BACKGROUND
Fantasy novels have always been popular with adults and children alike.
They give people an opportunity to escape from the mundanity or the stress of real life and enter a new world where those problems don’t matter, paling into insignificance when compared to the troubles of mystical lands.
Within the world of fiction, some major fantasy series from the years include Discworld by Terry Pratchett; The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis; Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy; and of course, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. But the fantasy world is always open to new writers, and one new novel to hit the shelves in September 2015 was Upside-Down Magic, the first in a series, which Disney optioned straight away.
There have been other occasions when Disney Channel have made movies based on books, such as Read It and Weep (2006), which was based on the novel How My Private, Personal Journal Became a Bestseller by Julia DeVillers, and Twitches (2005), which was based on the T*Witches book series, by H.B. Gilmour and Randi Reisfeld.
Using a novel as a basis for a movie is a good way of introducing books to younger audiences, because, if they enjoyed the film, they may want to read the book it was based on. Or it gives the book’s fanbase a new way of enjoying their series. Since the first book in the Upside-Down Magic series had been published five years prior to the release of the movie, Disney Channel were probably hoping that the readers of the books would be excited by the making of this movie.
I wasn’t expecting much when I watched Upside-Down Magic, and I certainly was not looking forward to it. I thought I’d find it boring and childish, and, since I’d never heard of this film or the book series it is based on, I couldn’t imagine that it was any good. In actual fact, I did quite like Upside-Down Magic, despite not being the target demographic. It was a good mix of fantasy, mystery, and coming-of-age drama, although it missed the mark with others, who felt it resembled a certain series a little too much.
PLOT
Upside-Down Magic begins with the main character, Nory, saying how her mother used to tell her that everyone has their “something”: a talent. Nory’s mother died when she was only seven-years-old. At this age, Nory discovered she had magical talents after turning into a cat one afternoon just by looking at it through a window.
Six years later, Nory is preparing to go to Sage Academy to learn all about magic. She is luckily going with her best friend Reina, who has fire magic. Nory is incredibly excited about going to Sage Academy, but Reina is nervous about it. Nory tells her it’s all going to be great and that Reina’s magic is amazing. Nory, on the other hand, struggles to control her magic and shapeshifts into strange hybrid animals.
Nory and Reina go to the bus stop to get to their new boarding school. Many other magical kids are waiting too. Here, we learn that Nory’s mother was a student at Sage Academy. Suddenly, a random guy comes out of the bushes and sends the parents away, saying he is there to take the children to the school. Because that’s not weird at all when you’re going to magic school, I guess. The grumpy guy escorts the kids through the forest, telling them not to use magic on the way. Soon, they arrive at a mess of twisted branches with a hole in the middle. This is apparently the entrance to the school, but there seems to be nothing beyond it. The moody guide walks through the gap – and disappears. Nory and Reina hold hands, take a deep breath, and step through too, arriving at a beautiful school.
At Orientation, the children meet their headmistress, Ms. Knightslinger. She tells them that Sage Academy consists of five different “schools” based on different types of magic: “Fuzzies” are those who can communicate with animals; “Flickers” are those with telekinesis; “Flares” have fire magic; “Flyers” can fly, of course; and “Fluxers” transform into animals. Each one of them must go through a placement test to see if they are talented enough to be placed into the Honours Programme for their type of magic.
For the Flares, students must light a candle from six feet away. The Fuzzies must answer questions about a dog. Flickers have to bring a vase towards them. Flyers are instructed to fly three feet in the air, hover, and then land. Fluxers must turn themselves into a tabby cat, hold the form for six seconds, and return to normal. Throughout the placement tests, there are a mixture of performances. For example, in the Flares test, Reina does perfectly but a student called Elliot can only create smoke. In the Flickers’ exam, a girl called Pepper can only push the vase away from her, not bring it to her. In the flying test, a boy called Andres flies up too high and gets stuck on the ceiling. And then, there’s Nory, who transforms into a cat briefly – but then transforms into a cat with dragon wings…
In the quad, each student is given their results on a card. Nory and Reina look at theirs together. Reina has been admitted into the Flares Honours classes, but Nory’s card simply says “UDM”. As the other students head off to get their uniform, Nory is pointed towards the forest and follows the signs to “UDM”. Her new “school” is situated in an underground cave and is led by the grumpy man who took them to the school, Mr. Skriff. He is both the school’s groundskeeper and the teacher of the UDM programme. Nory sees she is joined by Elliot, Pepper, and Andres. Mr. Skriff tells them that these four are here because they have what is called “upside-down magic”, basically meaning their magic is defective so there is no place for them at Sage Academy as they cannot do magic “the Sage Way”. In the UDM programme, they will not be learning magic, but will be doing real school work or other tasks around the grounds as they wait for their magic to disappear.
