Review: Fantasma Top Hat Magic Show

This beginner's magic set, which is priced between $20 - $40, depending on the number of enclosed tricks, promises "high impact" effects for ages five and up. The set's main draw is probably its top hat and bunny puppet. The included tricks are common to beginner sets and adequate, however, I find this kit rather overpriced. Also, there's no way that it is appropriate for a five year old.

As I expected, some of the tricks employ the props from the set and many do not. For example, the description on one online site mentions a "jumping rubber band trick," which turns out to be the standard one with a rubber band that you must supply.

The fabric top hat is decent quality. The rabbit puppet, on the other hand, is a cheap, disappointing prop. The magic wand is a lightweight plastic prop that is about a foot in length and is fine for kids. Most of the wand tricks that are taught are well known effects that are often performed with a pencil.

The kit comes with a ball and vase and magic "boomerangs." There's a card trick that employs three cards to cause a bunny that's depicted on one to vanish. A "coin base," another magic kit standard, allows a kid to easily produce a coin. These are all good tricks for kids to learn and perform. However, they are available in lower cost magic sets.

There's an embarrassingly ugly set of foam rabbits for a trick that is generally beyond the capabilities of young kids. Another trick is a visual one that causes an image to mysteriously vanish from a card as it's pulled from its holder. This is a cool trick, however, it comes apart far too easily and won't withstand much abuse from kids.

Contrary to the recommended age range, I could recommend this kit to seven-year-olds and up. A five-year-old would quickly trash the kit's contents and scatter them everywhere in mere minutes. At the high end, because of the cheesy top hat, this one tops out at ten-year-olds.

This set does not come with a DVD, but only written instructions, which is a negative for younger kids who are learning to read. Instructions are generally clear, but brief, and there's an extreme lack of pictures. In fact, most of the tricks lack illustrations. And without pictures, most kids will probably not take the time to adequately learn the tricks.

As mentioned earlier, many tricks require additional props such as rubber bands and coins. And do the makers of this kit really expect kids to modify props with thread and such?

Like lots of magic kits, this one looks great in the box on a store's shelf. I'm guessing that it's the top hat and rabbit puppet that lends to its higher price.

But in the end, you can purchase the same magic props in other kits at a lower price. Also, a cheap top hat (not comparable in quality to the one in this kit) will only set you back a couple of dollars at a party store.

This magic kit is available through limited retail and online outlets.