Movie Review: Magic Camp
Director: Mark Waters (available on Disney+)
Language: English
Verdict: Seriously??? (2/5)
When first time I saw the bouquet of movies offered by Disney+ Hotstar, my thought was where were you when I was a kid? It could have been a dream come true! All of my childhood favorite movies at a same place. WOW!
Alas! I think I am growing up 😢.
My daughter turned seven this year, and slowly I have stopped liking all the movies and series which catch her fancy. I guess I watch them now with an eye of a censor board. In every scene, I try to find if it would be appropriate for her. Unfortunately, you won’t believe how many inappropriate scenes and dialogues I have found so far 😞! Bullying, sarcasm, deaths, killings, voluptuous women, not so subtle flirting, objectifications… just to name a few. Now I just put the kid filter on and let her choose whatever she wants to watch. Otherwise she will not able to watch anything.
Anyways I am diverting 😄…
This movie, Magic Camp, my daughter watched for 5 mins, got bored and left; so I continued watching. From the last month or so, I was desperately looking for something simple to read or watch. I was ready to try out anything and the trailer caught my fancy 😁.
However, the movie as a whole turned out to be a total disappointment (dah! like I was expecting Remember the Titans). Why you may ask. Magic Camp was a rip off of a movie I actually love, and watched many times, School of Rock. Only difference was one was about music and the other is about magic. Even the ‘m’ is common 😁. I agree that in many cases the underdog movies do resemble each other, but what annoyed me the most was Adam Devine’s (the magic teacher Andy in Magic Camp) pathetic mimicry of Jack Black (the music teacher Dewey Finn in School of Rock). You see, I kind of love Jack Black. I mean who does not like Po (Kung Fu Panda). I have enjoyed a lot of his movies like Shallow Hal, The Holiday and too some extent Jumanji. So a copy cat actor was a deal breaker for me 😢.
Let’s come to the story, which had nothing special to offer. An underdog story. Few kids were sent to a magic camp (not Harry Potter magic but Harry Houdini magic) where due to their lack of skills they were put together in the same group. Their camp counselor was a washed up magician turned taxi driver. Therefore, to win self esteem and in turn their parents affection, the kid and the counselor alike start working hard and at time smart. As a consequence, they discover their special strength.
Due to the fact that I was able to actually finish the full movie with minor fast forwarding, I can recommend Magic Camp for a mindless binge watch. Also, can be watched as a family movie, where you can doze off 😁, like my hubby does.
Follow me on https://www.facebook.com/The.BnM.Analyst/