As Nory protests against this, Ms. Knightslinger arrives to tell them that they are unteachable and their magic is of no use to the world. Nory asks why they can’t be given a chance to correct their magic. Ms. Knightslinger tells them about a former Flares student called Reginald from Sage Academy in 1939. He had upside-down magic and was soon a target of “Shadow Magic”, a type of magic that consumes someone and is difficult to defeat because of its darkness. Ms. Knightslinger says that those with upside-down magic are the targets for Shadow Magic, so they are separated from the others to both protect the world and themselves from this possibility. Nory is devastated.
Meanwhile, Reina in Honours Flares class is told that she must continue to be great or risk being demoted to Basic Flares class. Her teacher, Professor Argon, also tells the class about Founders’ Day, where the best student from each magical school is given the opportunity to present their magic at a ceremony. To decide who that is, the two top students from each school of magic compete against each other in the Sage Match. Reina is nervous, especially without Nory there to boost her confidence, but gives her first lesson a go: popping corn. Reina does well, until she hears a scoff from a kid in her class, which distracts her so she then burns the corn. Professor Argon warns her she’ll need to do better than that.
Nory is sad to be separated from Reina, especially as she learns that the UDM students have to clean the school with Mr. Skriff. As Nory is sweeping, she stumbles upon a Fluxer lesson, where she hears about the Sage Match and Founders’ Day. Nory is determined to fix her magic by the day of the Sage Match, so she walks into the Fluxer lesson and tries to transform herself into a cat. It doesn’t work and she instead becomes a strange mix of an elephant and a bird. Mr. Skriff rushes over to calm Nory down so she can turn back to normal. He escorts her away, reiterating that the rules are there to protect her.
Throughout the days that follow, the UDM students learn that they are being segregated from the other students, so Nory and Reina cannot talk often. Reina continues to struggle with the pressure of the Flares programme, whilst Nory, with help from her fellow UDM classmates, tries to control her magic in secret, ready for the Sage Match. After a particularly difficult class for Reina, she bumps into a girl who tells her that she is much more powerful than Philip, the top student in Reina’s class. This girl is called Chandra who tells Reina to come find her if she wants help harnessing her power. Hmm, how cryptic… Nory then gets to talk to Reina briefly, where they both lie that they are having a great time at Sage Academy. Reina later heads to the library where a book on Shadow Magic appears to her. Scared by this book, which seems to follow her, Reina runs away. But the book appears in her room later that day, as she practises her corn popping. The book automatically opens to a page called “Manifesting Your Untapped Power”. Before Reina knows what’s happening, the Shadow Magic engulfs her.
At the Sage Match the next day, Reina easily beats Philip in the Flares test and is the winner; she will now get to present her magic at Founders’ Day. Now, it’s Nory’s turn, who has gate-crashed the event. Nory seems to be doing well turning herself into a cat, but she struggles to keep the form and morphs into a mix of a cat and dragon, a “dritten”, once again. Reina tries to make a “sparkle fireball”, Nory’s favourite type of magic, to calm her, but something goes wrong and the fireball strikes Nory. She falls and returns to normal. Reina apologises to Nory for hurting her, not knowing why her magic seems so strong.
