Upside-Down Magic
Detailed parental analysis
The School of Magic is a light and colourful fantasy comedy, an adaptation of a series of children's novels, in which a young girl with unstable magical powers joins a special class for 'different' pupils and must face a dark threat hanging over her school. The overall atmosphere is cheerful and benevolent, despite some ventures into a more unsettling register linked to shadow magic. The film clearly targets school-age children, around 7 to 11 years old.
Underlying Values
The film's central message rests on self-acceptance and the valorisation of difference: the most fulfilled characters are those who stop trying to conform to an imposed norm. Challenging authority is present and portrayed positively, with children defying rigid adults to defend a just cause. This is an interesting narrative device to discuss with a child, as the film does not question legitimate forms of authority and treats disobedience as universally virtuous whenever it serves the good. Perseverance and friendship are solid drivers of the narrative, without ever being caricatural.
Violence
Violence remains in an acceptable fantasy register for the target audience: a creature of shadows threatens the group and leads to confrontations between children and the creature. These scenes are constructed as adventure climaxes, without blood or realistic cruelty. The possession of a character by shadow magic, with blackened eyes and an altered appearance, is the visually most disturbing sequence, brief but potentially striking for the more sensitive children around 5-6 years old.
Parental and Family Portrayals
The death of the heroine's mother is mentioned early in the film and forms one of the emotional drivers of the story. It is not treated in a maudlin manner but remains present as an undercurrent. The father is a present and benevolent figure, but relatively in the background. This family context of bereavement can naturally open a conversation with a child about loss and how one continues to move forward.
Language
The register is generally clean. A few ordinary derogatory words from children's vocabulary, such as 'loser' or 'idiot', are used occasionally by antagonistic characters. Nothing that warrants particular warning, but it is an opportunity to point out to a child how this type of language functions as a tool of mockery and exclusion.
Strengths
The film succeeds in making the theme of school and social maladjustment accessible and engaging, without dramatising it excessively. Humour is present and works well for the young target audience. The construction of the special class characters offers a range of complementary figures that concretely illustrate what it means to have talents outside the norm in a system that values conformity. From a narrative standpoint, the film remains functional without pretension, but it fulfils its role as a coming-of-age tale with sufficient coherence to hold the interest of primary school children.
Age recommendation and discussion points
The film is suitable from 7 years old, with particular attention for children very sensitive to disturbing images, for whom waiting until 8 years old may be advisable. After viewing, two angles of discussion are worth pursuing: ask the child whether the adults in the film are always right and why the characters disobey them, and return to what the heroine feels about her mother's death and how she continues to move forward.
Synopsis
Nory and her best friend Reina enter the Sage Academy for Magical Studies, where Nory’s unconventional powers land her in a class for those with wonky, or “upside-down,” magic. Undaunted, Nory sets out to prove that that upside-down magic can be just as powerful as right-side-up.
Where to watch
Availability checked on Apr 26, 2026
About this title
- Format
- Feature film
- Year
- 2020
- Runtime
- 1h 36m
- Countries
- United States of America
- Original language
- EN
- Directed by
- Joe Nussbaum
- Main cast
- Izabela Rose, Siena Agudong, Kyle Howard, Max Torina, Elie Samouhi, Alison Fernández, Vicki Lewis, Cynthia Kaye McWilliams, Jaime M. Callica, Callum Seagram Airlie
- Studios
- Resonate Entertainment, Disney Channels Worldwide
Content barometer
- Violence2/5Moderate
- Fear2/5A few scenes
- Sexuality0/5None
- Language1/5Mild
- Narrative complexity1/5Accessible
- Adult themes0/5None
Values conveyed
- Friendship
- Acceptance of difference
- Perseverance
- difference
- courage