Review: Winx Club – Magic Adventure-Winx Club: Magic Adventure (2010)

Director: Iginio Straffi | 87 minutes | animation | Dutch voice cast: Georgina Verbaan, Jennifer Ewbank, Birgit Schuurman

After the countless episodes of the TV series and the first cinema film, ‘Winx Club: The Secret of the Lost Empire’, which was screened in the Netherlands in 2008, ‘Winx Club: Magical Adventure’ is the second animated film for girls, which find themselves too old for Studio 100 productions such as Mega Mindy and K3. The girls who saw the first part in the cinema, or whose DVD did not disappear from the player for a while, are already four years older, but they may have a younger sister (or brother!) And can secretly enjoy the new adventures of the tough Winx friends.

“Winx Club: Magical Adventure” still revolves around Bloom, the red-haired fairy, who reinforces the cliché about red-haired girls once again with her ferocity. Like her friends, Bloom has magical powers, a wasp waist and ridiculously large eyes. The girls, now about eighteen, have left the fairy school Alfea, but are – with the exception of Bloom – still present at the festive opening of the new school year. Sadly, the Trix, the evil witch sisters Icy, Darcy and Stormy, are also there to turn things upside down by enchanting the fairies present one by one in muddy, slippery toads. They seem to do this for fun, but nothing could be further from the truth: it is a diversion to steal an important object. They need that to help the three ancient witches with their plan to rid the universe of all positive magic.

Meanwhile, on planet Domino, Bloom finds it difficult to act like a princess. Fortunately, her parents understand where the shoe pinches, and their gift, a beautiful horse named Peg, brings her closer to her great love Sky. After a wonderful afternoon of riding lessons, Sky proposes to her. But when Sky’s father hears about those plans, he tries to stop them. He has an important reason for this. When Bloom’s father also gets involved, the turnips are done. Bloom flees with the Winx Club, who have come to her rescue, and is briefed by Sky about the Trix’s plans. The Winx must join forces with the Specialists against the Trix and the ancestral witches whose best-before date has passed.

The magical universe in which the Winx experience their adventures is complicated at first glance, but children who can tell right from wrong will be able to follow the story. Although: follow? It’s actually more likely that they will simply be overwhelmed by the fast-paced action scenes and bright colors and won’t care about the details of the adventure. The plot is confused and the characters are barely fleshed out. If this is your first encounter with the girls at the Winx Club, with two or three exceptions, you won’t be able to tell who is who and what her powers are afterwards. Never mind that the role of the Specialists and the Pixies becomes clear. “Winx Club: Magical Adventure” is best described as a cross between the fairy movies from the “Barbie” series (because of the candy cane colors) and Japanese manga, with a touch of Harry Potter. Visually it looks fine, the animations are perhaps even nicer and more detailed than those of a movie from the aforementioned Barbie series. But as an adult viewer you have to look carefully for any original element and chances are you won’t find it. For the target group, they will enjoy themselves for as long as the animation film lasts, but it will not really impress.