On Saturday, I brought my daughter, Kaleea, to Durango to see "The Magistical" at the Durango Independent Film Festival (DIFF). The movie is an animated feature-length film created by Out Of Our Minds Productions; it was paired with an animated short entitled "Aston's Stones," which was adorable! Kaleea really enjoyed "Aston's Stones" because it was sweet, there were no bad guys, and the main character was a loveable little puppy with floppy ears who picked up stones, took them home, made them beds, and put his mittens and hats on them. His parents were very understanding of their son’s rock fetish; Aston’s mom was always strumming a guitar, which created a very light and interwoven musical element to the short.
Although my family, and the other’s who were present all seemed to enjoy "Aston's Stones," I will focus on “The Magistical” for my response. Instead of writing a summary to help explain the multi-layered plot, I included the trailer form YouTube and a link to the movie’s website. I suggest checking out the links to these, and the production studio, because they are examples of unique, creative, and interactive mediums.
This was a family outing – four generations of my family drove up to see the film and go to lunch. (My grandma and Kaleea’s great-grandmother loves the beer at Steamworks.) My point is that all of us liked the film, but for different reasons. Kaleea loved the little purple dragon, Knot, and many of the other characters, like The Fairy of Springs’s daughter, Lil’ Bit; I liked the interesting plot filled with primary and secondary messages. My mom commented on the music; and my grandma was also interested in the beautiful animation and complicated storyline. Overall, we all enjoyed it immensely and wanted to see it again.
Working alongside the primary plot line was a strong anti-war subplot. The subplot was a parody of American History and a satire in itself. Nestled securely under the wing of the main plot line lived a complicated, semi-symbolic, and personified illusion to the complicated and misguided reasons for war. Symbols appeared in flags with red, white and blue in the food of the gluttonous, consumerist, materialistic, and Eurocentric character, King Kakinkadoo, who represented the ideals of the United States government; this character eventually freed the evil dragon to kill his enemies and seek revenge on the innocent and unsuspecting villagers. Wow. There were also several textual references to “Dessert Storm,” which is an obvious connection to Desert Storm. On the other side of the battle lines was The Other. This character’s symbol was a giant target; they had more animalistic characteristics than humanistic ones, and they were “big and scary,” and “a threat.” The messages were not overt and did not overpower the main child-friendly themes of friendship, commitment, and bravery.
And, above it all sat the newly appointed guardian and “protector of all living things,” The Magistical. The first Magistical who risked her life in the opening scenes, was replaced by a character who I couldn’t help think looked a lot like Gandhi. He eventually saved Knot and became The Magistical. He ended the conflict between the two warring countries in a peaceful and non-violent manner, which was refreshing and in contrast to mainstream media values. This character urged the audience to question what we believe in and what we accept as unquestionable truth. Should we accept an almighty and benevolent protector and “have faith” we will be protected from harm? Furthermore, how can we justify our own wrongdoings by belief in a higher power? The Magistical did not advocated blind belief in an unknown entity; she insisted that belief in oneself was far more powerful.
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