Magic Island Cast The Magic Island, also known as Ilha Mágica in Portuguese, is a popular tourist attraction located in the city of Porto, Portugal. This enchanting island offers visitors a unique and magical experience, where they can immerse themselves in a world of fantasy and adventure. The cast of the Magic Island is a diverse group of performers who bring the island's stories and characters to life. From actors to dancers, musicians to puppeteers, the cast is truly talented and dedicated to creating a memorable experience for visitors. One of the main cast members is Captain Jack, a charismatic and swashbuckling pirate who leads visitors on an exciting treasure hunt around the island. With his quick wit and charm, Captain Jack engages visitors of all ages and ensures that they have a thrilling experience.

Magic Island

Jack Carlisle is a disillusioned 13-year old boy. His mother is always away at work since his father left. He decides to run away, as his mom won't miss him. As he is ready to leave, his nanny, convinces him to read this 'magic book'. The book is about a pirate adventure on Magic Island. As Jack reads the book, he is sucked into the world and goes on numerous adventures with Prince Morgan, while fleeing the evil Blackbeard the Pirate. He is even saved by Lily, a beautiful mermaid, whom he falls in love with.

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Alternative Titles

La Isla Mágica, L'Île magique, Varázssziget

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Physical

19 Dec 1995

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USA

19 Dec 1995

• Physical PG

With his quick wit and charm, Captain Jack engages visitors of all ages and ensures that they have a thrilling experience. Another important cast member is the Fairy Queen, a graceful and ethereal character who guides visitors through the island's enchanted forest. With her magical powers and enchanting presence, the Fairy Queen captivates visitors and helps them discover the hidden wonders of the island.

Popular reviews

For sone reason I remember watching this a lot as a kid. It’s fine but they use the word wench a ton which feels pretty uncomfortable. But the one highlight was the surprisingly good animation in the climax! Watched on Youtube

It isn't fair to criticize a children's film for having childish humor, but some lame jokes and cartoonish sound FX here do detract from an otherwise passable Moonbeam adventure. MAGIC ISLAND adds fantasy elements to a typical pirate scenario, including a mermaid, talking statues, and a nicely rendered stop-motion stone giant. The framing story is yet another instance of a parent more concerned with work than spending time with their child, a device already encountered in the Moonbeam catalogue and one that will no doubt be dusted off again.

Jack Carlisle walked so Jack Sparrow could run. Better than POTC 5, though that’s not saying much. Pizza trees are a cool idea. It does piss me off though that the kid refuses to keep any of the gold and essentially says the rich should have it.

This was a film that I grew up with ever since I was 4 years old. I used to rent it practically every week at this little video shop in one of my grocery stores. I absolutely loved this film. It had adventure, excitement, swordfights, pirates, ghosts, giants, and sorcerers. When you watch it as an adult, its a pretty stupid movie. I grew up with it though, so its a guilty pleasure. Zachery Ty Bryan is Jack Carlisle, a teenager who receives a book by his housekeeper as a way of giving him some more excitement in his life. Suddenly, the book sucks Jack in, taking him to Magic Island, a world that is believed to contain millions in…

This was OK.Nothing special or horrible but to stream for free it's watchable.It has some charming actors here and there plus it's short.I have seen much worse kids films in the past and the present.

When I was a kid this movie rocked my world. I would take the outdated animatronics in this film over bad CGI any day.

Cult films and the people who make them

Ladies and gentlemen, the Dick Van Dyke Award for the Most Preposterous British Accent in a Motion Picture goes to… the entire cast of Magic Island, a mid-1990s children’s fantasy from Charlie Band’s Moonbeam Entertainment.

