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Story: Two elf brothers embark on an adventurous journey to bring their dead father back to life just for a day through magic. How far will they succeed?


Review: Ian (Tom Holland) and Barley Lightfoot (Chris Pratt) are the two teenage elves living with their mother Laurel (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) in New Mushroomton. It’s a fantasy world where technology has replaced magic in the lives of its unique and mythical inhabitants.

While Ian is socially awkward and low on confidence, his elder brother is loud and imposing with his love for magic and the old world charm. Just before Ian’s sixteenth birthday, the boys receive a wizard staff from their dead father that can bring him back for 24 hours. This sets them off on an emotional yet exciting and adventurous journey that is full of magic and madness.

Director Dan Scanlon starts slow by giving us a peek into the now ordinary lives of these extraordinary creatures. But once the adventure begins, there’s barely a dull moment. Even with all the fun and action, the film’s emotional quotient stays on top. So much that it becomes quite the tearjerker towards the end.

Tom Holland breathes life into Ian’s character with his perfectly boyish voice. Chris Pratt successfully delivers the essence of Barley’s loud yet layered character, who has a deeply emotional side too. The duo perfectly rub off each other to deliver some of the finest moments in the film. The rest of the cast adds to some riotous humour and frantic action that ups the entertainment quotient. In them is the dangerously adorable biker gang of pixies, a goofy centaur (half human half horse) policeman and the firebrand Manticore (voiced superbly by Octavia Spencer) who has now turned into a docile people pleasing restaurant owner. The film also features an LGBTQ character in one-eyed police officer Specter, who appears in a hilarious scene.

The animation is top-notch and visually appealing. The characters are adequately cartoonish and also highly relatable and humane. The overall story moves on predictable lines but it keeps you hooked with minor plot twists that create suspense, drama and confrontations.

In the end, it’s the heartwarming story that works its magic with humour and thrilling adventures along the way.
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