animated flick that re-purposes twenty-something Hansel and Gretel as investigators for the society of magicians that maintains order by tracking down missing peoples of all types. This time it's the king who's been kidnapped. It's full-on suspension of disbelief time because the plot is pretty uneven, spending way too much time on the strained relationship between the sister and brother. Since it's not really clear why anyone cares about the king, I can't say that the stakes are all that high. The thing looks good, though, and there's enough humor and action to pave over that dragging plot. The characters develop to some extent through the course of the thing, but even that's not enough of a payoff.

Recommended. For those nights when you need something to share with the kids. And that is it.

rand()m quote

In the wake of 9/11, we [in America] have made the decision as a society that we can never again create something in which we can take pride, for fear that someone will destroy it. Moreover, we must suppress any trace of individualism, lest someone have the desire to rise above the bland sameness that protects us. I have, alas, no idea how to recapture our courage.

—Anonymous post to boingboing.net, 2009