League of Legend Keepers: Shadows is a 2019 children’s adventure film about a family of archaeologists finding real trouble with their latest discovery.
Sophie Carson (Isabella Blake-Thomas) is the teen daughter of Edward (Michael Piccirilli) and Katie (Abigail Titmuss), and along with little sister Emma (Olivia Jellen), are a family of archaeologists, traveling about the globe in search of treasures, especially that of the ‘fifth pendant’, an item lost for centuries that holds the key to great power. Now in California, they move into a new place, next door to Edison (Gabe Eggerling), a science lover who likes to tinker with experiments. Trouble is, an evil spirit is also on the hunt for the pendant, thinking it can reunite him with his lost lover, and if it succeeds, could bring a terrible darkness. Can Sophie save the day?
Made on a shoestring budget, director Elizabeth Blake-Thomas‘ League of Legend Keepers: Shadows, is a family affair, with she and Isabella serving as co-writers for a children’s story that gleefully pays homage to adventures films of the 80s, like Indiana Jones and Romancing the Stone but toning them down for a much younger audience. It centers on Sophie as the rough and tumble tomboy type who doesn’t much care about the social norms and hierarchy at school where she befriends the ‘nerdy’ Edison and makes enemies of the class bullies, led by the awful Johnny (Jake Brennan), who ruthlessly torments their victims, though you can be sure that will be short-lived.
Playfully dangling some darker themes, with the evil spirit looming about the film in wisps of dark fog, it possesses the adorable school teacher Miss Turner (Tayla Fernandez) while the cryptic Ohanzee (Marcelo Tubert) makes his presence felt as Sophie becomes the only one able to put an end to the shadows smothering the town. Naturally, as a children’s story, adults take a backseat and remain mostly incapable as its up to the kids in joining the fight. Still, there are grown-up about, including Richard Tyson as a fellow archaeologist and Ben Crowley as Edison’s lonely dad. As such, it’s a lightweight tale that is devoid of any real danger or troubling conflicts, purposefully keeping its frights tame enough for little ones while remaining easy to follow and suitably imaginative.
Very small and without much action, it nonetheless features plenty of identifiable characters in big bold colors and a charming turn from Isabella that will surely earn some fans. It’s a modest little film with a hard-working cast, the filmmakers surely knowing who is watching, creating a simple, broad-strokes story that should appeal.