Throughout the history of the talkies, there have been many hilarious attempts by otherwise competent American actors to replicate a British accent, any sort of British accent: from DVD himself and his notorious catchphrase “Cor Blimey, Maori Poor Pens!” to Keanu Reeves in Bram Stoker’s Dracula as Victorian England’s only Californian surfer dude. And never let us forget the monstrously bad Mary Reilly in which Julia Roberts’ accent took a walking tour of the entire United Kingdom, something which she actually acknowledged in media interviews but tried to excuse by saying, “We wanted to give the impression that Mary had lived and worked all over Britain and picked up lots of different accents.” (I’m not making this up. I saw her on TV saying this with a straight face, which I suppose shows that she is a good actress after all.)

Thirteen-year-old Zachary Ty Bryan from Home Improvement plays Jack Carlisle, the sort of clean-cut blond American 13-year-old traditionally played by child stars from Home Improvement. As an American playing an American, his accent is okay and the same goes for his obligatory single parent (Schae Harrison: The Bold and the Beautiful) who is too busy with work to notice that her son has no friends. When Jack’s mum skips dinner for a business meeting he is left with their Haitian cook, Lucretia (Ja’net Dubois, mostly a TV actress although she can be spotted as ‘Momma Bosley’ in the second Charlie’s Angels movie), whose accent sounds okay although I can’t guarantee authenticity as I have never met anyone from Haiti. Still, West Indian with a hint of French seems reasonable.

Lucretia gives Jack a book about pirates into which he falls, plummeting out of the sky, together with his shoulder bag. Boy and bag land on Blackbeard’s head, knocking the legendary pirate to the sand and thereby saving his opponent in a scene which will have you thinking, “That’s a point – I must watch Time Bandits again.”

Blackbeard is played as a sort of Happy Shopper pantomime villain by the Wishmaster himself, Andrew Divoff. He has a useless, foppish, heavily bewigged first mate named Saperstein (Third Rock from the Sun’s French Stewart, whose other DTV claim to fame is the title role in Inspector Gadget 2) and two dense comedy pirates, Duckbone (Abraham Benrubi: George of the Jungle, I Woke Up Early the Day I Died and later a regular on ER) and Jolly Bob (Sean O’Kane - who is actually Scottish!). Facing off against them are a trio of ‘buccaneers’ – so they’re like pirates, but good – led by Morgan (Edward Kerr: seaQuest DSV) who is the King of England’s nephew. (There is a scene later on where Morgan bemoans how his father never had time for him, thus mirroring Jack’s situation. Except, well, Morgan’s father was brother to the divinely appointed ruler of a globe-spanning empire, providing close support to a blood relative who was continually embroiled in domestic and foreign politics and usually fighting at least one war, while Jack’s mum needs to get the Atkinson account faxed by Thursday. It’s not really the same thing.) Morgan is confident if not forceful but makes up for this with his choice of companions, a fierce-some wench named Gwyn (Lee Armstrong: Leprechaun 3) who is “the finest swordswoman in all of Ireland” and a black bodybuilder named Dumas (Oscar Dillon, who was one of Harvey Dent’s henchmen in Batman Forever that same year).

Between them, the pirates and the buccaneers are responsible for, I would say, seven of the ten oddest accents ever heard in a feature film. Gwyn’s is possibly the worst which is odd because: aren’t there some Irish people actually living in America? With the exception of Dumas, who is meant to be West Indian (we eventually find out that he is an ancestor of Lucretia and one of his relatives wrote Jack’s book), the actors produce accents which can only be described as ‘Britoid’. That is: they are clearly meant to be British accents, and they sound more British than, say, French or Japanese, but that doesn’t mean that they even remotely resemble any of the many accents spoken throughout the British Isles. They’re not Southern English, Scots or Irish although there are hints of those accents so presumably those are stronger influences than, say Brummie, Geordie or Welsh. (Dumas has a vague accent which seems uncertain whether it should be West Indian, American or Britoid. By comparison with the others it’s quite reasonable.)

You just wonder whether any of these actors has ever actually met anyone from the UK. Or seen a British film or TV show. Perhaps American actors train for British roles by watching Mary Poppins, Mary Reilly and re-runs of Frasier (famous for managing to extract a hilarious Britoid accent from an actress who was actually British).

