Mark D. Rosenthal

Bland, as would be expected, but surprisingly, a lot _less_ bland than one might suppose. The story is trite, of course, going through all the expected motions and little else, but there is a lively joy in the (literal) on-screen magic here that adds quite a bit of personality. Glimmers of humour and jokes with just a touch more life to them than films like this typically have helps, and even the by-the-numbers love interest plotline manages to charm me into caring. Molina's moustache-twirling condescensions also adds a lot of presence in spite of on paper being a dull stereotype of a character. Rewatched this about a decade after it first came out, and was pleasantly surprised that I wasn't bored at any point, even on second viewing.

Though they missed a huge trick by not re-using the score from the Fantasia cartoon during the protagonist's final winning move. That would have been so simple, and yet added a lot.… (mer)