Film / Godmothered

"This is not your usual fairy tale. Fairy tales end with 'happily ever after,' and that's where we begin."

— Agnes

Godmothered is a 2020 live-action fantasy comedy film, directed by Sharon Maguire. It is a Disney+ original film.

In the film, a young Fairy Godmother named Eleanor (Jillian Bell) finds a letter from a 10-year-old girl named Mackenzie. When she arrives, she finds that Mackenzie (Isla Fisher) is now a 40-year-old reporter living in Boston with children of her own. Eleanor must find a way to give Mackenzie true love while Mackenzie tries to keep other people from realizing she is a fairy godmother, or no one will be helped by a fairy godmother ever again. Other characters include Agnes, a fairy godmother who is the narrator and Eleanor's closest confidante; Jane and Mia, Mackenzie's two daughters; Hugh, a potential Love Interest for Mackenzie; and Grant, Mackenzie's boss.

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Godmothered contains examples of:

• Accidental Misnaming: Eleanor says "Go Brains!" while at a Boston Bruins game. Mackenzie then says "Bruins" to correct her.
• Accidental Public Confession: Eleanor accidentally turns on a microphone and tells all of Mackenzie's coworkers that Mackenzie has a crush on Hugh Prince.
• Adoring the Pests: Eleanor lets a raccoon named Gary into Mackenzie's house and casts a spell to make him do chores.
• Afraid of Needles: Eleanor shouts "No needle!" and resists Mackenzie's attempt to stab her with an Epi-Pen.
• Arc Words: Agnes says it sounds like Mackenzie "doesn't believe in happy." Later, Mackenzie's daughter Mia says "Mom doesn't believe in happy, or crafts, or Christmas."
• Batman in My Basement: Inverted. Instead of her parents, Mackenzie tries to keep her children from finding out that Eleanor is a Fairy Godmother by hiding her in the basement.
• Beautiful Singing Voice: Eleanor tells Jane that she has one.
• Bedmate Reveal: Mackenzie wakes up, notices that Eleanor is sleeping next to her, screams, and falls out of bed.
• Berate and Switch: Grant seems like he is criticizing Mackenzie for bringing Eleanor with her and faking news stories by having her do something ridiculous. He then says "She's a chaos machine. And you should be ashamed of yourself...For not cutting me in sooner! You're good. She is ratings gold."
• Big Blackout: Gary the raccoon causes one by chewing through Mackenzie's Christmas lights. Her neighborhood and even skyscrapers in the distance lose power. Near the end of the film, Gary chews through another wire and causes another blackout.
• Big Eater: Eleanor eats six bowls of chowder and 18 lobster rolls.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Mackenzie grows big eyebrows overnight. She suspects that Eleanor used magic to make them bigger. Downplayed, since there are people in Real Life whose eyebrows are larger than hers.
• Big Word Shout: Eleanor shouts Gary's name after he causes a Big Blackout. Near the end of the film, Gary the raccoon chews through another wire and causes another blackout, causing Eleanor to shout Gary's name again.
• Broke the Rating Scale: Grant's news show is said to get fifth place on a list of news shows, even though there are only four news shows.
• Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit": Agnes has a magic spell that makes her face appear on a grandfather clock. She calls it FaceTime. Downplayed, since the real FaceTime serves a similar function.
• Continuity Nod: In a news broadcast, Barb says "Coming up, Mass General Neurosurgery Department gets a new head, and you won't believe his name: Ryan Brain." Later, Eleanor says "Go Brains!" while attempting to cheer for the Boston Bruins.
• Cool Gate: Eleanor opens one of these to get to the real world. The portal shimmers and is very large, and its edge is made of water.
• Deadline News: Downplayed. Hugh, who is doing a news broadcast, is only mildly injured after Eleanor, who is sledding, knocks him over.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • When Eleanor says "A woman your age couldn't possibly still need someone to make her dreams come true," Mackenzie responds by saying "Yeah, right, because I'm clearly living the dream" in a sarcastic tone.
  • When Mackenzie gets home, she sarcastically says "I see everyone is still wide awake and watching TV. Only thing that would make this better is if you'd had pizza for dinner and you hadn't done your homework."
• Decoy Backstory: Mackenzie says "Life isn't always a fairy tale. Sometimes people grow or change or get divorced or fall out of love or run off and join a cult or fall in love with a skinny Pilates instructor." The audience is meant to assume the last item in the list is true, as if she had just made a Suspiciously Specific Denial. Because she doesn't know what "Pilates" is, Eleanor first assumes Mackenzie meant to say that her husband went off to teach skinny pirates. However, Mia reveals to Eleanor that Mackenzie's husband actually died in a car accident four years ago.
• Dismissing a Compliment: When Eleanor hears Jane singing, she says "You're really talented," and Jane says "You really think so?"
