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.
It will have spinoff TV series called School of Magic.
Video The House of Magic
Plot
While moving to a new home in Boston, a couple stops the car and the woman opens the door and throws a toy ball on the sidewalk so that their tabby ginger cat can chase after it. The cat, who still seems kittenish, later realizes that he has been abandoned by his owners when they close the door and drive away without him and 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 until he comes to an old house with fame of being cursed in the neighborhood. Entering via an open attic window, the cat explores all the strange contraptions about and tries to befriend a small mouse named Maggie, who's terrified of him despite the cat trying to convince her that he doesn't even eat mice. Soon, he is threatened by Jack, Maggie's rabbit friend, and Maggie; ordering him to leave the house before their owner sees him, afraid the cat will monopolize his love and attention since he's a bit of a cat-lover. They throw the cat out but he finds his way back in through a cellar window, attempting to escape a thunderstorm, and explores more of the house. Then, he hides behind an urn as the house's owner, Mr. Lawrence, a kindly old magician, has a conversation with the various automatons and gizmos he created for his magic shows while fixing one of his own named Edison (after Thomas Edison) and later, his materialist and real estate agent nephew, Daniel. Afterwards, while Lawrence dozes off, Jack and Maggie locate the cat after he re-activates Edison and Jack pursues the kitten but before he even attempts to throw him out, Lawrence wakes up and picks up the kitten and decides to adopt him, naming him Thunder (after his fear of lightning).
Thunder learns more about the house, as well as the love birds pigeons named Carlo and Carla. Meanwhile, Jack and Maggie try by all ways to exile Thunder from the house, jealous and afraid of being substituted. The next day, after performing a magic show at a hospital for children and while riding on a bicycle, Jack tries poking Thunder with a crayon in order to get rid of him; hoping he won't find his way back. However, during the event, Lawrence suffers an accident and is sent to the hospital.
With Lawrence in the hospital, his nephew, Daniel, tricks him into putting his house of magic up for sale by having him sign a document which provides Daniel with the power of attorney, so he might sell it to the highest bidder. Discovering Daniel's trick, Thunder alerts Lawrence's toys. When Daniel comes home with two possible buyers, Thunder has Carlo and Carla poop on them in order to prevent the house from being sold. After the unfortunate attempt and Daniel returns his uncle's magic trunk back home, Jack, having broken his leg in the accident, and Maggie convince Lawrence's automatons about Thunder's guilt in the accident except Edison despite Thunder trying to tell the truth and having Carlo and Carla prove his innocence, which fails due to being intimidated by Jack. However, Thunder manages to convince everyone that they need him to save the house since Daniel is proven to be allergic to cats, which allows him to stay but locked in a cage. The next possible buyer, the Chihuahua's owner, is driven away after the Chihuahua rescues Thunder and she assumes that Daniel harmed her dog, who in fact, was trying to get rid of the cat after discovering his whereabouts. Later, Thunder goes to the hospital to see Lawrence only to discover that Lawrence was never really mad at him for what happened as Jack and Maggie had led him and the automatons to believe at first. When Jack and Maggie again try to exile Thunder after returning home, driving two more buyers away, and revealing the real truth to everyone with the birds standing up for him this time, the automatons side with the cat. Later, due to more clever tricks employed, the various owners and workmen are frightened away from the house, believing it to be haunted. Then, Jack and Maggie try to get rid of Thunder with a firework; hoping Daniel will see him and get rid of him instead. Daniel attempts various aggressive ways to get rid of Thunder, but is foiled at every turn. His latest attempt involving a gun leads him to believe that he finally got rid of Thunder with a falling trunk only to get kicked out of the house by his uncle's toys in retaliation for Thunder's supposed "death." Lawrence also discovers Daniel's deceit including sending him to a retirement facility on Rhode Island and tries to leave the hospital a day before his discharge only to be stopped by the tough Nurse Baxter. Meanwhile, Thunder (later revealed to have survived the trunk after a wrecking ball begins destroying the house), Jack, Maggie, and the rest of Lawrence's toys are in a race against time to save the house before Daniel destroys it as he attempts to demolish it once and for all using a wrecking ball.
When Lawrence gets back from the hospital with the help of some of the children patients and finds his nephew swinging a wrecking ball, he finally discovers his true colors. 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 until he ends up wrecking his own beloved car instead with the wrecking ball. Then, Lawrence orders Daniel to make repairs on the house, right before calling 911 to summon a doctor due to his nephew's constant sneezing and inability to breathe normally from his allergies. Thunder is finally accepted as a member of the family by Jack and Maggie. When Lawrence recovers from 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. Then, the Chihuahua arrives and wishes to join them, which they accept in the end. As for Daniel, he continues his job and tries to buy a house from an elderly woman, who turns out to be a cat lady. As a ton of cats come inside, Daniel sneezes again and screams that he wants to find a new line of work.
Maps The House of Magic
Cast
- Cinda Adams as Nurse Baxter
- George Babbit as Jack / Carlo / Zoltar
- Brianne Siddall (credited as Murray Blue) 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." 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".
Box office
The film grossed $4,091 in North America, plus $64,193,114 overseas, for a combined gross of $64,197,205.
References
External links
- The House of Magic on IMDb
Source of article : Wikipedia
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