Magina

Magina is a 2003 American animated musical romantic fantasy film produced by Universal Feature Animation, directed by Ash Brannon and written by Irene Mecchi and Gary Hall from a story by Brannon, Hall, Michael Wildshill, Jim Anderson, and Amy McNeill. The film stars the voices of Jodi Benson, Elijah Wood, Alfre Woodard, and David Ogden Stiers, and tells the story of a young man named Olin who encounters and falls in love with a mysterious, magical girl named Magina, unaware that she is cursed under a witchcraft.

Development of Magina began in 1997, when Wildshill wrote the original concepts of the film, envisioning a "boy meets girl" story. In 2001, Brannon was approached to direct the film and revise the story. Magina was released by Universal Pictures on September 19, 2003, and received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its animation, musical score, and voice performances but criticized its story. Grossing $78.1 million on a $80 million budget, Universal Animation suffered a $130 million loss, which nearly made the company file for bankruptcy and led it to abandon traditional animation for computer animation. It is considered to be one of the biggest box office bombs of all time, but is also considered to be a cult favorite.

Plot
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Voice cast

 * Jodi Benson as Magina, a young woman with magical powers who is locked up in a fortress.
 * Elijah Wood as Olin, a young man who Magina helps find a new peaceful home. Aaron Lohr provides Olin's singing voice.
 * David Ogden Stiers as an elderly Olin, the narrator.
 * Alfre Woodard as Telea, Olin's mother.
 * John Kassir as Pongo
 * Spencer Breslin as Olin's grandson
 * Tony Jay as Derlo
 * Phil Morris as Pol

Additional voices

 * Jack Angel
 * Mike Bell
 * Bob Bergen
 * Rodger Bumpass
 * Debi Derryberry
 * Paul Eiding
 * Sherry Lynn
 * Edie McClurg
 * Mickie McGowan
 * Laraine Newman
 * Phil Proctor
 * Jan Rabson
 * Evan Sabara
 * Jim Ward

Development
Michael Wildshill came up with the concept in 1997, envisioning a romantic "boy meets girl" story set in a fantasy world. When Ama and the Mysterious Crystal almost finished production, Wildshill developed his concept into a forty-page film treatment and sent it to John Cohen who wrote back with "Wow." Soon after, the project, then titled Legend of Magina, went into development slated for a 2000 release.

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Casting
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Animation
During the development of Magina, DreamWorks Animation asked Universal if they would be interested in sharing the "tradigital animation" technique, a blend of hand-drawn animation and computer animation that DreamWorks had used in their films Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas. DreamWorks asked that Universal in turn share with them any improvements that were made with the technology. Universal agreed, and produced most of the "tradigital" animation for the films Me & Mobo and Magina in-house, although the tools used most during production were those made by DreamWorks. Looking back on the agreement, Wildshill said that "DreamWorks' generosity gave us a huge leg up and allowed us to draw the enormous vistas in [Magina] ." In a 2007 interview with Animation Magazine, Wildshill clarified Universal's stance on the "tradigital" technique while obliquely mentioning the shared tools:

"We've always developed our own technology. It's been somewhat frustrating for us to hear people say, 'Oh yeah, Universal's using the DreamWorks technique.' People assumed that we stole DreamWorks' tradigital animation technique for Mobo and Magina, which simply isn't true. [...] We may have shared some technology with DreamWorks in the past, but we're a company that puts stock in producing specialized techniques, and will continue to do so."

- Michael Wildshill, Animation Magazine, March 2007

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Marketing
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Video game
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Box office
Magina grossed $12.9 million in North America and $65.2 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $78.1 million. On October 9, 2003, Universal announced that, due to the film underperforming at the box office, Universal Feature Animation would take a $130 million writedown, which nearly made the division file for bankruptcy.

Reasons for the film's financial failure include: the September release date, an aggressive marketing campaign which costed over $100 million, competition with films such as, Anything Else, Underworld, Once Upon a Time in Mexico and Lost in Translation, and disinterest in traditional animation in comparison to computer animation.

Critical reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Magina holds a 63% "Fresh" rating based on 119 reviews, with an average score of 6.1/10. Its consensus reads, "Magina shines as a richly animated, beautifully sung love story, although its resemblance to the story of Rapunzel is rather uncanny." On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 57 out of 100, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Home media
Magina was released on VHS and DVD on January 27, 2004. During the first month of its home release, the film led in VHS sales and was third in VHS and DVD sales combined. Sales and rentals of the VHS and DVD combined would eventually accumulate $144 million in revenue by the end of 2004.

Legacy
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Main
To see the main transcript of the film, click here.

Trailers
To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here.