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Upside-Down Magic, on Disney Channel
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This is based on a series of books I haven't read. There are two best friends, Nory and Reina, who can both do magic. Near the start of the movie, they begin attending the Sage Academy of Magical Studies, which is separated into five different schools of magic: Flares, who can create and manipulate fire (like Reina); Fluxers, who can shapeshift into different animals (like Nory); Flyers, who can fly; Fuzzies, who can communicate with animals; and Flickers, who can telekinetically bring objects to themselves. After a series of placement tests for each category, Reina becomes an honors Flame, while Nory becomes a UDM, which stands for Upside-Down Magic. There she learns that UDMs aren't allowed to study magic at all; rather, they're forced not to use magic, so that they'll eventually lose their magical powers altogether. This is because a UDM long ago became a vessel for Shadow Magic, which is evil and just wants to destroy everything. The school's headmistress, Linda Knightslinger (Vicki Lewis), believes Shadow Magic preys solely on UDMs.

The teacher of the UDM class is Budd Skriff (Kyle Howard). Aside from Nory (who can't transform into single animals, but rather amalgam creatures), other students include Elliot (who can only make smoke, not fire), Pepper (who can send objects away from herself, not towards herself), and Andres (who can fly higher than other Flyers, but can't land). At first Budd seems to be totally on board with demoralizing his students, but eventually Nory inspires him to teach them all to control their unconventional powers, rather than stop using them. (It turns out he can communicate with animals only by singing to them, rather than talking.) Meanwhile, Reina is stalked by a student named Chandra, who isn't what she seems. She wants Reina to use Shadow Magic.

And I don't want to spoil any more of the plot. I'll just say that it took me awhile to get into the movie, and I never really got super into it. I wasn't terribly impressed by the writing. But gradually I did come to care a bit more about the story, and in the end I thought it was okay.


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