• Elder Employee: Inverted. Eleanor is young and all the other fairy godmothers are old. Due to her lack of experience, her magic frequently goes wrong, so she is less suited for the job than the other fairy godmothers.
• Embarrassing Middle Name: For some reason, Eleanor is embarrassed that her middle name is "Fay." This is Played for Laughs, since her last name "Bloomingbottom" should be much more embarrassing.
• Fairy Godmother: There's a Magical Land called the Motherland where everyone is a fairy godmother.
• Fireworks of Victory: Inverted. Rather than a team's victory causing fireworks to be set off, Eleanor creates magic fireworks that cause the Boston Bruins to win 12 games in a row.
• Firing Day: Mackenzie is fired for standing up to Grant about his desire to exploit Eleanor's chaotic nature to create more newsworthy stories and his desire to broadcast more bad news than good news.
• First-Person Smartass: While narrating, at one point Agnes says "Oh, blah, blah, blah. We all know how this bit goes."
• Fish out of Water: After leaving the Motherland, Eleanor stands out like a sore thumb with her huge pink dress and use of fairy-tale terms like "carriage," "castle," "footmen," and "happily ever after" in everyday speech.
• Gilligan Cut: Mackenzie agrees to let Eleanor babysit her kids, but she says "Please don't let them stare at a screen all day." Eleanor says "Okay." Less than ten seconds later, Mia and Jane are seen staring at screens.
• Gleeful and Grumpy Pairing: Eleanor is almost always smiling, so she is the gleeful one. Mackenzie is always complaining about what Eleanor or her kids are doing, so she is the grumpy one. They spend most of the film together.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Because she's a fairy godmother, Eleanor says "Oh my Godmothers" instead of "Oh my God."
• Happily Ever After: Invoked. In the film, all fairy godmothers try to make people live happily ever after.
• Hopeless with Tech: When Eleanor hears Siri say "Okay. Here's what I found," she says "Who said that? Is there a genie in there?" Even when she sees a mirror, which is commonplace in fairy tales, she screams and says "It looks like me!"
• Housepet Pig: Eleanor turns Mackenzie's dog Bingo into a pet pig.
• Ignored Raised Hand: Eleanor raises her hand, but Moira doesn't want to call on Eleanor this time because Eleanor raises her hand too much, so Moira pretends that no one is raising their hand.
• Impossibly Tacky Clothes: Eleanor creates a tacky princess dress for Mackenzie, which makes her freak out. Barb comments that her kid has a costume just like it. Many of Mackenzie's coworkers see her in the dress and don't know what to think.
• Inept Mage: Eleanor usually fails to get her magic to do what she wants. For example, she fails to turn a pumpkin into a carriage, and fails to give Mackenzie a fancy dress, instead just making her coat bigger.
• Instant Web Hit: A video of Eleanor on a sled crashing into Hugh during a live broadcast is said to receive over 2 million views.
• Insistent Terminology: When Mackenzie says "You turned my dog into a pig?" Eleanor says "Technically, he's a piglet."
• Involuntary Dance: Eleanor uses magic to force Mackenzie to dance with Hugh.
• Is This a Joke?: When Eleanor asks where Mackenzie's daughter is, Mackenzie says "Is this someone's idea of a joke?"
• Job's Only Volunteer: Agnes says that Eleanor is the only person who's bothered to apply to be a fairy godmother in decades.
• The Joy of X: Moira's book, The Joy of Fairy Godmothering, is an In-Universe example.
• The Klutz: Eleanor blows up a pumpkin patch and crashes into Hugh Prince on a sled among other things, all by accident.
• Latin Is Magic: Eleanor speaks Latin while trying to turn a pumpkin into a carriage and while creating a magic firework.
• Look Behind You: Mackenzie says "Look, there's a unicorn!" to distract Eleanor so that she can stab her with an Epi-Pen.
• Magical Land: The Motherland is where fairy godmothers come from. Magic portals can be used to travel to and from the Motherland.
• Magical Society: Eleanor is part of a society that meets in a castle where people train to be fairy godmothers.
• Magic Misfire:
  • Eleanor attempts to turn Mackenzie's coat into a dress, but she ends up just making it into a huge coat.
  • Eleanor attempts to convert a pumpkin into a carriage. However, she ends up creating a Herd-Hitting Attack that destroys every pumpkin in the pumpkin patch.
• Magic Wand: Eleanor has one. She uses it to open a portal, to create fireworks, to create a chain of paper snowflakes, and to transform a watermelon into a carriage.
• Mathematician's Answer: When Mackenzie asks "Who eats that much seafood?" Eleanor says "Sharks!" (The question was rhetorical.)
• Mean Boss: Grant from the media outlet where Mackenzie used to work at.
• Mistaken for Flirting: Mackenzie believes that Ray is flirting with her:
  Ray: You look hot.
  Mackenzie: You're not really supposed to say that kind of thing in the workplace anymore.
  Ray: I mean, your face is all red and sweaty.
