The Magician’s Elephant was released on Netflix last month and I watched it last night. I hadn’t heard of it before this weekend — it’s based on the book of the same title by Kate DiCamillo (author of The Tale of Despereaux, Because of Winn Dixie, etc) which I haven’t read but definitely should. I got interested in the movie by a YouTube algorithm that took me from Shadow & Bone Jesper & Wylan content to Jack Wolfe (who plays Wylan) to The Magic Flute trailer (where I learned he could sing??) to a video of Jack singing a song from The Magician’s Elephant musical — which is different than the movie and is apparently available nowhere (soundtrack or recording, please help if you are better than searching the internet than me).
But Jack Wolfe played the main character in the stage production and this video was released as a promo.
This was more than enough to get me invested in this story, and while the animated Netflix movie is not a musical, you get the same vibes as this song.
The Magician’s Elephant is about a young boy, Peter, who is told by a fortune teller that he needs to “follow the elephant” in order to find his long-lost sister. Then a magician conjures one from the sky and Peter is challenged to do three impossible things to win the elephant. The movie has humor and heart and magic . . . if you need a fun, adventurous, and hopeful movie this could be it.
With Love,
Natalie