Netflix’s new animated film Fascinated brings together an all-star voice cast, soulful music from a legendary composer, and a moving story to create a complete watch. FascinatedThe voice cast features talented singers such as The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Birds and Snakes‘ Rachel Zegler, in the lead roles, with a beautifully composed soundtrack to support them. The musical follows Princess Ellian as she searches for a way to turn her parents back into humans after realizing she can’t hide the fact that they will be monsters forever. Ellian’s journey takes her through new adventures, until Fascinatedending, where she learns the real lesson.
Fascinated is only the second feature film from Skydance Animation and the first to be released on Netflix. The film’s initial success is due to the talented team that was involved in the production, from dubbing to animation and certainly composition. To FascinatedSkydance hired one of Disney’s best-known animated film composers over the last 35 years. It’s no wonder that the soundtrack and lyrics are so impressive when they come from the same mind that brought the world the best Disney soundtracks like those of The Little Mermaid, Hercules, Aladdinand much more.
Veteran Disney composer Alan Menken worked on Netflix’s Spellbound
Menken’s catchy tunes can be heard throughout the new Netflix film
Alan Menken is a Disney legend who has composed scores or songs for 16 Disney musicals over the past 35 years, not including the compositions he made for non-musicals. Menken is one of the most prolific film composers of his generation, and any Disney fan can certainly identify his scores. His first work with Disney was in 1989 The Little Mermaidhis most recent project with them is the 2023 live-action remake of the same. To FascinatedMenken served as composer and was co-composer with lyricist Glenn Slater.
Menken’s music and Slater’s lyrics help drive Fascinatedwhile also bringing an additional sense of credibility to the new studio. Menken is incredibly prolific and award-winning, and one of the few EGOT winners: he has won eight Oscars, 11 Grammys, two Emmys, and a Tony Award. Needless to say, he’s a good match for a new studio, and if Fascinated continues to be successful on Netflix, this could lead to more big partnerships with Skydance in the future.
What Spellbound means for the future of animation at Netflix
Well-known creatives are involved in the new studio after Spellbound
The success of Fascinated on Netflix suggests that Skydance animation could be extremely popular in the future. In October 2023, Skydance signed a deal with Netflix, meaning that, for at least several years, the studio’s animated projects will be released on the streaming service. With big names like Menken involved in this initial project, Future Skydance films could also attract big-name composers and directors.
Fascinated It could be the first step in what will become an influential partnership between an animation studio and a streaming service that could eventually rival Pixar and Disney.
In fact, it wasn’t just composed by Menken; FascinatedThe animation was led by Pixar veteran John Lasseter and directed by Shrek director Vicky Jenson, pointing to bigger things coming from Skydance and Netflix. Fascinated It could be the first step in what will become an influential partnership between an animation studio and a streaming service that could eventually rival Pixar and Disney. This means audiences may be looking forward to future animated films like Fascinated with highly acclaimed directors, actors and composers, distributed by Netflix.