Mark Reviews Movies: THE MAGIC FLUTE (2023)

The Magic Flute, Shout! Studios

Follow on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Become a Patron

Review by Mark Dujsik | March 9, 2023

Here's a strange, staid movie that almost feels like an educational primer disguised as a large-scale fantasy. The subject of The Magic Flute is, of course, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's eponymous opera, and over the course of this formulaic but disjointed adventure, one learns the basic plot, some underlying trivia, and the basic themes of said work. As for the framing device of this little music lesson, it's about as bland and routine as such things come.

The filmmakers are either inspired by or trying to ape the conventions of big-budget Hollywood production of some generic fantasy tale. The action that isn't set within the world of Mozart's opera takes place in a faraway school, sitting on a hilltop, where magical things occur. Our protagonist is kind of an orphan—in that his father dies and his mother is never seen—and a sort-of twofold chosen one—in that he believes it's his destiny to play the lead in The Magic Flute and ends up playing that role on some visits to a hidden realm where Mozart's opera apparently unfolds on a loop.

There are sprites and a giant serpent and a queen in control of darkness and a trio of trials that our hero must overcome to save the realm from eternal doom. All of this is part of the Mozart work, and in the school, there are also sprites and a magically transporting bookshelf and a copy of the opera that serves as a key to opening that secret passage. In theory, the basic idea here is sound, because there absolutely should be some magic to open the door to the fantasy story of the opera, but in trying to ground that piece and make it more accessible, screenwriter Andrew Lowery and director Florian Sigl have put up a barrier between their movie and the work they're attempting to bring to a larger audience.

Our bland hero is the blandly named Tim Walker (Jack Wolfe), a boy from London who honors his dying father's last wish that the teen should attend a prestigious music school, named after Mozart and located in the Austrian Alps. Tim is a singer, as his late father was, and upon arriving at the school a few months later, he lets the headmaster Dr. Longbow (F. Murray Abraham) know of his intentions to play Prince Tamino in The Magic Flute. The headmaster is skeptical, partly because he doesn't think Tim has what it takes yet.

The main thrust of the plot has Tim entering the world of Mozart's opera after returning a copy of it—"borrowed" by his father—to the library at a specific time of night. From there, Tim, assuming the role of Tamino as the story of the opera proceeds with and without and around him, meets a frightful serpent, is helped along by a trio of mystical ladies, gets a guide in the person of Papageno (Iwan Rheon), and starts and stops in a quest to rescue Princess Pamina (Asha Banks). Her abductor isn't the real threat, though. That would be the Queen of the Night, played by professional opera singer Sabine Devieilhe, whose performance of the opera's most famous aria is showstopper—despite the awkward staging and the lyrics' translation into English.

Yes, you've read that second part correctly, and the translation, along with dialogue that adds some self-reflective jokes in between the songs and the exposition, really makes one wonder about the filmmakers' sincerity in honoring Mozart's work. It's more accessible, of course, but the entire adaptation sounds clunky.

The same can be said of Sigl's staging of the scenes within the opera. It essentially amounts to the actors standing in place, walking slowly in one direction, or doing some rudimentary choreography. The camera moves quite a bit, and some flourishes of visual effects, such as the fearsome snake and the Queen's billowing cape of layered shadow, add additional movement. Both tricks only highlight how static the action actually is, as well as how uncomfortable the actors often appear while standing in place in their elaborate costumes.

The remainder of the plot amounts to Tim navigating some social situations at school while waiting to go back to the opera. One's his relationship with a grieving roommate (played by Elliot Courtiour), and another is a laughably hasty romance with Sophie (Niamh McCormack). Neither of these or anything else in the school story tells us anything about Mozart or the opera or music in general, but they certainly ensure that The Magic Flute collapses as both education and entertainment.

Back to Home

Buy Related Products

Buy the Soundtrack

Buy the Soundtrack (Digital Download)