The Magic of the Mundane/Tropes

Actor Allusion: This isn't the first time Brenda Song voices a Disney character with magical blue powers.
Action Prologue: The film's first scene set in the present has Alice fighting a mgical monster, which serves as a way to establish the film's action-oriented tone and Alice's characterization.
An Aesop: Protecting your community IS an important job. It might not be flashy or big, but is important nonetheless.
Awesome Moments: The whole battle between Alice and Cronius.
Bad People Abuse Animals: Cronius' first seen has him physically abusing magical creatures who are not unlike animals.
Biting-the-Hand Humor: Alice's ringtone is The Mickey Mouse Club theme song. She's embarrased by this and claims the ringtone came with the phone.
Breaking Old Trends: The film makes use of hip-hop and 70s/80s music, one of the few films in the Disney Animated Canon to do so.
Break Their Heart In Order to Save Them: Or spare them in this case. Alice mentions she became a bit more distant from her friemds under the assumption she would be assigned to another city and have less time for them, so she did that in order to."prepare them".
Casting Gag: Anna Akana and Haley Tju once again voice Brenda Song's character's friends in a Disney animated project.
Character Development: Alice initially starts off wanting to do something she perceives as "more important" than protecting her neighborhood, but eventually learns to appreciate it more.
Company Cross-References:
- Just like in The Owl House, in which director Sage Cotugno and writer Molly Ostertag also worked on, we have a door portal to a witch dimension located in an old shack. Also like The Owl House, the villain gets thrown into a wall in a weakened state. Unlike Belos, through, Cronius dosen't make it.
- Among the magical items in the witch dimension is a walking broom.
- The meal Jennifer prepares for Alice is composed of cherry tart, custard, pinapple, and roast turkey, exactly the flavors a certain other Alice found upon drinking the "Drink Me" box.
- Alice's entrance to the witch dimension is similar to Judy Hopps' entrance to Zootopia.
Deadpan Snarker: Guang has snark to spare.
Disney Death: After unleashing a spell that purifies the corrupted magic from Cronius' body, Alice falls unconscious. It turns out she fell into a coma, throught the film is quick enough to show this as soon as she falls unconscious.
Does This Remind You of Anything:
- The interactions between Cronius and his demon underlings are meant to evoke that of a mob boss and his underlings.
- The scene where Cronius summons all the corrupted magic is meant to deliberatedly evoke the fellings of a tornado arriving at a populated area.
Dance Party Ending: The film ends with Alice and her friends having a party to celebrate their victory over Cronius.
Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: The reason Alice wants to be important is because she thought, that way, her life would have purpose. Her arc in the film consists of realizing her purpose is to help her community.
The Dog Bites Back: A near-literal example. After abusing his dog-like demons fpr the whole film, Cronius receives karma at their claws the moment he's depowered, as the creatures turn him to stone and throw him to a wall, the impact being enough to shatter him.
Everyone Has Standards: Jennifer may have been concerned about how Alice might be too focused on her "new job", but she still comforts her daughter when she learns she wasn't given the "position" she wanted,
Flat "What": Alice reacts this way when told she'd be staying at her hometown to perform her witch duties.
Funny Moments:
- There's somethimg funny sbout Alice acting as if she's been told her mother died when she learns she's been assigned to protect her neighborhood.
- When Anna calls Alice through her phone while the latter is talking to her friends, we hear her ringtone is, of all things, The Mickey Mouse Club theme song. Alice is very embarrased by this.
- At the end of the film, it is revealed that Cronius' dangerous creatures were taken in by the Anuraks as pets.
Genre Blending: The film combines Coming-of-Age Story elements with Superhero and Fantasy elements.
Gentrification Is Bad: The film potrays gentrification as literally corrupting a community's magic, which the Big Bad seeks to exploit.
Heartwarming Moments:
- Even if she dosen't see protecting her community as a big deal at first, Alice still loves her friends and family.
- Rachel comforting Jennifer after she voices her concerns about Alice not caring about her community anymore, telling her she could help the kid realize how much her folks mean to her.
- After her witch ceremony dosen't go the way she wanted, Alice is left in a depressed state. Jennifer, thinking the whole incident to be the oroduct of a promotion gone wrong, tries to cheer her up the next morning with a meal.
- Anna teaching Alice just how great her community is by taking her to a flight throught her neighborhood. The visuals also help complement that sentiment very well.
- After revealing herself as a witch and that she's the only one who can stop Cronius, Alice not only tells her scared mom she'll be fine and that she needs her help on her plan, but tells her protecting her neighborhood is "what she's here for", something she taught her. It may be her mission, but her mother is the reason Alice embraced it.
