This Richard Attenborough film is less scary than it is sad, about a mentally ill man wrestling with his inner demons and finding them no easier to control when they’re in tangible form.

| Jul 29, 2023

It is fun to watch, chiefly because of the deftness and bravura of Anthony Hopkins's brilliantly split personality in the leading role, but... One yearns for the sidelights and starts that Alfred Hitchcock might have brought to this story.

| May 17, 2023

Magic is a psychological horror with strong performances and moments that will linger in your brain.

| Mar 8, 2022

...an irresistible setup that is, at the outset, employed to exceedingly promising effect...

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 6, 2021

Hopkins is very impressive -- he learned ventriloquism for the film, and uses the art most effectively. But it is the emotional impact which he scores that lifts his performance beyond mere trickiness and up to the level of masterwork.

| Apr 22, 2021

In adapting his own best-seller, William Goldman has opted for an atmospheric thriller, a mood director Richard Attenborough fleshes out to its fullest.

| Mar 26, 2009

Magic has few scary moments and is really a rather maudlin examination of a nervous breakdown.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 8, 2007

It makes you feel uncomfortable in your own skin.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 9, 2006

A hammed-up version of the old chestnut about the ventriloquist who is 'taken over' by his dummy, clumsily adapted by William Goldman from his own novel.

| Jun 24, 2006

Because of Hopkins, because of Ann-Margret (who hardly looks like that Ann-Margret, adeptly proving herself as an occasional dramatic actress), and because of Burgess Meredith as well as Fats the dummy, "Magic" is one of the top-notch films of the 1970s.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jun 21, 2006

Odd combo, but it's creepy and generally works.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 9, 2006

A very well-crafted suspense-thriller that unfolds with one dramatically tense scene after another. Hopkins is superb.

| Original Score: A- | Mar 15, 2006

Very likely to produce nightmares.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Oct 7, 2005

Still creepy story of Hopkins and his psychotic dummy.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 12, 2005

Magic is neither eerie nor effective. It is, however, very heavy of hand.

| Original Score: 2/5 | May 9, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | May 8, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 7, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 18, 2004

Good cast can't keep this thriller afloat.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 20, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 15, 2003