1/2 Magic: 1/2 of the consummation

Poster for the animated film 1/2 Magic

1/2 Magic is an animated film directed by Dan Scanlon and voiced by Tom Holland, Chris Pratt and others, released in China on August 19, 2020. The film mainly tells the story of the brothers embarking on an adventure to find a little magic that still exists in modern life. The film is set in a suburban fantasy world of elves, trolls, and spirits—it provides the premise that magic is real, but it has long since been replaced by modern technology. A pair of teenage brothers, whose father died when they were young, decided to enter this fantasy world and spend their last magical days with their father.

"1/2 Magic" is a family film that coexists with warmth and regret. Cowardly and introverted since he lost his father at an early age, Ian gets a magic spell on his sixteenth birthday that can bring his father back to the world for a day, but the magic is only half successful, the summoned father has only the lower body, and he needs a new medium Phoenix Stone to release the magic again, so he and his brother Barry embark on a journey to find the Phoenix Stone. This time the road adventure has laughter and tears, the ending has growth and regret, and it has given people a good life and death education lesson.

Ian has not seen his father since he was a child, and the lack of getting along with him is a blank in his life, believing that he can become brave in the company of his brave father, and embarks on an adventure full of unknowns. During this journey, in order to find the Phoenix Stone, he learned to drive, all kinds of magic, and even self-confidence and become bold under the guidance of his brother. At the end of the journey, he and his brother went back to the town where they lived after a difficult journey, and he thought that he had taken the wrong way to find the Phoenix Stone and broke down, leading his father, who had only half of his body, to leave his brother. However, when Ian was alone, he found that he actually wanted to do things with his father, his brother had completed it with him, and his seemingly unprofessional brother had always played the role of father, making up for his lack of father. So in the final moments, he gave up his only chance to hug his father to Barry, who missed the last regret because he did not dare to face his father who had changed before his death. Barry's remorseful escape from his father's dying life forced himself to be brave, and the hug at the end of the film reconciled him with his former self.

Ian chooses to give up when the goal is about to be achieved, giving up the opportunity to fill the regret to his brother, defeating the dragon Ian just looks at the back of his complete father through the ruin hole, and the emotional expression is quite restrained, so that the film reaches an emotional climax and does not flow into the sensational rotten custom - a wonderful big reversal, changing the focus from father-son love to brotherhood, surprisingly but reasonably, completing the sublimation of the theme of family affection. The film guides Ian to accept the regret of losing his father, and realizes that the regret has long been filled in another way, and his brother is the father of his spiritual world. At the end, the father embraces the brother, and the brother transfers the hug to the younger brother, and the family concept and life and death education conveyed in the film are all in these two embraces. For the audience, it's a truly reunion ending. There is magic in the film, but not in reality, and it is impossible for a loved one who has passed away in reality to come back. Although Ian has no father, Ian has never lacked love, whether from his parents or brothers. In fact, love has always been by Ian's side, but also by the audience's side. Although there is loss in life, people should not indulge in the pain of loss, but to amplify the love they have, which is the driving force to promote people's growth and progress. "1/2 magic" soothes people with its unique warmth.

In addition to warmth, the exploration of the self is also an important part of the film. The younger brother Ian has a cowardly personality, the "secondary second disease" brother Barry is brave and reckless, the magic talent belongs to the cowardly younger brother, and the confidence and various whimsical ideas that are indispensable for casting magic belong to the older brother. Logically, in this road adventure, the older brother used his own experience in playing games to guide his younger brother to learn magic, encouraging him to be confident, focused, releasing the flame of his heart, and guiding him to release the impulses and ancient potentials in his body. This magical adventure is actually the process of Ian's self-recovery. Teenagers overcome timidity to find themselves, and the same is true for middle-aged people. The queen scorpion-tailed flying lion, who once loved adventure, was tired of the restaurant, was oppressed by life and grinded away the sharpness, and was confined to the trivial affairs of the restaurant. Mother Ian brings a twist, she regains her sword in the pursuit of the daredevil brothers, flies in the sky again, walks out of self-limitation, and finds herself.

While touching people's hearts, "1/2 Magic" also has some shortcomings. The film is a typical "Golden Fleece" road adventure film, the development of the story line is very "flat", this kind of flat refers to the development of the story is too routine, the contradictions and obstacles set are clichés, such as flying car hunting, cliffs without bridges, tunnel mechanisms, etc., the solutions are also easy to imagine, lack of suspense and thrill. This magical adventure repeats the routine of encountering dangers— learning new magic to solve dangers, which is less innovative than Pixar's previous works.

The worldview of the film needs to be dug deeper. From the beginning, the film constructs a world where technology and magic coexist, and the convenience and practicality of modern technology have gradually replaced magic and even lost it. In our real life, it is also technology that has greatly changed the way people used to live. This is a story projection point that can cause deep thinking, but in the process of the development of the film, the relationship between technology and magic is only a background board for the story to occur, and the contradictions between the two are passed, only at the beginning and end of the film, in a world full of technology, the small town creatures begin to use magic and their own talents, and the contrast between the two is not deeply involved in the details of the film.

Overall, "1/2 Magic" lacks a little innovation and depth compared with Pixar's other excellent works, but it is better than moving people with emotion, and the expression of family affection, life and death education, and self-expression is very in place, which is moving and worth watching.

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