Magina

***Magina*** is 2003 American 2D animated musical romantic fantasy comedy film produced by Universal Animation. 6 feature film in Universal Animated Features canon, it was directed by Ash Brannon, produced by John Cohen and Chris Jenkins, and written by Irene Mecchi and Gary Hall from story by Michael Wildshill, Brannon, Hall, Jim Anderson, and Amy McNeill. Film stars voices of Jodi Benson, Elijah Wood, with Alfre Woodard, and David Ogden Stiers, and tell story of mysterious, magic girl name Magina, who is lock away in isolated fortress with her mother Telea as she was believe to be curse. She is encountered by young man name Olin, who falls in love with her, and together, 2 try to find new home.

Development of *Magina* began in 1997, when Wildshill wrote original concepts of film, envisioning boy meet girl story. In 2001, Brannon was approached to direct film and revise story. *Magina* was release by Universal Pictures on March 7, 2003, and received mixed reviews from critics, who praised it animation, music, and voice, but criticized it story. Grossing $7 million on $5 million budget, Universal Animation suffered $1 million loss, which company and cause it to abandon 2D traditional animation in favor of computer animation. It is considered to be 1 of biggest box office bombs of all time, but is also considered to be cult favorite.

## Cast

* Jodi Benson as Magina, a young woman with magical powers who is locked up in a fortress. Benson earlier voice-acted for Universal Animation in *Galaxion* as Patty Kusene and would do so again in *Computeropolis* as Commander Cindy.
* Elijah Wood as Olin, a young man who Magina helps to find a new peaceful home.
	+ David Ogden Stiers as an elderly Olin, the narrator.
* Alfre Woodard as Telea, Magina's ruthless mother who refuses to let Magina leave the fortress and talk to boys ever again.
* John Kassir as Flint, Magina's pet hedgehog who is friendly to Olin.
* Spencer Breslin as Olin's son.
* Tony Jay as Derlo
* Phil Morris as Pol

### Additional voices

* Jack Angel
* Mike Bell
* Bob Bergen
* Rodger Bumpass
* Debi Derryberry
* Paul Eiding
* Sherry Lynn
* Edie McClurg
* Mickie McGowan
* Laraine Newman
* Phil Proctor
* Jan Rabson
* Evan Sabara
* Jim Ward

## Production

### Development

Michael Wildshill came up with concept in 1997, envisioning romantic boy meet girl story set in fantasy world. When *Ama And Mysterious Crystal* almost finish production, Wildshill developed his concept into 40 page film treatment and sent it to John Cohen who wrote back with Wow. Soon after, project, then title *Legend Of Magina*, went into development.

*More coming soon!*

### Animation

During development of *Magina*, DreamWorks Animation ask Universal if they would be interested in sharing digital animation technique, which is blend of 2D traditional hand drawn animation and 3D computer animation used in DreamWorks *Stallion Of Cimarron* and *Legend Of 7 Seas*, ask that Universal in turn share with them any improvements that were made. Universal agreed, result in most of digital technique for both *You And Mobo* and *Magina* being produced in house by Universal, but some very important tools were those produced by DreamWorks. Look back on the agreement, Wildshill said that DreamWorks generosity gave huge leg up and allow us to draw enormous vistas in film. Some years later, Wildshill clarified Universal stance on digital technique while obliquely mentioning share tools

> We always developed all our own technology. It been little frustrating in past for us to hear people say, Yeah, animation is using technique. People assumed that we were using digital animation technique for Mobo and Magina, and that was not true. We share some technology way back when, and that was great, but we are company that put stock in producing specialized technique and we will continue to do so.
>
> Michael Wildshill, *Animation Magazine*, March 2007

*More coming soon!*

## Release

### Home Media

*Magina* was release on VHS and DVD on June 17, 2003. During 1 month of it home release, film led in VHS sales and was 3 in VHS and DVD sales combined. Sales and rentals of VHS and DVD combined would eventually accumulate $1 million in revenue. In 2011, film was release on Blu ray. Film was release on 4K Ultra HD Blu ray and Digital HD on December 15, 2020.

## Reception

### Critical Response

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 100% of critics gave film positive reviews based on 119 reviews with average score of 6.1 10. Consensus read, *Magina* shines as rich animated and beautiful song love tale, although resemblance to story is rather uncanny. Rating on Metacritic from critics is 100 out of 100, meaning mixed or average reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave film average grade of A on A to F scale.

### Box Office

*Magina* grossed $2 million in NA and $6 million in other territories for worldwide total of $7 million. In 2003, Universal announced that due to film under performing at box office, Universal Feature Animation would have to take $1 million writedown, and it almost bankrupted Universal animation company.

## Other Media

### Video Game

*Main article: Magina (video game)*
Video game based on film was release on March 4, 2003 for PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance, GameCube, Xbox, PC, and Macintosh.

## Transcripts

### Main

To see the main transcript of the film, click here.

### Trailers

To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here.

**Upcoming:** *Luna & Zak: Lvl. 2* (2020) · *Earth Farm* (2021) · *Computeropolis: Webcation* (2021) · *Mechagirl* (2022) · *Paradoria 3* (2023)

**Upcoming:** *Sing 2* (2021) · *Minions: The Rise of Gru* (2022) · *Untitled animated Mario film* (2022 or 2023)

**Upcoming:** *Spirit Untamed* (2021) · *The Boss Baby: Family Business‎‎* (2021) · *The Bad Guys* (2022)

**Upcoming:** *Agent Chrysocolla* (2020) · *Cool Spot 2* (2021) · Untitled *Zina and the Vivid Crew* sequel (2023)