Mark Kermode, Observer film critic 

The House of Magic review – rollercoaster animation

A kitten lost in a magician's house offers frenetic adventure – but it's a long way from Toy Story, writes Mark Kermode
  
  

The House of Magic: has its roots in a fairground ride, and it shows.
The House of Magic: has its roots in a fairground ride, and it shows. Photograph: Allstar Picture Library Photograph: Allstar Picture Library

A peculiar assortment of ageing British pop classics (the Cure's Love Cats, Madness's House of Fun) adds to the oddness of this Belgian-produced animation which finds an accidentally abandoned kitten taking refuge in a magically haunted house owned by ageing magician Lawrence, aka "the Illustrious Lorenzo". Video-gamey POV shots send us scurrying through the hallways, attics and staircases of the crumbling pile – a kinetic aesthetic derived from this feature's roots in a 12-minute "4D" fairground-ride film entitled Haunted House, which offered rollercoaster thrills replete with "in theatre physical effects". The narrative nods its head towards Toy Story and ParaNorman, although there's nothing here to match the magic of either of those strange gems.

 

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