Mr. Skriff and the UDM students arrive at the Sage Match to get Nory back to class. Ms. Knightslinger threatens Mr. Skriff with dismissal from his job if he can’t control his students, saying the UDM class is now banned from attending Founders’ Day. Annoyed at his mistreatment by the headmistress, Mr. Skriff tells the kids that he is just like them. He is a Fuzzy, but instead of talking to animals, he can only sing to them. He no longer wants to be a part of the UDM programme, as it makes kids feel bad for being different, so Mr. Skriff vows to teach them how to do magic the “UDM Way”, not the “Sage Way. But before doing this, Nory goes to Reina to talk to her about her uncontrollable magic. The Shadow Magic reappears to Reina in her room, and she tells Nory to leave. Hurt, she does and throws herself into UDM lessons.
During these lessons, Mr. Skriff helps Nory by getting her to visualise different hybrid animals and tells her to make them into topiaries. Now, she’ll be able to morph into any strange creature she wants. For Andres and his flying, Mr. Skriff ties a hosepipe to him to see how high he can fly. He can fly above the treetops, but the real issue is how quickly he launches off the ground; this is something Andres learns to control. Pepper is taught how to use her “push” ability by clearing leaves from the forest, whilst Elliot’s smoke power comes in handy for getting rid of bees’ nests.
The night before Founders’ Day, Reina is annoyed that Chandra has turned up again, telling her about the wonders of Shadow Magic. She shouts at Chandra to leave her alone, which concerns the other Flares who think Reina is talking to herself as they cannot see anyone near her. Reina runs into the school but Chandra follows her, telling her that she is even more powerful than Reginald, the previous Sage student who gave in to Shadow Magic. Reina accepts the magic just as Nory comes in to the room. Nory tells Mr. Skriff about Reina and they decide the Shadow Magic is waiting until the right moment; it’s waiting until Founders’ Day so it can cause the most amount of chaos.
At Founders’ Day, sure enough, during the presentation of the talents, Reina starts to create a fireball, which consumes her and becomes a huge shadow figure. Ms. Knightslinger is horrified to find that a student with “normal” magic could’ve been taken in by Shadow Magic. The Sage students are ordered by their teachers to collectively use their magic to stop it. The Flares try launching fireballs at it; the Fuzzies get birds to attack; the Fluxers are…useless, turning into farmyard animals and cats; the Flyers cannot launch off the ground; and the Flickers manage to tear the shadow figure into four, making it worse.
The UDM kids then burst in to the ceremony to use their magic instead. Pepper uses her “push” ability to push the four shadow figures back into one. Elliot then uses his smoke ability and Andres flies up to it. These two abilities confuse the shadow who begins to twist as it tries to catch Andres. Nory then transforms into her “dritten”, the cat-dragon hybrid, and flies around, twisting the shadow further and making it fall to the ground. The Flare students are about to launch a fireball to destroy the shadow, but Nory shields the shadow. Mr. Skriff tells the teachers to remember that the shadow is still Reina. Nory is given the chance to plead with Reina to fight the Shadow Magic. Reina begins to form her sparkle fireball, pushing against the force of the Shadow Magic. She manages to create and launch it, destroying the shadow once and for all. Reina is alright and her and Nory reunite.
After this event, Sage Academy has learnt to accept UDM kids, discontinuing the programme and letting them join normal lessons with the other students, meaning that Nory, Pepper, Elliot, and Andres are accepted for their different abilities in their respective schools at last. Mr. Skriff has even become a teacher for the Fuzzies. There is no “Sage Way” anymore. But there is one final thing. The Shadow Book is revealed to still be in the library, showing that it still remains. Will any student be safe from it?
CHARACTERS & CAST
Nory is the main character of Upside-Down Magic, being a Fluxer at Sage Academy, as she can transform into animals. However, she knows before she even gets to school that her magic is not quite right, as her animal transformations are not regular animals. Because of this she is labelled as having “upside-down magic”. All Nory wants to do is to be accepted at Sage Academy so she does everything in her power to fix her magic, but it doesn’t work. Those with “upside-down magic” can never be “normal”; they have to accept that and work on the type of magic they do have. Nory is a very upbeat, optimistic character, who doesn’t wallow in self-pity when she learns the school of her dreams wants her to lose her magic forever. Instead, Nory gets the other UDM kids to believe that they are worthy of the school and their magic, and that together, they can prove they are valuable.