Anyway, the pirates and the buccaneers are both searching for a treasure on Magic Island, a storybook isle populated by ghosts and monsters. Morgan and friends consider ‘Mad Jack’ to be a sorcerer and he impresses them over the course of the film with modern day miracles such as a Walkman and a cigarette lighter (though there is never any suggestion that he is enough of a rebel to actually smoke – it’s just a plot device). Climbing a pizza tree for food, Jack encounters a ‘sandshark’ – basically a big lizard which burrows through loose sand like a sort of low-rent Tremors graboid, except this actually has a shark fin on its back. Jack defeats it using bubblegum. He subsequently encounters Lily, a young mermaid who saves him from drowning and thereby is magically granted legs for one day. Which is convenient.

Played by 13-year-old Sally-Ann Friend, Lily is a real problem because she spends the whole film wearing a sea-shell bra and a loose, flimsy skirt. There is a romantic subplot between her and Jack which ends with a couple of chaste kisses which is just creepy. I mean, bless, young love and all that, but I think that I speak for adult heterosexual males everywhere when I say that watching skinny, scantily clad 13-year-old girls makes us uncomfortable. Unless they’re playing a coquettish Lolita in some serious drama, 13-year-old actresses should not really be strolling along beaches - wearing what is, effectively, a small bikini – while making goo-goo eyes. (Lily’s accent, while not Britoid – god I love that word now! – is nevertheless very, very odd. Fair enough, it’s not clear what accent a mermaid would actually have, but why not just stick with the actress’ natural accent? Or maybe that is her natural accent.)

Among the other strangeness encountered on the island, as the buccaneers and pirates make their separate ways towards the treasure, occasionally encountering each other, is a trio of carved talking heads – one silly, one angry, one female – voiced by no less a trio than Martine Beswick (Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde, Cyclone), Isaac Hayes (Shaft, South Park) and Saturday Night Live alumnus Terry Sweeney. Eventually a stone door is located by both parties, which Jack successfully opens by lifting the toenail of a large stone statue sat astride the entrance. This then comes to life – and so, in turn, does the film.

Animated by Joel Fletcher, who also worked on Dragonworld and now does CG animation on movies like King Kong and X-Men III, this 30-foot high statue is the undoubted highlight of the film. It’s very Harryhausen-esque, almost like Talos’ little cousin, and is not only well-animated but very well matted into the action as well, actually interacting with the background and the characters. Without wishing to belittle Magic Island – which is a fun kids film that TF Simpson thought was great – the sequence with the stone giant is like something from a different, better film. It has certainly notched this movie’s MJS rating up a couple of points.

After Jack defeats the stone guardian, the opposing teams meet up again inside the chamber where a vast amount of treasure is stored. This was hoarded by a warlock named Carabas who is in fact still there as a golden face on the wall – which is actually director Sam Irvin sticking his head through a hole in the set. Blackbeard suffers for his greed by being turned into living gold, unable to move as the walls start to grind towards each other, threatening to crush pirate and buccaneer alike. Everyone escapes but, alas, Lily’s legs have vanished and she’s back to being half-fish, so Jack pulls her out on a rug, just before the walls finally close.

Having returned Lily to the sea, and with Saperstein, Duckbone and Jolly Bob eager to be Morgan’s new crew, Jack takes his leave back into the book – and wakes up in his bed. His mother has skipped the meeting and come home to be with her son, which is a happy ending although it’s not exactly narratively satisfying because Mrs Carlisle’s change of heart is unexplained and unrelated to her son’s magical adventure. Normally you would expect the character who has the adventure to learn something about themselves and alter their attitudes or habits, but here it’s the other half of the faulty relationship who mends her ways, for no real reason.

Lily gave Jack a seashell to remember her by, which had all the hallmarks of being the item that would make him think ‘Was it really a dream?’ but in fact that is not mentioned in the epilogue whereas Jack’s torn and wet jeans are clear evidence that what he went through was real.

