Trama

Teenage elf brothers Ian and Barley embark on a magical quest to spend one more day with their late father. Like any good adventure, their journey is filled with cryptic maps, impossible obstacles and unimaginable discoveries.

In a suburban fantasy world, two teenage elf brothers, Ian and Barley Lightfoot, go on a journey to discover if there is still a little magic left out there in order to spend one last day with their father, who died when they were too young to remember him. Like any good quest, their journey is filled with magic spells, cryptic maps, impossible obstacles and unimaginable discoveries. When the boys' fearless mom, Laurel, realizes that her sons are missing, she teams up with the legendary winged-lion-scorpion former warrior -- The Manticore -- and heads off to find them. Perilous curses aside, this one magical day could mean more than any of them ever dreamed.—Rotten T.

In the peaceful town of New Mushroomton inhabited by mystical creatures, the gawky sixteen-year-old high school student, Ian Lightfoot, is about to discover that magic is still alive when he receives a strange wooden staff from his long-dead father as a present for his birthday. Now, Ian and his older metalhead brother, Barley, can finally bring their dad back to life, and spend an entire day together; however, after a botched attempt to harness the power of the magical artefact, the Lightfoot brothers will have to embark on a peril-laden quest behind their mother's back. But, time is running out, and in a world that has forgotten how to use magic, this is easier said than done. Will Ian find his calling, and make his dream come true?—Nick Riganas

In the past, the world inhabited by mythical creatures and magic was commonplace, though difficult to master. The magicians used magic to help the creatures conjure fire or help get light in their homes. As technology progressed over the centuries, magic became obsolete and eventually fell out of use. Technology provided the comforts that people needed, and they did not have to rely on mastering the difficult art of magic anymore. Technology was much easier to operate in comparison.

In the modern day, Ian Lightfoot (Tom Holland), an elf high-school student lacking self-confidence, and his older brother Barley (Chris Pratt), a history and role-playing game fanatic, live in the city of New Mushroomton. Barley's favorite game is the "Quest of Yore" which he claims teaches him about history of their race and their town. Their father Wilden (Kyle Bornheimer) died shortly before Ian was born, and their mother Laurel (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) has a new boyfriend, centaur police officer Colt Bronco (Mel Rodriguez) whom the brother's dislike. Ian laments never having met his father and is very attached to Wilden's old things. Ian is not physically strong, unlike the rest of the family. Meanwhile, Barley cares about the old heritage of the town, and protests destruction of ancient relics, in the name of progress.

Ian meets an old friend of his dad, who tells him that Wilden was very bold and adventurous. Ian secretly wants to emulate his father, speak up more, and even learn to drive. But in reality, Ian is not able to stand up to a troll bully at school and is not able to merge into the traffic on a freeway, thus failing his driving test. Ian invites his friends at school over for his birthday party at home, only to embarrassed by Barley who arrives to pick up Ian in his van which is named Guinevere. Ian spends his birthday alone in his room, listening to an old audio tape of Wilden's.

On Ian's sixteenth birthday, Laurel gives the brothers a gift from Wilden: a magical staff, a rare phoenix gem, and a letter describing a "visitation spell" that can resurrect their father for a single day. Wilden had told Laurel to give Ian the package, after both Ian and Barley turned 16. Barley tries his best to work the spell but is eventually not successful.

Ian accidentally succeeds in casting the spell, but only the lower half of Wilden's body is reformed before the gem disintegrates. The Phoenix gen is one of the rarest in the world and not easy to acquire. As Wilder has no ears, he cannot hear Ian or Barley. Barley creates a system of communicating with Wilder by tapping on his legs.

The brothers embark on a quest to acquire another gem and complete the spell, taking Barley's beloved van "Guinevere". The brothers have 24 hours to find the gem and resurrect the remainder of their father, else the lower half will also degenerate by then, and they will lose the chance to meet their father forever. Barley says that all quests start at a tavern and believes that years of gaming has prepared him for this very moment. He says that everything in "Quest of Yore" is historically accurate, including the spells and asks Ian to read the book. Ian is unable to conjure up the spells despite a lot of effort. Barley says that Ian not trying from the heart. Meanwhile, Ian has a whole list of things he wanted to do with Wilder. Finding the boys gone, Laurel leaves to find them after she finds a game card for Manticore's tavern in Ian's room.