Izabela Rose was cast as Nory, this being her breakout role. Rose was later cast as Quinn in The Curious Case of Dolphin Bay (2022), which is sort of a DCOM, sort of not, as it was another co-production with Disney Channel. After Upside-Down Magic, Rose also appeared as Young Jess in the Disney Channel series Secrets of Sulphur Springs (2021-23).
Reina is Nory’s best friend and she is part of the Honours Flares programme at Sage Academy. Reina is nowhere near as confident as Nory, needing Nory to boost her self-esteem before they even get to Sage Academy. Reina had nothing to worry about though as her fire magic is considered to be one of the best. However, without Nory, Reina lets self-doubt and other students’ abilities get in her head so she starts to struggle in her classes. That is why she becomes a target for Shadow Magic, because she thinks she needs it to be great and the Shadow Magic is only too happy to make Reina think that. Thanks to Nory, Reina manages to fight against the Shadow Magic. Hopefully after that event, Reina has learnt to have more self-confidence because it’s not Nory’s job to talk her up every day.
Reina was played by Siena Agudong. Agudong had previously appeared in the recurring role of Natlee in the Nickelodeon series Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn (2014-18), as well as playing the title character of Nick in the Netflix series No Good Nick (2019). After Upside-Down Magic, Agudong went on to appear as Young Billie Wesker in the Netflix series Resident Evil (2022) and as Melody in The 4:30 Movie (2024).
Elliot is another Flare, like Reina, except he has never been able to conjure fire. Instead, Elliot only conjures smoke, which is seen as completely useless to the Sage teachers. Elliot is the joker of the UDM class; despite clearly not liking the fact he has been confined to a basement for his schooling at Sage Academy. Like the other UDM students, Elliot learns that making smoke can have its uses. Elliot was played by Elie Samouhi, who had previously played Chewy in the Netflix series Team Kaylie (2019-20) and was also cast as Rodney in Season 3 of Disney Channel’s Bizaardvark (2016-19).
Pepper is a Flicker, except she can’t use her powers to bring anything towards her, only away from her. To be honest, although I understand how this doesn’t fit the “Sage Way”, I don’t quite understand why anyone with telekinesis would only want to bring things towards them. Surely, the Flickers should be able to both push and pull things? I also didn’t even realise this was a problem during Pepper’s placement test. I thought she just lacked discipline and decided to throw the vase at the teachers in protest against the discriminatory aspect of the placement test. Obviously not! Pepper is still the rebellious one in UDM class though. She was played by Alison Fernandez, who had previously played Lucy Mills in Season 7 of the ABC series Once Upon a Time (2011-18). She also appeared in the Netflix Team Kaylie (2019-20) as the character Amber.
The final UDM student to mention is Andres who is a Flyer, however, he has become so scared of his flying abilities, that he can’t control, that he wears a backpack filled with bricks to keep him on the ground at all times. Thanks to Mr. Skriff, Andres does manage to control this and should be seen as superior to the other flyers who can’t fly anywhere near as high. Andres is quite shy at the start of Upside-Down Magic, not wanting to talk to Nory when she tries to on their walk to the school at the start of the film, but comes out of his shell as he gets to know the UDM students. Max Torina was cast as Andres, who appeared as Ramon in the Disney Channel series Raven’s Home (2017-23).
Chandra, the personification of Shadow Magic, lurks the halls of Sage Academy, looking for opportunities to talk to Reina. The Shadow Magic has obviously picked Reina for her strong magical ability and lack of confidence, making her the prime target. Chandra is a necessary character, as Reina is not making friends at Sage Academy. If Chandra can make Reina feel like she is a valuable asset to the school, Chandra will be able to talk her round to accepting the Shadow Magic. Sure enough, this scheme works. Chandra was played byYasmeen Fletcher, who had previously appeared as Kaitlin in the Disney Channel series Andi Mack (2017-19). After Upside-Down Magic, Fletcher was cast as Nakia Bahadir in the Disney+ and Marvel series Ms. Marvel (2022).
