Opal is a young princess who contains the magic that protects the kingdom, however the magic is waning and the kingdom is dying. It seems her father has been siphoning off the magic to fight the monsters that live underground. Additionally Opal is no longer happy and wants to flee.
I have to take the Fantasia programmers to task concerning this film, there should have been a trigger warning. While OPAL is a good film, it is not for "young and old" and it is not for a many people because the film is metaphor for child sexual abuse. Yea, this is a fairy tale with an incredibly dark undercurrent. If you know the signs of abuse several of the conversations will set off your warning alarms. The sequence when the king asks my daughter if he could have some more of her magic made my jaw drop open, I was not expecting that. I had to rewatch the sequence to make sure I wasn't wrong. I wasn't. And if you watch the film and have any doubts, you won't when you get to the final sequence which flips everything.
If you aren't interested in a abuse film, once you get past the the dark themes at the center, this is a solid fantasy film. Its solid story of a young woman finding the strength to get fight the demons and find away into the light. Its a beautifully designed film with some great looking characters and wonderful sequences. I really liked it- even if the darkness disturbed the hell out of me.
Worth a look for those who think they can handle the darkness.
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