• Mistaken for Junkie: Beth mistakes Eleanor for a junkie (there are no drugs in the Magical Land she is from):
  Beth: Sweetheart, are you on drugs?
  Eleanor: Of course not. What are drugs?
  Beth: Oh, boy, that's a yes.
• Mistaken for Murderer: When Eleanor reaches into her pocket, Mackenzie says "Please don't! I have kids!" However, instead of pulling out a gun, she pulls out a Magic Wand, which she does not use to kill Mackenzie.
• Mondegreen Gag: When Mackenzie says "Pilates" Eleanor assumes she must have meant "Pirates."
• Mr. Exposition: Agnes magically makes her face appear in a grandfather clock to tell Eleanor that Moira knows she's gone. Later, she appears again to tell Eleanor that if she doesn't come back to the Motherland, she will lose her magic.
• Music/Age Dissonance: Subverted. Agnes, who is elderly, says "I'm going to kick things off with everyone's favorite pop hit" but then plays an opera song.
• Narrator: Agnes is the narrator. At the beginning of the story, she explains what it's like to live in Motherland in a voiceover.
• Namedworld and Namedland: The Magical Land where fairy godmothers come from is called the "Motherland."
• Natural Spotlight: The sun shines selectively on Mackenzie's letter, which allows Eleanor to find it.
• An Odd Place to Sleep: Eleanor falls asleep under a tree. She is woken up by Beth, who was driving a truck.
• Once Upon a Time: The first sentence spoken is "Once upon a time, there was a magical place called the Motherland, where Fairy Godmothers lived and learned all they needed to know about godmothering."
• One True Love: Subverted. Eleanor tries, but Mackenzie doesn't end up in a relationship with Hugh Prince.
• Opening Monologue: At the beginning, Agnes (narrating) explains what it's like to be a fairy godmother living in the Motherland.
• Performance Anxiety: Jane used to sing with her father, but then he died in a car accident. Ever since then, she hasn't been able to sing in front of other people.
• Pimped-Out Dress: Eleanor wears a huge, pink, ruffled dress with flowers on it and transforms Mackenzie's outfit into a huge frilly red dress with flowers, a corset, and embroidery with fancy patterns.
• Plot Allergy: The writers gave Eleanor an allergic reaction to seafood so that they could have her get stabbed with an Epi-Pen and reflexively cast a spell, revealing her magic to onlookers.
• Plot Parallel: Near the end of the film, Mackenzie stands up to Grant for his desire to take advantage of Eleanor, while Eleanor stands up to Moira for her insistence that there is only one way to be a fairy godmother.
• Pun: On a news broadcast, Barb says "Coming up next, we're gonna show you how to turn a pinecone into your favorite celebrity. I know who mine is. Chris Pine."
• Reflexive Response: When stabbed with an Epi-Pen, Eleanor reflexively casts a spell that creates a huge, magic firework in the sky.
• Revenge: When someone throws a snowball at Eleanor while she is singing, she uses magic to make the snow on top of a gazebo fall on his head.
• Rhyming Wizardry: Moira magically creates a gown while saying "A glittery gown turns a frown upside down." However, this rhyme is later shown to be unnecessary when Eleanor magically creates a gown without the rhyme.
• Shipper on Deck: Eleanor tries to make Mackenzie fall in love with Hugh Prince.
• Squat's in a Name: Eleanor thinks Hugh Prince's name means that Mackenzie will fall in love with him. However, she never ends up in a relationship with him.
• Storybook Opening: In the beginning, a book called "The Joy of Fairy Godmothering" opens to a page with clouds on it, which then part to reveal the film's first scene.
• Tagline: The phrase "Be Careful Who You Wish For" is seen on the film's poster.
• Third-Act Misunderstanding: About two-thirds of the way through the film, Eleanor tells Mackenzie that she has to help her find true love or she will lose her magic. Mackenzie then believes that Eleanor never really cared about her and just wanted to keep her magic.
• Utility Magic: Eleanor uses magic to make a raccoon help her put up Christmas lights, even though she could have done it herself.
• Verbed Title: "Godmothered" is the title.
• Winds of Destiny, Change!: Eleanor's magic makes the Boston Bruins win 12 games in a row. It's Lampshaded by a reporter who says "It's as if the magic in the sky has put a spell on the Bruins' fortunes."
• Wizards Live Longer: Agnes, who is a fairy godmother, says she is at least 172 years old.
• Wrote the Book: Agnes says that Moira wrote the book on fairy godmothering. This is both metaphorically and literally true.
• You Can See That, Right?: Mackenzie asks Ray this to confirm that Eleanor really used magic to make Mackenzie's coat gigantic.
• Your Tradition Is Not Mine: Near the climax, Eleanor complains to Moira about the fact that there's only one way to be a fairy godmother and help people find true love. She thinks that, in addition, fairy godmothers should help people love their children and their parents.

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Eleanor: So that's a-movie. What a wonderful a-movie.