Now to the teachers. Mr. Skriff is the groundskeeper and teacher of the UDM programme. Mr. Skriff isn’t a happy teacher, being very matter-of-fact with his role at the school and the fact that UDM kids are not “wanted” there. This is because Mr. Skriff knows this all too well, having been a UDM student himself, but being allowed to work at the school after the UDM programme finished for him. Mr. Skriff did not allow his “Fuzzy” powers to disappear either, practising them in secret. He turns out to be a really great teacher, after he decides to go against Sage Academy’s rules and help out the UDM kids, as his teachings allow the Shadow Magic to be defeated once more. Kyle Howard was cast as Mr. Skriff. Prior to his role in Upside-Down Magic, Howard had previously starredas Oliver Weston in the sitcom Your Family or Mine (2015), as well as being cast as Dr. Paul Van Dyke in the comedy drama Royal Pains (2009-16).
Ms. Knightslinger is the strict headmistress of Sage Academy. She is quite harsh on the UDM students when she is informing them that they are a danger to the world; that they must not practise their magic so that they will cease to be special; and will have to go off into the real world and have normal lives. You’d think you’d want to let the UDM students know about this is a gentle way, but no, Ms. Knightslinger would rather just escort them off the grounds straight away, but with their magic still being “upside-down”, she has to allow them to stay there for the time being. Luckily, after the UDM class take down the Shadow Magic, Ms. Knightslinger comes to her senses and shuts down the UDM programme, making Sage Academy an inclusive place. Ms. Knightslinger was played by Vicki Lewis, who has some history with Disney, having played Dina Reams in the DCOM Den Brother (2010), as well as appearing as Ms. Bitterman in a few episodes of the Disney Channel series Sonny with a Chance (2009-11). Lewis is also the voice of Deb in Finding Nemo (2003) and its sequel Finding Dory (2016).
Finally, we see two other teachers in Upside-Down Magic. One is the Fluxer teacher, Professor Han. Nory walks in on Professor Han’s lesson and tries to get involved, but it all goes terribly wrong. Professor Han seems scared by Nory’s hybrid animals and does nothing to try and calm her down. Professor Han does seem like a kind teacher though, unlike Reina’s teacher, Professor Argon, who is incredibly strict and hard on Reina. The way she talks during those corn popping lessons you’d think Reina was about to be demoted to the Basic Flares programme, but instead, she is picked as the second-best student in the Honours programme. Maybe it’s one of those teacher things where they see you have potential and decide to be very hard on you to make you achieve it, which could go either way depending on the student you’re talking to.
Professor Han was played by Elaine Hao who appeared as Anne Roche in Seasons 2 and 3 of Snowpiercer (2020-24). Professor Argon was played by Cynthia Kaye McWilliams who plays Cathy Montgomery in the dark comedy series Average Joe (2023-present). She had previously been cast in the recurring role of Kacee Franklin in Seasons 1 and 2 of Prison Break (2005-17), and as Trina Shaw in Real Husbands of Hollywood (2013-22).
MUSIC
Upside-Down Magic is not a musical, therefore, the score is heavily relied on to get across moments of wonder and hope, like during the scenes of Reina and Nory’s arrival at Sage Academy; times of mystery, such as those around the Shadow Magic; and in scenes of peril, for example the big Founders’ Day showdown scene with Reina and her Shadow Magic.
For me, I found the piece of music at this point the best in the whole film, particularly the moment when the UDM student make their grand entrance into the Founders’ Day ceremony and are the ones to defeat the Shadow Magic. This track is named “Shadow Magic Showdown”. The entire score is available on the Upside-Down Magic official soundtrack, which was released on 23rd October 2020.
The score was composed by British composer Tom Howe. Howe is the composer on the popular AppleTV+ series Ted Lasso (2021-present) and has also collaborated with Aardman Animations on the music for a couple of their movies, including A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (2019), and Early Man (2018) with Harry Gregson-Williams. Howe is also the one behind the theme music for The Great British Bake-Off (2010-present).
