Magic Magic

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment | Release Date: July 26, 2013

5.5	USER SCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 11 Ratings

USER RATING DISTRIBUTION

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Watch Now

Stream On

Buy on

Stream On

Expand

Review this movie

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Please sign in or create an account before writing a review.

Check box if your review contains spoilers

0 characters (5000 max)

User Reviews

User score By date Most helpful

djalexJul 10, 2014

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I agree with most of the professional critic reviews. The acting is nearly perfect. However, I am distracted by Michael Cera's celebrity status and his playing a character so different than his usual roles. I admit for the sake of creating tension Cera does a good job overall. The directing is quite good too as tension and mystery builds throughout.. the problem is the actual story, plot points and resolution. Once the film is done we are left with a kind of "o.k.. so... what" feeling... SPOILER ALERT STARTS HERE: The film is basically about a girl, Alicia who has apparent social and mental health issues being hosted by strangers to a comfortable cabin in a remote area. O this trip we realize that no one she is with is qualified to diagnose her or interested in connecting with her or even interesting in spending much energy to help her feel comfortable. There's a scene where they do the same thing to an abandoned puppy at the start and this is the foreshadowing of Alicia's fate. The plot points and story build on moments where the group is basically indifferent to the fact that this girl, Alicia, is really uncomfortable maybe even ill. She is so uncomfortable its kind of annoying everyone around her so its obvious they know she is unhappy. The director shoots the film in a way that puts us, the audience, on Alicia-the-awkward-girl's side. The tension throughout is therefore created by a group of antagonists that are just indifferent to her experience making me shout at the screen :"what an a**hole thing to say/do". As the film builds we get glimpses of a Alicia having a kind of warped perception of reality leading to our understand that she is probably verging on a psychotic breakdown. The indifference of the group to her troubles culminates and turns when she finally disappears and starts to really crack up. Then the ineptitude of everyone she is in contact with seals her demise. So the end leaves you with this feeling: don't take a person with mental health issues on a trip with indifferent, cold and immature strangers to a remote area. in fact, its more like, "just go camping with people you like" kind of message from the story. its a shame because there's a lot of good work by everyone involved. This film has a mood and a feeling to it, which, as elements to the film are artistically executed and realized. but the film's plot and the experience of watching it neither subverts any common perspective from a culture nor does it make any original point. It also doesn't scare or thrill the viewer as a horror film would, nor does it twist your p.o.v. into seeing things from a whole new perspective as a good psychological thriller would. it has tension, mystery and suspense without really doing anything with it. Its like the artists involved put there best work together but didn't really have a reason or a destination in mind. It was tension, mystery and suspense for the sake of tension mystery and suspense. like watching a dunking contest with some great basketball players but wishing you had the full basketball game with the rival team and the rules to create the dramatic arc or story from beginning to end. the film's point was basically made with the puppy scene. they took a sick puppy out of its element away from its sibling and dropped it in a remote area where it was left to suffer alone... then they did the same with Alicia. why even make this movie?… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

All this user's reviews