Upside-Down Magic (film)

*Upside-Down Magic* is a Disney Channel Original Movie adaption loosely based on the book series of the same name from Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins. It premiered on July 31, 2020, scoring around 1.3 million viewers.

## Upside-Down Magic

### Studio(s)

* Resonate Entertainment
* Bad Angels Productions

### Distrubutor

Disney-ABC Domestic TelevisionDisney Channel Original Movies

## Cast

#### Main Cast

* Izabela Rose as Nory Horace
* Siena Agudong as Reina Carvajal
* Alison Fernandez as Pepper Paloma
* Elie Samouhi as Elliott Cohen
* Max Torina as Andres Padillo
* Kyle Howard as Budd Skriff
* Yasmeen Fletcher as Chandra

#### Supporting Cast

* Vicki Lewis as Headmaster Knightslinger
* Cynthia Kaye McWilliams as Professor Argon
* Elaine Kao as Professor Han
* Yasmeen Fletcher as Chandra
* Amitai Marmorstein as Professor Lewis
* Callum Seagraim Arlie as Phillip
* Valencia Budijanto as Kayla
* Ricardo Ortiz as Leo
* Jaime M. Callica as Augustus Horace
* Jason Ascunsion as Mr. Carvajal

## Synopsis

13-year-old Nory (Izabela Rose) and her best friend Reina (Siena Agudong) enter the Sage Academy for Magical Studies, where Nory's wonky magic lands her in a class for those with Upside-Down Magic, otherwise known as UDM. While many believe that the UDM’s unique powers make them a target to dangerous and evil shadow magic, Nory and her fellow UDM classmates set out to prove that Upside-Down Magic beats right-side-up!

## Plot

The film opens up with Nory and her father moving into a new house. As she and her father unpack their things, Nory becomes distracted and looks out the window sadly, remembering her deceased mother. When Nory spots the neighbor's cat, she turns into a yellow kitten with dragon wings (dritten), surprising her father.

Luckily for Nory, she is not alone in having magical powers: her best friend Reina Carvajal can manipulate fire and flames. The duo practices their powers to get ready to go to prestigious magic academy Sage Academy; while Reina makes an impressive ball of fire, Nory turns into a half-kitten half-beaver while attempting to become a normal kitten.

At Sage Academy, there are different classes for each students: The Flare class is for those who can create fire with their hands like Reina. The Fluxer class is for those who can turn into animals like Nory. The Flyer class is for those who can fly a few feet from the ground. The Fuzzy class is for those who can talk to animals. The Flickers class is for those who can bring things to them. The girls' goal upon arriving there is to see if their skills fit any of these magic categories.

During their orientation, Reina shows off her ability to light a candle, and while most of the other students show impressive abilities that fit the magic categories as well, a few students show abnormal abilities; Eliot Cohen can emit steam instead of fire, Pepper Paloma makes things fly away from her, Andres Padillo can fly to high heights but has trouble coming back down unless he uses his messenger bag full of bricks to weigh him down, and Nory herself unintentionally transforms in to a cat/dragon hybrid while trying to turn into a cat. Reina is placed in the Honors Flare class, but Nory is placed in the Upside-Down Magic (UDM) program by Headmistress Knightslinger which is run by groundskeeper Budd Skriff. In this program are students who have imperfect abilities as Headmistress Knightslinger considers them to be easy targets for the Shadow Magic, an evil force that uses a person's magic against everyone else through possession. As Nory and her fellow students secretly plan to perfect their abilities while doing their assigned tasks of assisting Budd in his grounds keeping, Reina meets a mysterious Flare student called Chandra who wants to help her with her magic studies.

Reina discovers a book about Shadow Magic and, unaware of the Shadow Magic legend that Nory and the other UDMs were taught, takes the book to the form and finds a page about strengthening magical abilities. Reina reads the page because she is worried about being second-best Flare to a boy named Phillip, who is rude and bossy.

Budd finds that his students are working to perfect their abilities in secret and shows his abnormal Fuzzy magic to them. He agrees to help them while keeping Headmistress Knightslinger from finding out.

The next day, Reina prepares for Founders’ Day, where Reina competes against Phillip to represent the Flares. Reina's powers are unusually strong, surprising her. and she is chosen to represent the Flares. Nory attempts to crash the competition by turning into a kitten and showing the students that UDMs can do normal magic, but instead becomes a wild boar/cat/dragon hybrid. Reina uses Nory's favorite Flare move to snap Nory out of it, but it almost burns Nory because Reina's powers have been so unusually strengthened.

Reina links her power change to reading the page in the Shadow Magic book, and she orders Chandra, who displays a strange amount of knowledge about the book, to take the book away. Chandra reveals to be an embodiment of Shadow Magic the next day when the other Flares cannot see who Reina is talking to. Chandra manipulates Reina and possesses her. At Founders' Day, Reina goes up to represent the Flares and uses a complicated Flare trick, inciting everyone's attention. After a comment about how her return will be memorable, Reina becomes a shadow-like being who threatens to destroy the entire school.

Everyone is shocked by this, especially Knightslinger, who had previously believed UDM's were the sole target. Everyone tries to stop the Shadow, but nothing works. The Flares fireball is easily extinguished, the Fuzzy's bird allies are easily scared away, the Fliers are brought down to the ground by the Shadow's power, the Fluxers can only change into animals that can't do anything helpful, and the Flickers attempt to pull it apart only create more shadows.

Eventually, the UDMs come to the rescue. Pepper pushes the shadows back into one monster, Elliot creates so much smoke to blind it, Andres flies so fast, the shadow gets tangled, and Nory's Dritten form knocks it back down. With the Shadow subdued, everyone present prepares to destroy it, but Nory stops them. Nory talks to Reina from within the shadow, and she manages to break free and seemingly destroy it.