There was a song that apparently followed the End Credits; however, this is not the case on Disney+. The End Credits simply use a track from the score, so I’m guessing this song only appeared during Disney Channel airings of the movie. It was a cover of the song “Everything’s Magic” by Angels & Airwaves, released in September 2007. It peaked at No. 11 on Billboard’s US Hot Modern Rock Tracks. For Upside-Down Magic, the main cast, Izabela Rosa, Siena Agudong, Alison Fernandez, Max Torina, and Elie Samouhi, all appeared in a music video for this song. This music video was uploaded to the DisneyMusicVEVO YouTube Channel on 31st July 2020, the date of the movie’s premiere. To be honest, after hearing the Angels & Airwaves original version, I much preferred that to the Disney cover of the song; it’s a much more polished performance, but it looks like the cast had fun anyway.
Then, we get to Mr. Skriff’s weird animal songs that come out of nowhere, very loudly and very abruptly. I would say it’s strange but then this is a Disney film; they’ve built a legacy on film characters singing to animals! He sings the first one when he proves to the UDM students that he is one of them, with the animals only coming to him or doing what he says when he sings to them; they don’t do anything if he just talks. Mr. Skriff sings again when Elliot cannot use his smoke powers quickly enough to smoke out the bees from their nest; Skriff sings to the bees to stop them wanting to stinging them and to apologise for ruining their home. Mr. Skriff launches into a quick song during the final scene too, as Nory explains that Mr. Skriff has become a teacher to the Fuzzies. Jeannie Lurie is credited as the creator of the original songs, so I’m assuming this applies to Mr. Skriff’s songs. Lurie has written songs for other DCOMs and Disney productions including some songs within Hannah Montana (2006-11), including “True Friend”; the song “Fearless” in Girl vs. Monster (2012); “You’re My Favourite Song” in Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010); and “Something About the Sunshine” in StarStruck (2010).
The only other song to mention is The DNC’s song “Upside Down”. A brief excerpt is first heard as the movie title is revealed on screen. It returns for the montage of the UDM students perfecting their magic their way.
PRODUCTION
The production for Upside-Down Magic, alongside its cast and crew members, was announced around August 2019, though Disney had optioned the first Upside-Down Magic story for development in 2015. The first book was published in September 2015[1].
Since that first story, the Upside-Down Magic series has spanned eight books, with seven being published by the time the DCOM premiered, becoming a New York Times bestselling series. The books were co-authored by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins. All three had co-authored the Young Adult book How to Be Bad, published in 2008, prior to writing Upside-Down Magic[2]. The Upside-Down Magic series centres on a collection of kids who have magical powers that go awry quite often whilst at school because their magic is “wonky”. They are put in the “Upside-Down Magic” class.
Upside-Down Magic the movie, was filmed in Vancouver during the summer of 2019, with one of the filming locations being Shawnigan Lake School, a boarding school on Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. Many of the campus buildings were turned into Sage Academy for the movie, including their chapel, library, and quad, as well as other school buildings. There were even opportunities for some of the actual school’s students to be extras in the film[3].
The rest of Upside-Down Magic’s scenes mostly take place in the forest surrounding Sage Academy, as this is where the UDM class is based. Director Joe Nussbaum said that they wanted to embrace the organic nature of magic, so most of their magic is based on the elements such as fire for the Flares, air for the Flyers and Flickers, and animals for the Fuzzies and Fluxers. The production designer on the movie, Bill Boes, stated that to match this specification, they could only use natural materials such as bark and wood, and there would be no metals or stainless steel in the production. As a contrast between the elite of Sage Academy, and the wonkiness of the Upside-Down Magic class, Sage Academy has clean, organised, bright classrooms, whereas UDM is housed in an industrial-looking, underground basement in the forest.
