(A Movie Review by Inesh Shenoy)
Hello everybody! I am Inesh and today I am writing a review on a new movie called Disney Magic Camp. Disney recently made this movie about learning and performing magic, which was going to hit the theatres in 2020 but due to the pandemic it was delayed. So they released it worldwide via the new Disney+ streaming channel, which is available via Hotstar in India.
Disney Magic Camp is roughly based on the world famous Tannen’s Magic Camp. It is a real-life 7-days magic camp which children who want to learn and improve their magic attend, and famous and wonderful magicians from around the world come together and teach them magic. This experience is captured well in the award-winning 2012 documentary called ‘Magic Camp’ by Judd Ehrlich. That film can be watched on Amazon Prime for free. I think you will like it.
This year, due to COVID-19, the Tannen’s Magic decided to hold their Magic Camp online. My twin Ishaan and I both attended the sessions and it was a lot of fun. We got to learn magic from top magicians from around the world and to perform magic too! While this latest film by Disney is inspired by Tannen’s Magic Camp, it does a lot of things differently from the real camp.
For starters, in the film, the Magic Camp is called ‘The Institute of Magic’ and it is a camp where children go to learn magic for one month. All the children attending the camp are grouped into four groups: Diamonds, Hearts, Clubs, and Spades, and after that they compete for the Top Hat Competition and the Golden Wand. For the Top Hat Competition all the groups perform magic and the best group wins. The Golden Wand is awarded to the person who performed the best magic act.
The story line of the movie is about a boy named Theo Moses, who got into magic because of his father Devin Moses. Theo’s father passes away, and Theo practices cardistry (card tricks) to feel better.
Andy Dickerman (played by Adam DeVine) had attended the Institute many years back and had won three Golden Wands. Roy Preston (played by Jeffery Tambor) who is the head of the Institute of Magic asks Andy if he would teach the kids, but Andy wouldn’t come because he has stopped doing magic. But when Andy realised that his rival and ex-friend Kristina Darkwood (Gillian Jacobs) was coming as a trainer, he accepted. Andy and Kristina were a magic duo, but they fought and so they were now rivals.
Similarly, the movie plays with the topics of friendship, love, misunderstandings, and magic. Thanks to all this, it becomes a great and wonderful movie. The movie also ties in magic into life. I really enjoyed it.
My favourite part is Theo showing off his cardistry and magic. It also shows how each of us can be good at different things, and how each of this can be magic. I think you should watch the movie because it really shows how magic is everywhere.
It was a lot of fun watching the Magic Camp movie. It is available on Hotstar, so you can watch it right from your homes. Go watch it. I really hope you enjoy it. See you next time! Bye!
iThree and Co. 