The House of Magic

Every time that I sit down to watch an animated movie nowadays, I inevitably end up surprised by the visual quality of the animations, and this film was no exception. The visuals are stunning (I watched the motion picture in 2D, as i am no fan of 3D for the time being). You could see many of the effects are intended for 3D, but even as 2D they are uniformly excellent and very exciting to watch. The story itself is rather simplistic and intended mostly for children, as are the dialogs.

I watched it together with my wife and 8 year old daughter who found the movie to be excellent. My wife on the other hand thought it to be extremely boring. Myself, I am probably somewhere in-between the two extremes. I found this to be a very decent, professionally made animated movie mainly aimed at a younger audience, and in that it fulfills its purpose totally. Recommended.

The story of the abandoned cat whose cruel owner dumps him when they move house.

Alone and unprotected the lovely cat faces a difficult challenge for survival and as he wanders the streets manages to enter a house that had already other animals in it as well as various gadgets. The owner embraces him instantly but some of the other guests are reluctant to accept him and so he has to earn their trust.

The opportunity to do so will come as a wicked nephew wants to sell the house.

An appealing story combined with high quality visuals, giving us an angle of the world from the point of view of a small animal. Various themes are involved such as abandonment, new beginnings, fitting in and proving oneself.

When it comes to protecting our home, one better not underestimate the determination of even the smallest of opponents.

It will surely delight children without leaving the adults unimpressed either.

The film is a mediocre storyline of an abandoned cat that ends up being adopted by a magician. Typical children's story.

However, the villain has a propensity to shout "Damn Cat!" anytime he involved with the cat. This was rated G, wasn't it? The animation is good, and seems to play off some sort of 3d effects throughout. Not the same level of animation as Pixar or Dreamworks, but still pretty good quality.

Watch it if you are bored and need a cheap film to entertain the kids for an hour and a half.

I would give the film the following ratings:

Story- 3/5 Characters- 2.5/5 Animation- 4.5/5 Cheesy reference to the film "Big" - 7.5/5

In too many ways, the Hollywood animation industry has ruined the market for everyone else. Disney and Pixar are leading a pack – DreamWorks, Fox, Sony – that have considerable resources at their disposal: they can easily afford to hire the best talents and bombard the entire world with adorable tie-in merchandise, even if the films they're producing aren't particularly good. It's a real shame, because it means that smaller, semi-independent efforts like The House Of Magic – an utterly charming French co-production – might too easily fall by the wayside.

Abandoned by his owners, a cat sneaks into a mysterious mansion that the neighbourhood pets are convinced is haunted. In short order, our feline protagonist gains a new name (Thunder) and a new master – the genial, elderly Lawrence, a magician who lives happily in a magical world with his toys and mechanical gizmos. However, Thunder also gains a few enemies: Jack Rabbit and Maggie Mouse have no intention of allowing him to become part of Lawrence's act, even as Lawrence's nefarious nephew Danny plots to sell the house away.

Plot-wise, there isn't anything particularly special about The House Of Magic. The story marches along in largely predictable fashion – the schemes cooked up by Thunder and his buddies aren't enormously innovative and the ending of the film is never in doubt. It's also the kind of movie in which moral complexities are easier to ignore than include, so don't expect many shades of grey in the characters of Thunder, Lawrence or Danny. Even Jack Rabbit, who proves a worthy, grouchy secondary antagonist to Thunder, is quickly forgotten in the film's action-packed ending.

But it's all woven together to charming, sweet effect in the film, which benefits enormously from its excellent character design. It's easy to forgive the straightforward narrative when it's hurried along so effectively by the bouncy, adorable Thunder and his desire to be part of a family again. Lawrence's toys are also wonderfully realised: Edison, the most expressive walking lightbulb you'll ever see, is a standout, but the other supporting characters are lovingly developed too. Much of the joy in the film comes from watching them come together to thwart Danny's efforts.

Taken all together, The House Of Magic has the feel of a well-worn bedtime story: it may occasionally feel like something you've seen a thousand times before, but it's also powered by a comfortable, familiar spark of magic – the kind that makes you feel right at home, wherever you might be.

Most European animations intended for the mass market are often very disappointing either in a lame script or bland animation. Usually it is Hollywood that rules the roost here, but The House of Magic was a pleasantly surprising film released (in the UK) in a summer already overcrowded with family fare.

Admittedly this film is aimed at a much younger market than say, the Marvel Films but nonetheless it is still doing the rounds where other animation like The Nut Job, How to train your dragon 2 and Planes 2 are also on release. I am a little surprised the distributors put it out during the summer because it obviously won't have the same kind of publicity as those big American productions but nonetheless I am glad to see it has been reasonably well received because it is actually quite watchable and likable. Although I saw the film in 2D I could see the scenes designed for the 3D release and can quite understand those that think its is one of the better 3D releases.

The story is not terribly sophisticated, an abandoned little ginger kitten wanders into a spooky house and ends up fighting a greedy real estate agent who is trying to sell it behind his elderly magician uncle's back. After a sub plot involving the Rabbit and a mouse trying to get rid of the kitten the kitten ultimately ends up teaming up with the other inhabitants of the house (Rabbit, mouse, two lovebirds and various sentient inventions) plus two sick children to thwart him. The film does drag in a few places and is quite predictable but is extremely well animated, has fun with it's music cues (watch out for some classic British pop music from the 1980s) and will ultimately leave children and adults with a big grin on their face as the end credits roll. The script could have done with a few more laughs but anybody who has ever owned a cat will recognize how well translated the mannerisms of 'Thunder' the kitten have been done.

Ultimately I found this to be an undemanding, very well animated and perfectly serviceable little film that has no offensive elements (although I agree with a previous reviewer who found the callous way the kitten is abandoned by its original owner to be a little bit upsetting). Nonetheless the film moves on quickly from that start and the reasons why he was abandoned are briefly addressed in the story (economic recession).

I was going to give this film a 6 but 'Thunder' is such a cute creation and probably the most lovable cat in a film since Puss in Boots from Shrek that I gave it a 7.