Upside-Down Magic Parent Guide

Best friends Nory (Izabela Rose) and Reina (Siena Agudong) are thrilled to begin their studies at the Sage Academy for Magical Studies. Reina is hoping to perfect her talent for making fire and Nory hopes to stabilize her ability to transform into animals. But when the girls are assessed on the first day of school, Reina is assigned to the “Flare” honors class and Nory is banished to the bunker for the “UDM” group. Nory and three other students are hectored by the principal (Mrs. Knightslinger played by Vicki Lewis) who tells them that they possess “wonky, weird, defective magic.” Furthermore, she berates them, “Your magic is wrong. Upside down magic will never be proper magic.” Convinced that kids with upside down magic provide the perfect cracked, damaged receptacles for dark powers, the principal insists that they cannot be trained but must be isolated until their abilities atrophy. But Nory is not a girl to be easily discouraged…

Let’s begin with the less enchanting aspects of this film. First, it was originally made for TV and, boy, does that ever show. The writing is terrible – have the screenwriters ever listened to tweens talk? It’s clunky and overwrought and just plain bad. The acting is also mediocre but that’s not unexpected. The plot is derivative, basically a mash up of Harry Potter and Sky High. And don’t even ask about the CGI. However, none of this matters in the end because the elementary school aged viewers this movie is aimed at aren’t going to care about issues of quality or originality. They just want to have fun – which they will.

From a parent’s perspective, Upside-Down Magic has plenty to recommend it for young viewers. It has virtually no content issues and even the fantasy violence is tame. A character is briefly possessed by dark magic and a giant shadow monster acts menacing but really doesn’t do very much. This might scare a sensitive six year old but it won’t faze anyone else.

The movie also casts a positive spell on viewers, particularly through its overarching emphasis on accepting and appreciating differences. The story is crystal clear in demonstrating that differences aren’t threatening but that real danger lies in environments that are rigid, intolerant, and dismissive. Shadow magic doesn’t enter the school through upside down magic but through a student who is filled with self doubt and loneliness – emotions aggravated by social segregation and harsh teaching methods. When Nory asserts that “Letting everybody be the best of the something they can be is real magic” she’s got a message that will resonate for young viewers. Whether your child is struggling with the normal ups and downs of childhood or is dealing with the challenges of not being neurotypical or identifying on the LGBTQ spectrum, this movie’s reassurance that their uniqueness is valuable will feel, well, magical.