The Magic Flute

My wife and I took my five year old daughter to go see this. I don't know much about Mozart or this particular opera but I knew there were fantasy elements and were all huge fantasy nerds. The first twenty minutes set up the main character of Tim and his relationship with his father, who was a famous singer of sorts (to what extent is never explained fully) and he gives his son a magic book. He's sent to attend the same music school as his father, one dedicated to Mozart. But soon we realize he's set to relive his fathers legacy by playing the lead in The Magic Flute. F. Murray Abraham is deviously wonderful as the strict headmaster, although he is drastically under used. Tim soon finds himself using the magic book and a magic portal behind a clock to transport himself to the world of The Magic Flute where he meets Iwan Rheon as Papagenu who absolutely steals the show. The resulting film is filled with fantastic music and visuals, including a giant snake, an evil Queen, and a daring rescue of a kidnapped princess by the unlikely heroes. The scenes at the school seemed to drag from time to time, but toward the end I was happy that they included as much of that storyline as they did because it was heartwarming at the conclusion. My 5 year old and I loved, my wife didn't like it at all unfortunately. But we will definitely be watching this again.

Sometimes it's hard to find a production that has a little something for everyone. This movie does. I am a fan of and sang opera professionally in my younger days (I'm over 70) I know the Magic Flute well. When I saw that this was being released, I had trepidations, I'll admit. However, I was delighted by the way this was handled. It's a little bit Harry Potter, a little C. S. Lewis (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), and a lot of Mozart. Except for two professional opera singers (Queen of the Night and Sarastro), the other singing members of the cast did not have the power in their voices to raise them to opera strength. Actually, the times that I have done this opera, I have always sung it in German. Hearing it in English was a bit of a shock, but all things considered, necessary. This to me was the only problem with the film, but then I remembered that this is part real world, part fantasy. Did they change the opera, of course, but they kept the best Arias, and spoke the dialogue that was sung in the Opera. All in all, this is a movie I would recommend highly, as long as the watcher is not expecting a faithful reiteration of the opera. . Enjoy it for what it is.

This movie is well done and the plot is unique. A teenage boy who attends the Mozart Academy of Music is magically transported to the world of The Magic Flute. There he actually performs in the opera. It's great to see F. Murray Abraham play the headmaster considering he played Antonio Salieri so well in the movie Amadeus. I do recommend that people see the original opera on stage to fully grasp the scope of the music and story, or as it is called the libretto in opera terms.

This movie is entertaining and puts this opera in a whole new light. It's great for Mozart fans and fans of a good love story. It introduces the magic of Mozart to the next generation.

I am not quite sure why this movie only scores 5.9 (as of today, April 2023). There maybe a few opera snobs around who think it cheapens the Mozart original, but they're wrong.

This movie should be taken for what it is: a good way of introducing opera to a younger generation who probably never hear such wonderful music otherwise.

The cast do a good job and the twin storylines, running in parallel, with the real life romance playing out while the Magic Flute story plays out in the world that Tim/Prince Tamino travels to through the magic clock.

Mozart's score is, as always, enchanting. And there's a nice cameo at the end from a rather well-known operatic tenor....

Fresh from recent screenings of Michael Powell's "Tales of Hoffmann" (1951) and "Bluebeard's Castle" (1963) I thought I'd give this a go... No, in no way can anyone claim that the singing is to the same standard of Norman Foster or Robert Rounseville, but there is one similarity. This is not an opera, it's a filmed interpretation of one - and it's aimed fairly and squarely at younger folks who would no more want to sit through two hours of Mozart sang in German than they'd volunteer for dental surgery. I think that's what makes this worth indulging a bit more. Recruiting the handsome Jack Wolfe (anyone else think he looks a little bit like Thomas Sangster) is guaranteed to turns some heads. He is the seventeen year old "Tim" who takes up his place at the famous Mozart school high in the Alps. He knows nobody and is armed only with the tiniest amount of confidence and a book given to him by his now deceased dad. He gets a distinctly frosty welcome from the musical snobs - including the professor "Lomgbow" (the sparingly used F. Murray Abraham) - in the place, but his roommate "Paolo" (Ellie Courtiour) proves to be OK and he makes friends with "Sophie" (Niamh McCormack) over some "Jackson 5" music on their headphones. What he also discovers is that his book opens a long forgotten secret passageway into the very land in which "The Magic Flute" is set. So long as he goes through at 3 o'clock each night, he will be able to live out the story with "Papageno" (Iwan Rheon), "Pamina" (Asha Banks) as they face the "Queen of the Night" (Sabine Devieilhe). To help defend himself, he has been given a flute and now he must learn to use it to best effect. Yes, it's the "Janet and John" version, and the English language obsession with rhyme can limit the power of the libretto at times, but this is still an engaging mix of modern teen/hormonal drama interspersed through some of the darker, funnier and more sinister elements of the original story. The score is rousing and the cast - especially Devieilhe - deliver the songs adequately enough, I'd say, to encourage anyone interested in the production to take it to anther level - to see it on the stage even. It's not great, but it's a solid effort that might just make this marvellous form of entertainment become of interest to a new generation of Taylor Swift fans.