After the incident, Nory and the UDMs are moved into their respective magic classes and Budd is now an official Fuzzy teacher.

In the final scene, the Shadow Magic book falls off the shelf as it opens on a specific page that shows the magic logo with one symbol that has been removed in the normal magic logo, hinting that Shadow Magic is not fully defeated and has its own lost category of magic that it wants to show the world....at any destructive cost.

## Video Games

* The mobile game launched on the DisneyNOW app, Magic My Way, was created as an unofficial spin-off of the film, following a plotline in which Chandra seeks to terrorize Nory and her friends once more.

## Differences

* Unlike the books, Nory and her classmates attend Sage Academy instead of Dunwiddle Magic School.
* Nory is 10 or 11-years in the books and 13-years in the film.
* Stone Horace is replaced by Headmaster Knightslinger.
* There are four UDM students in the film, whereas there are eight UDM students in the books.
* Ms. Starr is replaced by Budd Skriff in the film.
* Pepper's power is pushing objects in the film instead of being a Fierce. This was probably done because of plot convenience or budget constraints.
* In the film, the empowered characters gain their powers at various age intervals. In the books, the characters gain their powers when they are 10-years.
* All Fluxers start out at black kitten in the books. In the film, Nory's first Fluxing animal is a yellow kitten (she later gains the black kitten later in the film) and the first Fluxing animal varies from Fluxer to Fluxer.
* Shadow magic was never mentioned in the books.
* Andres is more confident in the film than in the books. His leash is never seen in the film too, as it is replaced by a backpack he wears all the time.
* Flickers use telekinesis instead of making things invisible.
* Nory's siblings, Hawthorn and Dalia, are not mentioned in the film.
* Elliott has the power to manifest smoke while in the books he can manipulate the temperature and freeze objects.
* Additionally, Elliott's character contrasts in appearance from how he was described in the books.
* Reina Carvajal and most of the characters were created only for the film, since they were mentioned nowhere in the books.
* Four of the eight UDM students from the books appear in the film. They are Nory, Elliott, Andres, and Pepper.
* Nory's "dritten" is the only combination animal from the books that appears in the film. The other combination animals were created for the film.
* The ways the students are taught to control their magic is called the "Sage way". This is probably an allusion to how people think that traditional ways are the only ways to life live.

## Gallery

### Screenshots

Sage Academy in the filmUDM classroom in filmElliott Cohen in the filmElliott performing magic against Chandra during the final moments of the filmBudd SkriffKnightslinger's introduction to SageReina recieves her test results
## Videos

### Trailers

Official Trailer 🎥 - Upside-Down Magic - Disney ChannelTeaser ✨ - Upside-Down Magic - Disney ChannelThe Power of Shadow Magic 💥- Teaser - Upside-Down Magic - Disney ChannelIt's Coming! - Teaser - Upside-Down Magic - Disney ChannelIt's Almost Here! - Teaser - Upside-Down Magic - Disney Channel
### Clips

Nory Tries Fluxing - Sneak Peek - Upside-Down Magic - Disney ChannelNory's Magic Test 🐱 - Sneak Peek - Upside-Down Magic - Disney ChannelMagic Practice - Upside-Down Magic - Disney ChannelShadow Magic 😱 - Upside-Down Magic - Disney ChannelNory Discovers Magic - Sneak Peek - Upside-Down Magic - Disney ChannelWelcome to Sage Academy 🚌 - Upside-Down Magic - Disney Channel
### Behind The Scenes

Blooper Reel - Upside-Down Magic - Disney ChannelBehind the Scenes - Compilation - Upside-Down Magic - Disney ChannelLife Lessons in UDM! - Upside-Down Magic - Disney ChannelThe UDM Cast Makes Wand IDs ⭐ - Behind the Scenes - Upside-Down Magic - Disney ChannelMagic Special Effects and Animals - Behind the Scenes - Upside-Down Magic - Disney ChannelDIY Fashion & Crafts with the UDM Cast ✂️ - Upside-Down Magic - Disney ChannelThe Cast of Upside-Down Magic's Hidden Talents - Compilation - Upside-Down Magic - Disney ChannelInside the Magic - Upside-Down Magic - Disney Channel
## Sequel

In an interview with Shine On Media, after being asked about a sequel, Siena responded that "she wasn't sure where things could go from there and that [they] weren't sure yet". Izabela expressed her hopes for a second film. As of 2022, no confirmation or denial of a sequel have been announced.

## Trivia

* The Founders day festival was filmed in the same field as the final battle in the Twilight saga.
* Amitai Marmorstein's 2nd Disney Channel Original Movie. His first was Adventures in Babysitting (2016) 4 years prior.
* This is the 2nd DCOM to star Vicki Lewis, the first had been Den Brother (2010) 10 years prior.
* Alison Fernandez and Elie Samouhi previously starred together in the Netflix sitcom Team Kaylie (2019) as Amber and Chewy.
* Siena Agudong, Alison Fernandez and Max Torina all previously appeared in episodes of Sydney to the Max (2019) on separate occasions, making Izabela and Elie the only two Disney Channel newcomers out of the main young cast.
* Many of the UDM students from the book series were not featured in the film (such as Bax, Marigold, and others)
* Miss Starr was not featured in the film. Instead, she was replaced by Skriff.

## References

1. ↑ Upside Down Magic (book series)
2. ↑ https://programminginsider.com/friday-final-ratings-espn-tops-all-key-adult-and-male-demos-with-their-first-doubleheader-of-nba-restart/
3. ↑ https://youtu.be/sQ3PiZTEOBg