- Before Alice heads off to attract Cronius to their spell, she and Jennifer hug each other and profess their love for one another.
Inspiration for the Work: Director Sage Cotugno said the film's plot structure was inspired by K-Pop Demon Hunters (which also influenced the female represenation in the film), Family Force V and The Batman (2022), while the themes were inspired by the book This is My America.
Let Me Get This Straight: Guang has this reaction upon learning her friend wants her and her friends and family's help to stop an evil wizard by completing a spell.
Locked Out of the Loop: Alice's mother and friends spend most of the film unaware that she's a witch.
The Masquarade: Witches and their world exist in secret in the film's universe. Becomes a bit of a Broken Masquarade after Alice uses her magic in public at the film's climax.
Musical Nod: John Powell incirporates elements of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" into the film's score.
Nightmare Fuel:
- Cronius' introduction. After a few magical monsters are scared away by Alice, they reunite to meet their boss, who proceeds to beat them. These things almost kill Alice and he can beat them like nothing. It really shows us what kind of danger lies ahead for our protagonist.
- The Wizard Dimension, in contrast to the lively and green Witch Dimension, is a nightmare-inducing kandscspe filled to the brim with red light that turns into a good placeholder for Hell.
- The whole scene of Cronius absorbing the corrupted magic. The entire thing looks as if he was literally absorbing Calipatria's soul. There's also the strong winds and the chaos they cause, sending everyone into a mass panic, somethimg we get several close shots of. Add to that the eerie sense of the villain gaining ultimate power, and the scene as a whole bevomes terrifying.
- Cronius' form after absorving the corrupt magic. He looks like something out of the Cthultu Mythos!
- Cronius' death, well-deserved as it was, is ratger dark and gruesome for a Disney film. He's grabbed in the mouth by the all-but-literal-hellhounds he's been abusing all the film, who turn him to stone before shattering him by throwing him to a wall.
Obviously Evil: You know, Cronius' lair dosen't exactly says "humanitarian",
One-Winged Angel: In the vein of Disney Villains of old, Cronius turns into a montrous creature upon absorbing Los Anfe,es' now-corrupted magic.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Jennifer for the most lart is jovial and lively. Which only increases the contrast with the absolute terror she feels when she sees for the first time an evil monster trying to kill her daughter.
Our Witches Are Different: In the film, witches are a secret society of protectors akin to the Men In Black, with most tjings witches are associated with (such as covems or broom sticks) being stereotypes invented by non-magic users. One can also become a witch through training and, much like The Owl House, "witch" is a gender-neutral term.
Precision F-Strike: Jennifer utters a "what the hell!" upon seeing the transformed Cronius.
Right for the Wrong Reasons: Alice's friends and family agree that her wish for a bigger position in her new job is making her unable to appreciate her community. But A) They think she's just workaholic when in truth she's looking for a purpose, and B) They're wrong about what kind of job she has.
Shout-Out:
- The film begins with Alice uttering the line "Witches are real", echoing Roald Dahl's The Witches. She also says that "the whole 'threatening people for their magical footwear' or 'luring children with candy houses' things" are fake.
- There's a shot of Alice watching her city that resembles Raphael watching New York City in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990).
Staging an Intervention: Diacussed. Concerned about how Alice seems to be neglecting her own friends and family, Jennifer, Guaang, and Hirami agree to talk things out with her. However, just as they get their chance, Cronius makes his strike.
Tearjerker:
- Jennifer voices to Rachel her worries that Alice's "new job" might cause her to lose sight of her community.
- Seeing the poor magical creatures be horifically abused by the villain is just heartbreaking to see.
- At the climax, Jennifer is initially terrified at the idea of Alice going yo fight the now-godlike Cronius. And csn you blame her? As far as she knows, jer daughter is going to get herself killed. It takes Alice revealing herself as a witch to assure her she'll be fine.
- Even after the above, when Alice tells her mother "I love you, mom" before heading to attract Cronius' the look on her face makes clear she's terrified she's not coming out of this one alive.
Two Lines, No Waiting: The film features an A-plot where Alice and Anna fight against an evil wizard to save their city, and a B-plot where we see how Alice's family and friends are affected by how she's been recently ignoring them as they organize a community party, which ties to the A-plot when Alice and Anna cross paths with them during their adventure.
Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: The film is for the most part a heartwarming superhero story about a witch learning to appreciate her community. But Cronius is a terrifying foe whose more presence turns the film into something closer to Thunderbolts* or Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 than Big Hero 6, with several scenes not looking out of place in a horror film.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The way Cronius sees it, the only purpose Calipatria has is to provide him of corrupted magic through gentrification. The moment he has the power he wanted, he decides to destroy the city in a show of strength.