Kohli makes sure that 'Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic' appeals to children. It's got all the required elements: fantasy, fairy, fairy-tale story, kids etc. Adults may enjoy it with their kids but otherwise there's a lot about this film that needed improvement. Yet, it remains a tad better flick when compared to other Hindi films of this genre, such as 'Koi Mil Gaya' (ugh!).
At this point, I can't say that the story is a start-to-finish ripoff (even though it feels very familiar) but it's not very original either. Kohli takes a lot of ideas from films like 'The Sound of Music', 'Nanny McPhee', 'Mary Poppins', 'Rent A Kid' and even the TV-series 'Heroes'. The movie is a little too sugar-coated for my liking but then again, kids like this kind of stuff. Some of the characters suffer from poor writing and what was the point of the butler (Razak Khan in a different avatar)? Since when did Indian business tycoon's even have butlers? Even the love story between Ranbir and Geeta is rushed. Actually, at many points the story is downright ridiculous. I mean, what was with the judge forcing the kids to be raised by their parents's murderer Ranbir?
On the technical front, it scores low and this is where 'Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic' suffers. A fantasy film needs to create that fantasy feel but due to the poor special effects (it looks almost amateurish), ancient animation, unimpressive songs and flat cinematography fails to involve the viewer in its world. I wonder why the animation looked so old fashioned in this film when Kohli did a good job with it in his second film 'Hum Tum'. Considering that Yashraj productions was behind funding this film, one would have expected it to look better. Even in a lesser budgeted movie like 'Bhoothnath' the technical side is well taken care of.
Saif Ali Khan does an okay job with what he's given but the transformation in his character seems rushed, choppy and of course, very hard to believe. The director fails to show why he suddenly transforms from this cold unfriendly man to a caring guardian. Not only that, but he also teaches the children life lessons that he never applied those to himself. Perhaps we are to assume that he was initially trying to be kind to the children out of guilt. Amisha Patel seems to get typecast as the annoying bimbo (she played a similar role in last years 'Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd'). She fits the caricature well. The annoying Rishi Kapoor acts drunk. The child actors are the 'usual cute kids' you see in Yashraj films but these ones actually do try to act instead of just being cute. Now the magic of this film is clearly Rani Mukherjee. She plays the part as if it was written for her (perhaps it was). She acts her part very naturally providing excellent comic relief from the sappy moments but at the same time, the character is unidimensional.
The sad thing is that 'Thoda Pyaar Rhoda Magic' could have easily been a better film technically, given the financial resources of Yashraj productions (or perhaps they suffered a little too much from their last couple of flops?) and content-wise, had the story itself been a little more real without the excessive sugar and ridicule. You can watch it with kids in the hope that they'd laugh or watch it with adults who'll laugh for the wrong reasons.