With its comedy villains, harmless swashbuckling and spooky encounters, Magic Island is good, solid fun for undemanding kids. I can’t see it going down so well with youngsters of Jack’s age but that’s okay. You should always make your child protagonist older than your child audience because kids aspire to be older. For adults, the highlights are the stop-motion stone giant and, of course, the hilarious bad accents. Irvin’s direction is fine, the sandshark and other special effects are okay and the Mexican locales are suitably photogenic and magical.

Zachary Ty Bryan, who was halfway through his eight-year Home Improvement run, had starred in Bigfoot: The Unforgettable Encounter the previous year (some sort of contractual thing I guess as his Home Improvement co-star Taran Noah Smith went on to make Little Bigfoot 2 a couple of years after this). Bryan later had roles in The Rage: Carrie 2, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and episodes of The Outer Limits, Buffy and Smallville. Andrew Divoff’s massive genre CV includes Neon Maniacs, Graveyard Shift, Oblivion 1 and 2, Xtro 3, Nemesis 4, Brian Yuzna’s godawful Faust and a 2002 version of Dracula starring Patrick Bergin.

Director Sam Irvin was a protégé of Brian de Palma and has directed a wide range of features, ads, video etc; from our point of view the interesting ones are Oblivion I and II, Elvira’s Haunted Hills and a Making Of featurette for Gods and Monsters (a film on which he was co-executive producer). He also produced Ancient Evil: Scream of the Mummy. Neil Ruttenberg wrote Deathstalker II and also Prehysteria 3 on which he collaborated with Brent Friedman. Friedman’s other credits include Syngenor, American Cyborg: Steel Warrior, Prehysteria 2, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation and episodes of three series on which he got a producer credit: Dark Skies, Enterprise and the 2002 version of The Twilight Zone.

Cinematographer James Lawrence Spencer lit a whole bunch of Band films in the 1990s, including kidflicks such as Prehysteria 2 and 3 and more adult fare: Beach Babes from Beyond, Dreammaster: The Erotic Invader, Blonde Heaven and Beach Babes 2. He DP-ed second unit on Castle Freak and Lurking Fear, and as a grip/gaffer/sparks he has worked on the likes of Creepozoids, Assault of the Killer Bimbos, Critters III and IV, Puppet Master II, Trancers II, Hellraiser: Bloodline, Amityville Dollhouse and The Dead Hate the Living.

MJS rating: B

'The Secret Of Magic Island': The Mysterious 'Holy Grail' For Movie Nerds (VIDEO)

Yesterday our friends at Oh Have You Seen This (we're using "friends" here in the Facebook sense) posted a video we couldn't get out of our heads. It's a clip from a movie called "The Secret Of Magic Island," and it seems to star nothing but domesticated animals. The featured cast -- a dog and a handful of geese, ducks and chickens -- aren't simply performing in stylized animalish ways, like your Beethovens or Shaggy Dogs. No -- they're enacting a complex, very human scene: a visit to the fancy photographer's.

Two questions surfaced in the office: how did the filmmakers get the animals to do this? And also, what in the hell is this? We decided to Google for answers.

In the movies, the Internet is a reliable, accurate resource on any matter of subjects, real or invented. Bella Swan was able to brush up on vampires, werewolves, and even the exceptional circumstance of carrying a half-vampire, half-human baby, simply by typing the critical words into the nav bar. Similarly, Christine Brown, the loan officer in "Drag Me To Hell," finds out about the gypsy curse that's begun to plague her, after a straightforward Google search. The Internet is apparently built specially to provide fact-checked information on legendary beasts. But in the matter of 60-year-old French movies starring farm animals, as it turns out, things aren't so easy.