Joe Nussbaum has directed other teen and tween-centric movies such as Sydney White (2007), which starred Amanda Bynes; Sleepover (2004); and the Disney movie Prom (2011). Nussbaum was also one of the executive producers on the Disney Channel series Gabby Duran & the Unsittables (2019-21). He is credited as an executive producer on Upside-Down Magic too, alongside Susan Cartsonis and Suzanne Farwell. Farwell had previously worked with Nancy Meyers on some of her movies, including The Parent Trap (1998); The Holiday (2006); and It’s Complicated (2009) before starting up the production company Resonate Entertainment alongside Cartsonis[4].
The DCOM Upside-Down Magic was written by Nick Pustay and Josh Cagan. Pustay had written the screenplay for Ramona and Beezus (2010) with Laurie Craig prior to his work on Upside-Down Magic. Josh Cagan had written the screenplay for the teen comedy movie The DUFF (2015) and co-written the live-action DCOM Kim Possible (2019). He went on to work on the DCOMs Spin (2021) and Under Wraps 2 (2022).
Upside-Down Magic features more Special Effects than most television movies because of all the magic effects. The actors liked working with the Special Effects team on their characters’ magical abilities, being given sketches and help from the stunt co-ordinators to tell them what was meant to be going on during the scenes, because, in most cases, they weren’t going to be seeing any of these effects in person, although Max Torina did have to be hoisted up by cranes as part of Andres’ flying ability, and Siena Agudong had wires through her clothes and tapes on her hands to produce Reina’s fire magic[5].
RECEPTION
A teaser of Upside-Down Magic was first shown during the premiere of ZOMBIES 2 on Disney Channel on 14th February 2020. It was going to be their next DCOM release after all, so excitement had to build. A full trailer was later released on 18th June 2020, announcing that Upside-Down Magic would premiere on Disney Channel on 31st July 2020.
On its premiere date in the US, Upside-Down Magic is said to have drawn in around 1.3 million viewers. When you consider that High School Musical 2 (2007) got 17.2 million viewers on its debut, remaining the top most-watched DCOM of all time, this looks quite bad for Upside-Down Magic. It certainly sounds negative in comparison, but Disney Channel Original Movies have struggled to reach anything close to those numbers since 2017, when Descendants 2 was released. The top viewed DCOM of 2020 was ZOMBIES 2, with 2.5 million viewers, so compared to that, Upside-Down Magic did not do badly.
Anyway, views aren’t everything, although reviews were mixed for Upside-Down Magic too. On the positive side, some viewers liked the overall message of the movie, about being yourself and not underestimating people, and said the movie had better than expected special effects. The general consensus is Upside-Down Magic is a good movie for children, especially those unfamiliar with Harry Potter.
Anyone who was familiar with Harry Potter though seemed to hate Upside-Down Magic, with the term “rip-off” being used. Although Reina and Nory’s characters were mostly enjoyed, the other characters, both students and teachers, were seen to be quite one-dimensional, with the teachers just being mean and the UDM kids being stereotypical. I don’t agree with that statement particularly, although so much of the story was focused on Nory and Reina that the UDM kids didn’t get much screen-time in total, so we learnt less about them. The teachers were quite cruel to be fair and with little reason why.
But the biggest complaint was just how much Disney had changed the source material when making their film. For one thing, the characters in the original stories attend Upside-Down Magic classes at Dunwiddle Magic School, not Sage Academy. In book seven, released just before the movie, it seems that the characters of the book move to Sage Academy. Whether this was the authors adjusting their story to fit Disney Channel’s movie plot, or if it was Disney getting information about the seventh book prior to writing their screenplay, I don’t know. Another change is that Elliot does not produce smoke when he attempts to conjure fire in the book, but instead makes the fire freeze. Flickers turn objects invisible, and don’t have telekinesis. Pepper in the book is also not a Flicker; she is a Fierce, where animals are scared of her. Other UDM students were omitted from the movie. That is usually necessary in any book-to-film adaptation. Mr. Skriff replaced the character of Ms. Starr, who was Nory’s teacher in the book. Reina was original to the movie[6].
Basing something on known source material is usually a lose-lose situation for anybody, as you’ll get complaints if you stray too much from source material; if you stick too closely to it; or if you cut too much out of it. Having said that, although I have not read the books, looking at the number of changes that were made, I can kind of understand what the readers might have been upset about.