Ian and Barley visit the Manticore's Tavern with Wilden in tow. Manticore is named for a monster possessing a map to the gem. But now, the dreaded tavern has become a family restaurant managed by the Manticore, Corey (Octavia Spencer). Manticore has the map to the Phoenix gem but refuses to give the map to Ian as she doesn't want people to go on dangerous quests anymore, as she gets sued very often. The pictures on her menu cards are based on the detailed map, which is hung on her restaurant's wall.

Arguing with Ian over the map, Corey realizes how boring her life has become and drives the customers away in a fit of rage, accidentally setting fire to the restaurant and the map. Ian is able to conjure a spell to save Wilder from a burning log that was going to fall on him. The brothers' only clue to the gem is a children's menu suggesting "Raven's Point", a nearby mountain. Barley insists on taking an ancient trail, even though Ian points out that the expressway is much faster. Ian convinces Barley to take the Expressway.

Laurel later arrives at the scene and befriends Corey, who agrees to help her as Corey forgot to tell the boys about the curse. Corey warns that the brothers' journey may awaken a Guardian Curse in the shape of a mighty beast, which can only be defeated by her special sword (called the curse crusher), which she and Laurel steal from a pawn shop.

When the van runs out of gas, Barley asks Ian to grow a gas can (which had a few drops of gasoline in it). Barley argued that the gas inside would grow with the can. But the spell goes wrong as Ian cannot concentrate and ends up shrinking Barley instead. Ian decides to walk to a gas station.

Traveling to the mountains, Ian and Barley narrowly escape the police and a motorcycle gang of sprites, relying on Ian's newly awakened spell-casting abilities and Barley's role-playing game instincts. As they are attacked at the gas station by sprites, Ian has to drive them away as Barley is now shrunk. The van has a gear called "O" for Onward. Ian has to overcome his fears and merge into the Expressway traffic as the van is pursued by Sprites. The Sprites attack the van, but Ian manages to fight them off and takes the exit to the mountain.

As the spell wears off, Barley returns to size, but the van is now pursued by cops for violating traffic rules. Ian does not have a license. Ian uses a disguise spell to impersonate Bronco and manages to fool the cops. The disguise spell wears off when Ian tells a lie. One of the cops' notices that the hoof marks of a centaur, change into footprints on the ground as Colt Bronco appeared to back off. The cop calls Colt and informs him about him being impersonated.

Barley takes the van through the path of peril, and they come across a bottomless pit. The drawbridge can only be activated from the other side. Barley teaches Ian to invoke a bridge spell that allows him to walk on air, if he believes that the bridge is under him. Ian manages to get to the other end of the pit and lowers the drawbridge.

"Raven's Point" leads them on a trail indicated by a series of raven statues, but Colt follows them, calling in reinforcements. Barley sacrifices Guinevere to cause a landslide, blocking their pursuers. Following the statues, the brothers descend through a cave and avoid a series of traps and deadly creatures. While exploring, Barley confesses that he was too afraid to say goodbye to Wilden on his deathbed. The party make their way through the cave, and emerge on the other side, only to find themselves back in town in front of Ian's high school and only 2 hours left before Wilder disappears forever. Believing their quest has been in vain, Ian lashes out at Barley and calls him a screw-up before leaving with Wilden.

Rereading his list of things, he always wished to do with his father, Ian realizes that Barley has been a father figure throughout his entire life and returns to make amends. Barley discovers the gem inside a historic fountain near their exit point (which he was trying to protect earlier from being demolished) and retrieves it, unwittingly triggering the curse which turns the high school into an artificial stone dragon bent on claiming the gem. Ian faces the dragon, but his staff is knocked into the ocean. He reforms the magic staff from a splinter and continues the fight. Corey flies in carrying Laurel, who plunges the magic sword into the dragon's heart, buying Ian time to cast the visitation spell and fully reform Wilden's body.

As Wilden's upper body regenerates, Barley volunteers to distract the dragon so Ian can meet their father. Instead, Ian sends Barley ahead, acknowledging the role his brother played in his upbringing. Ian holds off the dragon long enough for Laurel to destroy it. After Wilden dissipates, Barley tells Ian that their father is proud of him, and the brothers share a hug.

Ian's confidence and spell-casting improve, and he surprises Barley by painting his new van, the "Guinevere 2". Corey reopens her tavern in its original spirit, drawing in customers with tales of past adventures. She and Laurel become friends, and Ian and Barley develop a better relationship with Colt, who was inspired to start galloping with his own feet. As the world begins to rediscover the magical arts of the past, the brothers set off on a new quest.