Magic

Even before I start typing this, I already feel bad, another classic I am going to say is not that good. Oh boy. 'A ventriloquist is at the mercy of his vicious dummy while he tries to renew a romance with his high school sweetheart.' Magic has a lot of good ideas and a good concept to it, it just does not work with those at all...

I thought I was onto a winner here, I have lots of horror books, and this film had been mentioned, it was on the Horror Channel and I had actually heard of it. I thought, yes please. And after two hours I wished I had said no thank you.
It is an alright film, but that's about it, there is nothing really wrong with it, it's just a bit slow and doesn't really go anywhere. It does start off well, Anthony Hopkins is obviously brilliant in it, as always and the puppet is made very very well. And by well made I mean pretty damn creepy. But then that is dummies for you, take Goosebumps as the best example for this - that dummy, whoa.  I liked how the characters were introduced, how it showed them starting their careers, the whole thing of him being shouted at by the dummy at his show, was genius. But that is kind of where this film ends...

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I lost it to be fair, couldn't keep involved, I did get a little bored by it, and I hate saying that.. I really did just lose the whole plot, not because it was confusing or anything, it was just slow. Slow and did not really go anywhere. It had its moments, like where you saw the terror of the doll and you saw the character of Corky, really coming through - all his awkwardness and worry coming across, but when teamed with Fats, it's like an evil A Team. Its like good versus evil, Fats is evil and Corky knows he is, but he goes with it, even when he almost gets the girl - and, surprise surprise, it goes tits up for him. And ends in a dismal way, both for him and us, the ending just comes and stops. It's an okay ending, but it does just stop, out of nowhere too, I had to wind it back as I wasn't ready for it and was doing something else... I really thought I had missed something with it, but nope, just the ending itself..

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Magic is a film that could have been better, that you may have heard of and seen photos of, but never seen or might not even know the name of it. It's a classic, but not one that you have seen, maybe because it missed potential, or so I think.
Dummies are always good in horror films, just look at Dead Silence, that is a good movie that does keep you watching, Magic just does not. Sorry.... I had high hopes and they were not answered...

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