The House of Magic (Thunder and The House of Magic in the United States) is a 2013 3D Belgian-French CGI fantasy-comedy film about a young cat (Brianne Siddall) who's been abandoned by his owners in the middle of a strange neighborhood and comes across a mysterious house.
Once inside, he discovers that the house is inhabited by a dazzling array of living automatons and gizmos, along with Maggie the mouse (Shanelle Gray) and Jack the rabbit (George Babbit), who try to chase him out because they think he will take advantage of their cat-loving owner, Lawrence, an elderly magician. Meanwhile, his nephew, Daniel (Grant George), tries to persuade his uncle to sell his house in order to make a profit. However, his cat allergies start kicking in, forcing him to flee from the premises.
But after Lawrence is hospitalized due to a bicycle accident, Thunder visits him only to find that Daniel is back and that he has tricked Lawrence into signing a document that allows him to sell the house. Therefore, Thunder and his gizmo friends must find a way to stop Daniel from selling the house until Lawrence returns, all the while trying to deal with the distrustful duo Maggie and Jack, who still think he's up to no good and want him out of the house as soon as possible.
Currently playing on Netflix.
Thunder and the House of Magic provides examples of:
- Angry Guard Dog: The doberman that chases Thunder across the neighborhood.
- Big Bad: Daniel.
- Cats Are Magic: Thunder is a cat and comes across a magician's house.
- Cats Are Mean: Subverted with Thunder, who's practically the nicest and most polite out of all the animals that appear in the film. However, that still doesn't prevent Maggie and Jack from thinking his niceness is just an act to gain their trust.
- Cat Stereotype: Thunder is a heroic, Nice Guy orange tabby.
- Chekhov's Gun: The first two minutes of the film has a bench with a Real Estate advertisement of Daniel's before we even meet him.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Thunder's owners were swindled out of their home by a real estate agent, which eventually lead them to their fateful abandonment of Thunder when they couldn't afford to care for him. Reconstructed, as his past experience helps him recognize that Daniel is trying to pull the rug from right under his uncle.
- Dog Stereotype: A Doberman acts as an Angry Guard Dog.
- Downer Beginning: While not particularly dark, it's still sobering that Thunder's story begins when his owners outright abandoning him on the street.
- Dub Name Change: Originally just The House of Magic, the English translation adds Thunder and to the beginning.
- Eccentric Artist: The Eames.
- Gratuitous Spanish: The chihuahua that Thunder meets tends to toss phrases like "gato" and "mucho peligroso" around but mostly speaks in perfect English. He even combines Spanish and English words together such as "mi-bro" to address Thunder as his friend.
- Hair-Raising Hare: Jack in-universe. He's the "monstrous were-rabbit" that resides in the Magic House, scaring off intruders and curious cats.
- Jerkass: Jack and Maggie at the beginning and especially Lawrence's nephew, Daniel.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: Lawrence, which is why he adopts Thunder.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After failing to sell his uncle's house, Daniel continues his business elsewhere by helping an old lady sell her home. The kicker? She's a Crazy Cat Lady with tons and tons of cats living in her home. Before he can escape, he's practically swarmed by them and his allergies kick in to overdrive.
- Meaningful Name: In-universe. Thunder is named by Lawrence after his Fear of Thunder.
- Mr. Muffykins: Lasandra's chihuahua is this against his will. As a result, he will do anything to get away from his owner, who dresses him in hot pink clothing, has a tendency to yank him around by his leash, and generally doesn't give him much room to breathe thanks to smothering him too much.
- Nice Mice: Subverted with Maggie. She's nice to everyone except Thunder and acts antagonistic towards him throughout most of the film. She eventually comes around though.
- Never My Fault: During the bicycle ride, Jack tries to poke Thunder with a sharp needle through his basket to get him to jump off the bike. Instead, Thunder hops onto Lawrence for protection, causing him to lose control of his bicycle and crash. They blame Thunder for the accident to get the automatons to kick him out, and even when confronted with the truth, they still put the blame on him.
- Odd Friendship: Chihuahua and Thunder the cat.
- A Pet into the Wild: Thunder is abandoned by his owner. He is adopted by another owner soon afterwards.
- Plot Allergy: Daniel is allergic to cats, so Thunder's very presence in Lawrence's house partly keeps him at bay from selling the house.
- Sassy Black Woman: Lasandra, the chihuahua's owner. She's actually more of a loving Grande Dame who smothers her dog with too much materials and affection, but can invoke this trope when angry or if she thinks she's being swindled or tricked by someone.
- Save the Villain: After everything his nephew has done up until this point, Lawrence is highly tempted to allow Daniel to perish from his allergies. Nonetheless, blood is thicker than water and Lawrence decides to take his nephew to a hospital.
- Shady Real Estate Agent: The Magician's nephew, Daniel.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Maggie and Jack weren't fond of Thunder and feared he will take advantage of Lawrence. But during the climax, they immediately regret what they did to and said about him and decide to help him.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Lawrence makes an off-hand comment about Daniel being this, but it's more of an Informed Attribute as we never see his past and what exactly turned Daniel into the greedy man that he is today.
