The House of Magic
| The House of Magic | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by |
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| Produced by |
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| Screenplay by |
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| Story by | Ben Stassen |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Ramin Djawadi |
Production company | |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 85 minutes |
| Country |
Belgium France |
| Language |
English |
| Box office | $33,004,091[1] |
The House of Magic (Thunder and The House of Magic in the United States) is a 2013 3D Belgian-French computer-animated fantasy-comedy film produced by Nadia Khamlichi, Adrian Politowski, Ben Stassen, Caroline Van Iseghem and Gilles Waterkeyn and directed by Jeremy Degruson and Ben Stassen. The film focuses on an abandoned young cat who seeks shelter in the home of an old, retired magician with his automatons and gizmos.
Plot
A woman opens her car's door and throws a toy on the sidewalk so that her cat chases after the toy. The tabby ginger cat, who seems still kittenish, realising that he has been abandoned by his owner, looks for a refuge. A tiny chihuahua attempts to befriend him but is quickly dragged off by his leash. After various obstacles and near accidents, he's chased by a large doberman till he comes to an old house with fame of being cursed in the neighbourhood. Entering via an open attic window the cat explores all the strange contraptions about and tries to befriend a small mouse who's terrified of him. Soon he is threatened by a rabbit called Jack and the mouse called Maggie, ordering him to leave the house before their owner sees him. They're afraid the cat will monopolise his love and attention, being a cat-lover. They throw the cat out but he finds his way back in through a cellar window, attempting to escape a thunderstorm. Said owner, Mr Lawrence, a nice old magician, finds the cat and decides to adopt him, naming him Thunder.
Thunder learns about the house, as well as the various automatons and gizmos created by Mr Lawrence for his magic shows. Meanwhile, Jack and Maggie try by all ways to exile Thunder from the house, jealous and afraid of being substituted. When Mr Lawrence suffers an accident and is sent to the hospital, Jack and Maggie convince Mr Lawrence's automatons about Thunder's guilt in the accident, and Thunder goes to find Mr Lawrence to apologize.
With Mr Lawrence in the hospital, his materialist and real estate agent nephew, Daniel, tricks Mr Lawrence into putting his house of magic up for sale, so he might sell it to the highest bidder. Discovering Daniel's trick, Thunder goes back home to alert Mr Lawrence's gizmos and automatons. When Daniel comes home with one or two possible buyers, Thunder uses all tricks and cheats in order to prevent the house from being sold. Due to the clever tricks employed, the various owners and workman are frightened away from the house, believing it haunted. When Jack and Maggie again try exile Thunder, this time the automatons side with the cat. Daniel, who is allergic to cats, attempts various aggressive ways to get rid of Thunder, but is foiled at every turn. Mr Lawrence also discovers Daniel's deceit and tries to leave the hospital. Meanwhile, Thunder, Jack, Maggie and the rest of Mr Lawrence's toys are in a race against time to save the house before Daniel destroys it. As he, frustrated and villainous, attempting to demolish the house by bulldozing it down.
When Mr Lawrence gets back from the hospital and finds his nephew swinging a wrecking ball, he finally discovers his true colours. Meanwhile Jack is stuck midway in the cat-flap of the front door, as Thunder attempts to save all the automatons from getting crushed. When he saves Maggie's life, Thunder finally earns the mouse's respect and friendship. They band together and use Daniel's cat-allergy against him, till he lands up wrecking his own beloved car instead, crushed under the wrecking ball. Daniel gets banished and Thunder is finally accepted as a member of the family by Jack and all. When Mr Lawrence recovers his injuries, he returns to entertaining children with his magic shows, in which Thunder now has his very own part alongside Jack and Maggie. Thunder is finally happy to have a family that appreciates him.
Cast
- Cinda Adams as Nurse Baxter
- George Babbit as Jack / Carlo / Zoltar
- Brianne Siddall (credited as Murray Blue)[2] as Thunder / Dylan
- Kathleen Browers as Carla
- Joey Camen as Chihuahua
- Grant George as Daniel
- Shanelle Gray as Maggie
- Nina Grillo as Audrey
- Kyle Hebert as Mark Matthews
- Goldie Jonsie as Old Lady
- Kendra Leif as Lasondra
- Joey Lotsko as Mr. Eames
- Millie Mup as Mrs. Eames
- Will Parks as Mike Matthews
- Sage Sommer as Izzy
- Michael Sorich as Crane Operator
- Doug Stone as Lawrence Savile
- Joseph W. Terry as Reggie Willis
Reception
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 71% based on reviews from 28 critics, with the consensus: "Thunder and the House of Magic lacks real narrative depth, but its visual splendor offers sufficient compensation for younger viewers."[3] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 47 based on 13 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[4]
Box office
The film grossed $4,091 in the USA, plus $33,000,000 outside the USA, for a combined gross of $33,004,091.[1]
References
- 1 2 "The House of Magic (2013)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
- ↑ "THUNDER AND THE HOUSE OF MAGIC". Behind the Voice Actors. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
- ↑ "The House of Magic". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
- ↑ "The House of Magic Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 26 November 2014.