A number of Google searches turned up only a meager IMDB page (director: Jean Tourane, a prolific French filmer of small animals), and an equally tantalizing new clip, this time the full version of an English-language trailer. "The most exciting, wondrously wonderful children's motion picture ever made!" goes the announcer for the trailer, who then promises "a storybook land of enchantment" with "the strangest cast of characters in history: live animals who act and think just like people!" After this comes a visual of our old friend, Photographer Dog, trotting past the screen, followed by an impressively cohesive choral performance by a group of songbirds seated on bleachers like a children's choir.

The desperation was mounting.

Finally, a link buried pages deep offered something like a lead. In a 2008 post by Texas-based movie blogger Devin Faraci, detailing how badly he wants to see "Magic Island," Faraci mentions Zack Carlson, an employee at the niche Austin-based theater chain, the Alamo Drafthouse. Faraci believed Carlson owned a French-language version of the movie. Carlson, I presumed, might know more than Google.

I called the main Drafthouse location in Austin and worked through a series of bemused phone-takers who gave me the goods. I emailed Carlson, and an hour later, the phone rang. "Hello?" Carlson said, like anyone would. Only, his voice was elated and hushed, like he was a spy about to unburden crucial information.

Carlson then told me everything he could think of about "The Secret Of Magic Island," which he's been obsessed with since 1999.

It seems the movie was released in the U.S. in 1964, seven years after its European debut. Carlson believes the man who brought it to the States was a producer named K. Gordon Murray, a colorful character known for dubbing foreign fairy tale movies, usually from Mexico, and selling them to American theaters as kid's matinees. Carlson referred to Murray as a "flim-flammer" who ran a "kiddie circuit." Oddities even in their time, Murray's dubs are now required watching among movie nerds. It was while watching a VHS copy of one of Murray's best-known dubs, a Mexican version of "Little Red Riding Hood," that Carlson saw his first copy of a trailer for "The Secret of Magic Island." It was one-sided love at first sight.

According to Carlson, the movie he'd fallen for is part of a select group referred to by serious collectors as the "holy grail." Not only is it potentially impossible to find in English, it's damn strange. Certainly we make animals do odd things in the name of movies these days, but a large part of "Magic Island"s press was built on the fantasy that the animals actually wanted to do those things. "It's a wondrous story of these 'little folks' who really think they are people!" the poster proclaims. In the long story of anthropomorphizing, it's a wonderfully clumsy plot point.

In the years since, Carlson has searched for a copy of the English-language version of the movie with no luck. No one he knows has knowledge of an extant copy, or has seen it played. Carlson's Dutch-language version, which he bought off a bootlegging site, is a "pretty good transfer." "But I still don't know what the animals are supposed to be saying," he said. "It's frustrating." He bought an English-language press book and a poster for the movie online. The press book he found on Ebay, where he says it had been languishing without bids from anyone until he came along.

Over the course of his hunt, he enlisted the aid of the Alamo Drafthouse, where he still works. The theater tracked down three 35 millimeter trailers -- copies of the one I'd watched online. "I play the trailer every chance I get at the Drafthouse," Carlson told me. "I host a film series, so anything we play that has anything that could even tangentially relate to that trailer, I'll play it."

The trailer Carlson has, which is also the one I'd seen, is obviously less rare than the full English version of the film. But the world does have one fewer. Carlson told me he played one of his three copies so often it finally fell apart.

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Help keep news free for everyone by giving us as little as $1. Your contribution will go a long way.

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Magic island cast

Students in Suzanne Bishop’s english class participate in a “Tempest” workshop with Sarah Brewer and Michael Selle on Monday. (Photo provided by Suzanne Bishop)

Pier One Theatre opens William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” on Friday Oct. 6. Performances run this weekend and next. The cast of approximately 20 Homer locals range in age from 11 to older than 70.

Shakespeare’s final solo-authored play begins with a ship caught in a storm conjured by Prospero, the exiled duke of Milan, on an unknown island in the Caribbean. The duke had there made a home for himself and his daughter Miranda with assistance from the island’s only native inhabitant, Caliban.

