The Magic Flute

 It's time to get classical. 

This time, we're talking about The Magic Flute, the latest film of Mozart's Opera. Ingmar Bergman's 1975 film presented life backstage and in the audience during a performance. Kenneth Branagh's 2006 film updated the story to World War I to splendidly silly results. Director Florian Sigl, writer Andrew Lowery and producer Roland Emmerich's angle is to turn it into The Neverending Story. The results are weird.

Our hero, Tim (Jack Wolfe), reluctantly transfers to the Mozart International Academy of Music following his dad's death. His dad was a fan of The Magic Flute, and even gave him an old libretto of it to return there. So, he's interested once he learns of the Academy's upcoming production of the opera. The headmaster Dr. Longbow (F. Murray Abraham) doesn't think Tim's cut out for the lead role of Prince Tamino. But three spirits think otherwise.

One night, Tim shelves the libretto in the library at the stroke of 3. Suddenly, Tim's in the universe of The Magic Flute, where he must play through the story as Prince Tamino. So, what's the story? The Queen of the Night (Sabine Devieilhe) tasks her bird catcher, Papageno (Iwan Rheon), and Tamino to save her daughter, Pamina (Asha Banks) from the clutches of the evil King Sarastro (Morris Robinson). Otherwise, she'll cast the land in Eternal Night. But things aren't simple; for one, Sarastro isn't actually evil. 

The relationship between the story fronts is its biggest hindrance. It sometimes feels both fronts are two separate movies intruding on each other. Tim is cast back into the real world after a few hours. But he doesn't, say, study up on the opera in-between visits. The three spirits leave him to his own devices after laying out his mission. A few more visits could've added some urgency to the plot. It doesn't help that the real-world story isn't that interesting. The subplots concerning Tim's roommate Paolo (Elliot Courtiour) and school-bully Anton (Amir Wilson) are far more compelling than Tim's hero quest.

Mozart Land is where the film gets good. Martin Stock's adaptation of Mozart's score is spectacular and the actors do a reasonably good job singing their parts. Papageno is the film's best character, by far. He's quite funny and his duet with his Papagena (Stefi Celma) is nice. Not even him losing his mouth for a bit (long story) takes away his hilarity. Monostatos (Stefan Konarske), Sarastro's captain-of-the-guards, is extremely silly, though I couldn't tell if he was meant to be taken seriously. Sarastro is quite likable, as are the Queen's three servants (Larissa Herden, Jeanne Goursand and Jasmin Shakeri).

Its good production and costume designers ironically shine with the Queen of the Night. She's a formidable presence as she blends into the dark and sings her legendary arias. Peter Matjasko's cinematography deserves some kudos for making her towering in her first scene. The film's best CGI creation is the monster serpent that threatens Tim/Tamino in the opera's first scene. Back to the real world, the Mozart Academy makes for an interesting locale. 

The Magic Flute doesn't exactly blend its two stories rather well. Its supporting cast is much more compelling than its lead character. But the lively world of Mozart's opera makes it worth the watch. The orchestrations and original score make it worth a listen. Check it for yourself once you rent it on streaming now or wait next week for the Blu-Ray/DVD. You might find a past version or two during those searches. As for me, it's time to venture off to the next review.