The Magic Forest (Laika)

The Magic Forest is a musical, Stop-motion, fantasy animated film and is Laika's 8th animated feature.

Plot

A Farmer named Molenskine and his Wife, Emily wish for a child but suffer under a curse laid upon Molenskine's family by a Witch named Gothel, who found Molenskine's father, Malcolm, robbing her garden when his mother was pregnant. Malcolm also stole some beans which caused Gothel's mother to punish her with the curse of ugliness. Gothel offers to lift the curse, but only if the Molenskine and Emily obtain four critical items for her: a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, and a slipper as pure as gold. Gothel later tells Molenskine that she asked him to do this task for her because she is not allowed to touch any of the objects.

Gothel's demands eventually bring Molenskine and Emily into contact with Jack, who is selling his beloved cow Milky-White and to whom Molenskine offers magic beans left to him by his father (which were stolen from Gothel) which grow into a large beanstalk; with Red Riding Hood, whose ruby cape the couple notices when she stops to buy sweets on her way to grandmother's house; with Rapunzel, whose tower Emily passes in the woods; and with Cinderella, who also runs into Emily while fleeing from the pursuing Prince Edward.

After a series of failed attempts and misadventures, Molenskine and Emily finally are able to gather the items necessary to break the spell. Meanwhile, each of the other characters receive their "happy endings": Cinderella marries Prince Edward; Jack provides for his mother, Clara, by stealing riches from the Giant of the sky, and kills the pursuing Giant by cutting down the beanstalk; Little Red Riding Hood and her Grandmother are saved from the Big Bad Wolf; and Gothel regains her youth and beauty after drinking the potion.

However, each of the characters learns their "happily ever after" is not so happy: Molenskine is worried he is a poor father to his newborn baby, Emmierich; Emily is temporarily seduced by Prince Edward; Cinderella is disenchanted by the cheating Prince; and Gothel learns that she has lost her powers with her restored youth and beauty. The growth of a second beanstalk from the last remaining magic bean allows the Giant's Wife to climb down and threaten the kingdom and its inhabitants if they do not deliver Jack in retribution for killing her husband. The characters debate the morality of handing Jack over. In the process, Red Riding Hood's Mother and Grandmother, Jack's Mother, and Emily are killed. The characters blame each other for their individual actions that lead to the tragedy, ultimately blaming Gothel for raising the beans in the first place. She curses them for their inability to accept their individual responsibilities and disappears into the ground, summoning a large pit of boiling tar in the process.

The remaining characters resolve to kill the threatening Giant's Wife, though Cinderella and Molenskine try to explain to the distraught Red Riding Hood and Jack the complicated morality of retribution and revenge. The characters lure the Giant's Wife into stepping in the tar pit where she ultimately trips and falls to her death. The Giant's Wife is killed, and the characters move forward with their ruined lives. Molenskine, thinking of Emily, is determined to be a good father. Cinderella decides to leave the Prince and help Molenskine, and Jack and Red Riding Hood, now orphans, are living with Molenskine and Cinderella. Molenskine comforts his son after he begins to cry by telling a story of how it all began as the movie ends with Gothel's moral, meaning that children can change due to the parent's actions and behaviors.

Cast

Eddie Rayemane as Molenskin, a childless Farmer and the Main Protagonist of the Film

Reese Witherspoon as Emily, Moleskin's Wife, and the deuteragonist of the film.

Emma Watson as Cinderella, a beautiful maiden who likes cooking and cleaning, but hates being treated like a slave

Adam Netthercott as Jack, a 12-year old, care-free Young Lad

Milly Shapiro as Little Red Riding Hood, a little 10-year old girl in a red cape

Liz May Brice as Lucia, One of Cinderella's Stepsisters

Maggie Wheeler as Florence, one of Cinderella's Stepsisters

Andrea Martin as Selia, Cinderella's Stepmother

Felicity Jones as Rapunzel, Molenskin's sister, and Gothel's Adopted Daughter

Imelda Staunton as Clara, Jack's Mother

Annie Potts as Little Red's Granny

Benedict Cumberbach as the Wolf, a hungry Preador who tries to eat Little Red

Linda Blair as Gothel, an old, ugly witch, and the Secondary Antagonist of the film

Donna Kimball as the Giant's Wife, the Widow of the Giant and the Main Antagonist of the film

James Mardsen as Edward, Cinderella's Prince

John Swatz as Stefan, Rapunzel's Prince

Tom Kenny as the Steward

Gary Oldman as Malcolm, Molenskin's Father

Dee Bradley Baker as Milky White, Jack's Beloved pet Cow

John Cleese as the Narrator