Director Maynard Smith chose to direct the play after a Pier One second Sunday group Shakespeare reading.

Cast members Sarah Brewer, Kathleen Gustafson and Michael Selle met to talk about the experience of preparing for the show, anticipation of audience on opening night and some of the major themes that show up throughout the text of the play. Selle plays the character of Caliban and Brewer plays one of the goddesses and a mariner. Gustafson plays Prospero.

“The first scene is really what sets the tone for the whole show because of the shipwreck. So the technical theater involved in that part of the play is probably the highest,” Brewer said.

Gustafson concurred and wants the audience to know that it morphs into something else that the audience will have to come see.

Brewer notes that the play is full of themes such as freedom, betrayal, revenge, forgiveness and reconciliation.

“That’s really how Maynard started this whole experience for the actors. He wanted us to come in and examine what freedom means for each of our characters,” Selle said.

Other cast members in the show include Rob Johnson, Kyle Schneider, Brian Duffy, Peter Norton, Ken Landfield, Michael Selle, Deb Rowzee, Carolyn Norton, Maynard Smith, Val Sheppard, Robamme Stading, Kathy Stingley, Cara Long, Miranda Green, Meaghan McCallum, Adele Person, Katherine Brennan, William Trevor Long and Rachel Ostler.

Brewer and Selle attended Suzanne Bishop’s sophomore English class on Monday to introduce the play and read through an abridged version of it. Pier One provided comp tickets for the students and many students are looking forward to attending, according to Bishop.

The two-and-a-half hour play will perform on the Mariner stage Oct. 6 and 7 at 7 p.m. and Oct. 8 at 2 p.m. The play will show Oct. 13 and 14 at 7 p.m.

The cast also includes a variety of other characters, such as mermaids, wizards, and mythical creatures. These characters play a crucial role in the island's interactive shows and performances, adding an element of wonder and excitement to the visitor's experience. The cast of the Magic Island is not only responsible for entertaining visitors, but also for creating a welcoming and immersive environment. They interact with visitors, answer questions, and ensure that everyone feels included and engaged throughout their visit. In addition to the cast, the Magic Island also features a talented crew of behind-the-scenes professionals. These individuals work tirelessly to maintain the island's sets, costumes, and props, ensuring that every detail is perfect for visitors. Overall, the cast of the Magic Island is an integral part of the island's magical experience. With their talent, dedication, and passion, they bring the island's stories to life and create lasting memories for visitors from around the world..

Reviews for "The Spellbinding Charm of Magic Island Cast"

1. John - 2 stars - I have to say, "Magic Island Cast" was a huge disappointment for me. The storyline was confusing and lacked any depth or development. The characters were completely one-dimensional and I found it hard to relate to any of them. The acting was also subpar, with wooden performances and lackluster dialogue. Overall, I felt like I wasted my time watching this film. I would not recommend it to anyone looking for a captivating and entertaining movie.

2. Emily - 1 star - "Magic Island Cast" was an absolute disaster of a movie. The plot was non-existent and the whole film felt like a jumbled mess. The special effects were laughable, and any attempts at creating suspense or tension fell flat. The acting was generic and uninspired, making it hard to invest in the characters or their story. I couldn't wait for the movie to end and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

3. Sarah - 2 stars - I had high hopes for "Magic Island Cast," but it turned out to be a letdown. The script was cliché and predictable, offering no surprises or originality. The pacing was slow and dragged on, leaving me bored and disengaged. The characters felt underdeveloped and lacked depth, making it hard to care about their journey. I was disappointed with the movie and would not watch it again.

4. Michael - 2 stars - "Magic Island Cast" was a forgettable film. The plot was uninteresting and lacked any real substance. The special effects were mediocre at best, and the overall production value was low. The acting was average, but the dialogue felt forced and unnatural. I found myself checking the time throughout the movie, hoping it would be over soon. Overall, it was a disappointing experience and I would not recommend it.

Witnessing the Wonders of Magic Island Cast