SUMMER MAGIC is a sickly sweet Disney vehicle designed around blonde starlet Hayley Mills, fresh from the success of THE PARENT TRAP. The plot sees three spoilt city kids moving to the countryside, where they must adapt to rural life.
This is twee indeed and the heartwarming messages certainly weren't appreciated by this viewer! Indeed, Disney is so fond of thrusting 'life lessons' down the throats of its child audience that I generally avoid their movies like the plague. Still, it could be much worse: SUMMER MAGIC is colourful, has some funny scenes, a lovable animal, and Mills actually displays some traces of acting talent here and there. However, by far the best thing about the movie is Burl Ives, a larger-than-life actor playing a larger-than-life character, and his rendition of the 'Ugly Bug Ball' is a real hoot.
This is twee indeed and the heartwarming messages certainly weren't appreciated by this viewer! Indeed, Disney is so fond of thrusting 'life lessons' down the throats of its child audience that I generally avoid their movies like the plague. Still, it could be much worse: SUMMER MAGIC is colourful, has some funny scenes, a lovable animal, and Mills actually displays some traces of acting talent here and there. However, by far the best thing about the movie is Burl Ives, a larger-than-life actor playing a larger-than-life character, and his rendition of the 'Ugly Bug Ball' is a real hoot.