LEGACY
The ending of Upside-Down Magic left the movie open for a sequel, as the Shadow Magic book came back, showing it could target another student.
However, there has not been any talk of a sequel coming from Disney Channel. Some fans have said that they would like an Upside-Down Magic 2, but it’s already been five years since the first movie was released, so it’s looking less and less likely that there will be one. It’s possible this was due to the negative reviews that the movie received, especially those concerning the differences between the DCOM and the book series.
This isn’t the first time a DCOM has suggested a sequel movie that has never come. Just two examples of this are Girl vs. Monster (2012) and Secret Society of Second-Born Royals (2020). For whatever reason, these two movies did not lead to sequels. Upside-Down Magic was not the first DCOM to have an open ending and it won’t be the last. Disney Channel could theoretically revive any of these potential movie franchises, but given the amount of time that has passed, they’d either have to re-cast all the characters or set it however many years in the future, with these kids now being adults. If you liked the movie of Upside-Down Magic but hadn’t read the books though, there are eight of those to enjoy, with seemingly the final book in the series being published in 2021.
One other thing to come out of Upside-Down Magic was the game Magic My Way, which launched on the DisneyNOW app. In the game, you could play mini games based on each of the five magic schools in Sage Academy. The app was discontinued in September 2024; however, the website is still available. DisneyNOW has clips, movies, and full episodes of programming from the channels Disney Channel, Disney Jr., and Disney XD on its website still, even with Disney+ being around.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I had never heard of Upside-Down Magic before this week, and I surprised myself by quite liking it. The story wasn’t particularly unique, I’ll accept that, and even I managed to guess who was going to be the one to succumb to Shadow Magic, which is saying something because normally I’m too absorbed in films to guess ahead, but again, I didn’t care that it was predictable. I think what I liked was the familiarity of the story and setting.
And yet, Upside-Down Magic opened itself up to negative comparisons between it and the Harry Potter movie franchise that couldn’t be shaken. The Harry Potter books continue to be loved and cherished by readers, and the film franchise opened the world of Hogwarts up to an even larger audience, with some of these viewers never actually having read a Harry Potter book. I’m a big fan of the Harry Potter movies, but I haven’t read the whole series of books.
Anyway, this isn’t about Harry Potter, but the franchise is a good example of how a movie adaptation of a book can launch the story to new heights. I’m assuming this is what Disney Channel hoped to do with Upside-Down Magic, just on a smaller scale.
Personally, I didn’t even think of Harry Potter whilst I was watching. Upside-Down Magic was more similar to Disney’s Sky High (2005) for me, with the placement tests and one group of students being considered lesser than the others, i.e., the heroes and the sidekicks, but the lesser group coming to save the day against all expectations.
Upside-Down Magic might have hoped to be the Harry Potter of its generation, but it did not happen that way. Despite its message about being true to yourself and not letting anyone tell you you’re aren’t worthy, Upside-Down Magic as a film did not live up to expectations and was not able to differentiate itself in a market full of fantasy series.
That’s the way it goes in the entertainment industry sometimes and proves that making a movie or series based on a well-known novel is just as risky as going with a completely original story.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Denise Petski, ‘Disney Channel Sets Cast For ‘Upside-Down Magic’ Movie As Production Begins’, Deadline.com, 19th August 2019.
[2] Credit: Broome Shearouse, ‘Meet the co-authors of Upside-Down Magic’, OomScholasticBlog.com, 29th September 2015.
[3] Credit: Shawnigan Lake School, ‘Disney Magic’, Shawnigan.ca, 29th July 2020.
[4] Credit: Alexandra Whyte, ‘From Nancy Meyers flicks to turning Disney Channel upside down’, KidScreen.com, 20th July 2020.
[5] Credit: Disney, ‘Inside the Magic I Upside-Down Magic I Disney Channel’, Disney Channel YouTube Channel, 2nd August 2020.
[6] Credit: Sarah Mlynowski, ‘Upside-Down Magic’, SarahM.com, no date.
The Disney Purist 