The House of Magic
Despite its Belgian origin, this animation resembles a Pixar Production.
An incredibly cute, accident-prone, lost young cat finds refuge during a storm in the house of an ageing magician who surrounds himself with equally cute automatons, and christens the feline ‘Thunder’. Housemates Jack Rabbit and Maggie Mouse see Thunder as an interloper who must be expelled. However, when the magician’s grasping real-estate-agent nephew tries to grab the house for sale and send his hospitalised uncle to an old-people’s home, everyone joins forces to defeat the threat.
Parents tasked with taking their offspring to this one will also be delighted and might even find extra interest in the detailed film score.
It seems wrong to find fault with such a charming film – 85 minutes seems a touch overlong for restless children – but The House of Magic is worth taking the risk. (MMu)
***1/2 /5
BY MICHAEL MUIR
