Der große Zauber

This is a truly wonderful movie experience. The magical score adds to the atmosphere perfectly. It is beautifully photographed by Stephen H Burum and perfectly directed by Caleb Deschanel. The central performance by Griffin O'Neil is very watchable as is a great support cast which includes Elizabeth Daly and the late great Raul Julia. This is THE movie that made me want to make movies. The haunting final shot combined with the beautiful music has stayed with me for years.

I just watched this on Talking Pictures channel in the UK - November 2021.

I'm in a quandary about it now as I don't feel like the film was properly finished. I almost wonder if section(s) of it were missing, either cut by the channel I just watched it on, or by the people that made the film, or maybe they cut it short in production. There were some narrative gaps which I had to fill in by guessing what had happened in between. The acting was all top notch, the score was great and individual scenes were excellent and effecting, but what and why the things that happen do happen is hard to follow, it felt like the middle third of the film was just plain missing. I did however recognise a redemption of the kid's father, and to some extent the mayor's son, who was clearly negatively mentally affected by his corrupt father. This is worth seeing and I would have given it more than a 6/10 if it had been better edited or felt properly finished.

A whimsical bittersweet tale with quirky characters, charming moments and which is quite enchanting as a whole. Griffin O'Neal (Ryan's son) as the young lead character showed great promise in this film. Raul Julia is at his most vibrant as the spoiled son of a mayor (played by Desi Arnaz!) who befriends O'Neal's character. This film is HIGHLY under-rated and desperately needs to be remastered and reissued on video.

It's a great kid's film, I saw it as an early teen and it really got me interested in magic. The main character gets away with so much because of his skills but it was all within the realms of plausibility if you've got a bit of bottle and enough books on magic and safe cracking etc. Griffin O'Neal is really expressive and natural in his role. Even though what he gets up to is pretty wild you believe that this kid is amazing enough to pull it off.

I forgot to mention the wonderful haunting score by Georges Delerue. The main theme has a sad music box quality to it - gives a sort of a longing childhood feeling....VERY effective.