Godmothered

***Godmothered*** is a 2020 American fantasy comedy film directed by Sharon Maguire, written by Kari Granlund and Melissa Stack (from a story by Granlund) and starring Jillian Bell and Isla Fisher.

The Walt Disney Company first began developing it in September 2019, with Maguire joining the production as director later that month. Principal photography began in January 2020 in Boston. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Secret Machine Entertainment, it was released on Disney+ on December 4, 2020. The film received mixed reviews from critics.

## Plot

In a magical place called the Motherland, fairy godmothers train so that they can help people's wishes come true. Among them is the youngest, and only fairy who is not elderly, Eleanor Fay Bloomingbottom who gleefully commits to the craft despite not being very good at it. The godmothers stick to a "formula" that many have grown bored with (i.e., true love, castle, etc.). Eleanor learns from another godmother that the school is to be shut down, as nobody makes wishes anymore, and that they will have to learn to be tooth fairies instead. Determined, Eleanor checks the assignment room and discovers a letter from a 10-year-old girl named Mackenzie Walsh and decides to help her. She is aided by the oldest student, Agnes, who warns her that if she is found out, the school will shut down and, worse, her powers will be stripped.

Eleanor ends up in the real world where a friendly trucker takes her to Boston, Massachusetts, where to her shock, Mackenzie is a miserable 40-year-old single mother who works at a failing television station that reports on puff pieces. She manages to convince her that she is a fairy godmother by displaying her magic and Mackenzie is forced to take her home to her two children, Mia and Jane, and her sister Paula, who helps with looking after the kids. Mackenzie has trouble raising her children as Jane has social anxiety when it comes to singing, which she needs to do for her high school. Eleanor is forced to sleep in the basement and comes to believe, based on a comment Mackenzie made, that her husband ran away.

Eleanor begins affecting the family's lives when she starts tagging along with Mackenzie to work and meets her coworkers Duff and Hugh Prince, the latter of whom has feelings for Mackenzie, much to Eleanor's delight. Eleanor accidentally creates a colorful explosion in the sky and later creates a citywide blackout. She becomes a viral sensation following a sledding accident, the latter of which gives the news station higher ratings. Eleanor learns from Mia that Mackenzie's husband died and realizes that it is connected to Jane's anxiety and helps her by having her sing "My Favorite Things" in public. Meanwhile, Mackenzie's newfound optimism convinces her to undergo a makeover and she begins hanging out with Hugh more; himself a divorced father with a son.

Agnes tells Eleanor that she needs to have Mackenzie's true love found by midnight the next night, or she will lose her powers. She convinces Mackenzie to attend a party being thrown by their unscrupulous boss Grant and attempts to use her powers to make her fall in love with Hugh. This fails and Mackenzie berates her for trying to impede on her life. Their argument is heard by everyone at the party with Grant believing that all the recent stories were planned. Mackenzie tells Eleanor to leave, though Paula finds her fairy godmother book and sets out to look for her. To Mackenzie's surprise, Grant wants Eleanor back to exploit her. When Mackenzie refuses, Grant fires her and Hugh quits after revealing that he was offered another job.

Mackenzie learns that Jane still has anxiety, as she needs to sing for the high school at the Christmas festival that night. They find Paula trying to help Eleanor create a pumpkin carriage. They tell her that they need her and she creates a watermelon carriage to take them to the show on time. Jane performs using her father's guitar to a stunned audience. Moira, the headmistress, arrives to take Eleanor away, calling her a failure. However, Eleanor informs her that she realizes that the formula is dated and that everyone has their own idea of true love. After encouragement from the Walshes and the audience, Moira concedes that Eleanor was a success and the two of them head back with the assignment completed.

In the epilogue, rendered in traditional animation, Eleanor has become a teacher in Motherland and is seen teaching new children godmothers the new way.

## Cast

* Jillian Bell as Eleanor
* Isla Fisher as Mackenzie
	+ Erica Parks as Young Mackenzie
	+ Isabelle McNamara as the voice of Young Mackenzie
* Jane Curtin as Moira
* Mary Elizabeth Ellis as Paula, Mackenzie's sister.
* Jillian Shea Spaeder as Jane, Mackenzie's older daughter
* Willa Skye as Mia, Mackenzie's younger daughter
* Santiago Cabrera as Hugh
* Artemis Pebdani as Duff
* Utkarsh Ambudkar as Grant
* Stephnie Weir as Barb
* June Squibb as Agnes

## Production

### Development and pre-production

On September 7, 2019, it was reported that Walt Disney Pictures was developing a film centered around a fairy godmother in-training, tentatively titled *Godmothered*. The film will be an exclusive release for the company's streaming service, Disney+. On September 22, Sharon Maguire had joined the production to serve as director, from a script co-written by Kari Granlund and Melissa Stack, while Justin Springer is attached as producer. On January 9, 2020, Ivan Reitman joined the production as executive producer. On January 30, 2020, Tom Pollock, Amie Karp and Diane L. Sabatini were revealed to be serving as executive producers for the film alongside Reitman.

### Casting

On January 9, 2020, Jillian Bell and Isla Fisher joined the cast in the lead roles. On January 30, 2020, Jane Curtin, Jillian Shea Spaeder, Willa Skye, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Santiago Cabrera, Artemis Pebdani, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Stephnie Weir, June Squibb, and Carlease Burke joined the film's cast. On April 21, 2020, Rosalind Chao joined the film's cast in an undisclosed role, though it ended up getting cut in the final film.

### Filming

Production for *Godmothered* began on January 20, 2020, in Washington Street and Pleasant Street, Marblehead, MA, under the working title *Frills*. Disney officially announced the start of production on the film on January 30, 2020. Filming was also expected to take place at North Square on February 6, 2020, but was rescheduled to February 28 due to weather conditions. Filming also occurred in Brasenose College, Oxford on March 7, 2020. Filming for *Godmothered* wrapped by April 2020. Weir and Ambudkar improvised heavily during filming, with many of their scenes ending up in the final cut.

### Post-production

Post-production for *Godmothered* began by April 2020. The film features an epilogue rendered in hand-drawn animation by Studio AKA. According to Maguire, the idea of using hand-drawn animation was considered before filming, and later discarded. However, the filmmakers ultimately decided to use animation for the epilogue in response to the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, which left the filmmakers unable to film any additional footage.

## Music[edit]

Rachel Portman composed and produced the score for the film. Jillian Shea Spaeder performed two songs for the film's end credits, titled "Rise Up (Joy to the World)" and "Hero". The soundtrack was released on December 4, 2020, alongside the film.

## Release

*Godmothered* was released on December 4, 2020, on Disney+.

## Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 70% based on 69 critic reviews, with an average rating of 5.6/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "More bippity boppity than boo, *Godmothered* tweaks fairytale conventions with just enough self-aware humor to overcome a disappointing deficit of genuine magic." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100 based on 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

## Future

On November 30, 2020, Bell and Fisher expressed interest on a sequel with Bell particularly expressing interest in a sequel featuring Mia and Jane training to be Fairy Godmothers.