Over the past several decades, various film companies, from Hollywood studios to independent filmmakers, have made movies about magic. It’s interesting to note how one simple subject can be seen from many different points of view.
It would be nearly impossible to discuss magic in film without mentioning the blockbuster series of Harry Potter movies, as they deal almost solely with the subject of magic. From the very beginning of the first Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, it is obvious that there is far more going on in the world of these films than can be readily seen in our own, more mundane world. With special effects and computer graphics being used almost as much as talented acting and directing, no one can doubt for a moment that magic is the real star of these films.
A slightly different look at magic movies
would be the independent film, The Blair Witch Project. While there wasn’t any actual magic shown in this extremely low budget film, the entire story revolves around three student filmmakers going on a fact finding mission, looking into the history and legends surrounding a woman accused of witchcraft. After hiking into the woods in search of more information, the three students are never seen again. This movie has quite a few creepy scenes in it, and is a fine example of how a low budget horror movie can still scare people easily, and how a story about supposed magic can be told without actually showing any magic whatsoever.
More than one film has also been made about magic that isn’t real. Sherlock Holmes, released in late 2009, centers around an English lord accused of ‘black magic’ who, after being hanged, apparently comes back from the dead. After several very odd things happen in London, and Holmes and Dr. Watson research and hunt down clues, it becomes obvious – at least to Holmes – that there really isn’t any magic being used at all. Holmes then reveals that all the ‘black magic’ has actually been a clever use of science, combined with the general populations’ paranoia.
Almost every animated feature released by Disney Studios in the last few decades, and several live action movies as well, have had magic in them in one form or another. Aladdin has a genie in a magic lamp; The Hunchback of Notre Dame has talking gargoyles; the Pirates of the Caribbean movies deal with cursed treasures, people coming back from the dead, and many other magical happenings.
In live action or animation, horror, drama, or comedy, for children or adults,magicmovies
are a firmly established part of movie making.
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