Movies and magic have had a vary close relationship over the years, some of you may recall ancient movies like the “Witches of Eastwick” and “Legend” but we can all bring up one of the more recent examples of this relationship such as the Harry Potter series. But quite simply, magic movies have always been one of the best ways to show off magic of any kind, as plays never can cut it quite well enough, and books just aren’t as popular.
Magic effects have come a long way from the ages of making things appear via an object suddenly being there between two frames of a movie, with computer generated images taking it’s place, such as Harry’s petronus or the (slightly) more recent Percy Jackson’s pen that turns into a sword. Animated movies find themselves at a bit of an advantage when showing magic, as live action requires motion capture, CGI, and other effects to make the magic seem plausible or realistic, while animated or cartoon movies can be drawn to perfection without such extras. The methods of invoking the magic have even changed over the years. Some may remember the days of Bewitched’s nose wiggle, or Jeanie’s ponytail flick, both of these were in the “Poof, it’s just there” era, and gave way to Melissa Joan Hart’s finger, and eventually Harry’s wand.
Let’s not forget however the evolution of the movies themselves, with the refining of showing magic we have seen a more even integration of it into the storyline, where older movies like “Big Trouble in Little China” had magic as merely a side note or stepping stone of the story to explain a few things, “The Chronicles of Narnia” take you to a completely different world, in which there is magic everywhere in the land, with talking animals, the white witch, and Tumnus’ flute.
All in all, magic movies share a rich history with each other, one that will obviously continue for many years to come, with the ending of the Harry Potter series on it’s way, and the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series just starting up, the magic is certain to never fade from the big screen.