Strange Magic Strange magic refers to a mystical, otherworldly power or force that is not fully understood or comprehended by ordinary human beings. It is often associated with supernatural abilities and phenomena that defy logic and rational explanation. Throughout history, strange magic has been a part of folklore, mythology, and popular culture. In folklore and mythology, strange magic is often attributed to whimsical and elusive creatures such as fairies, witches, and spirits. These beings possess the ability to manipulate reality and bend the forces of nature to their will. They can perform extraordinary feats such as casting spells, predicting the future, and transforming objects or individuals.

Strange Magic

Not every animated movie ever made has been good, but the thing about animated movies is…well, they involve a process that can lead, literally, to a decision to go “back to the drawing board.” Or the animation software, or what have you. The problems with “Strange Magic,” directed by Gary Rydstrom and executive produced by George Lucas (who also came up with the concept and developed the story), have little to do with its computer-animated visuals. Although the fact that a couple of the main male characters’ faces appear to have been patterned after those of Hayden Christensen and Adam Duritz (yeah, the Counting Crows guy) did throw me off a little. What makes the movie a squirmingly awkward sit is, I suppose, an issue of dramaturgy, maybe?

To wit, “Strange Magic” is essentially a jukebox musical so song-laden as to practically be an operetta, and the songs are so eclectic that they never quite fit into the movie’s flying-insect world, which is divided into dark and light forests. (While reputed to be inspired by Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” the movie’s storyline merely lifts the play's love-potion mix-up plot device.) The movie opens with relative confidence, as butterfly princess Marianne (voiced by Evan Rachel Wood) sweetly duets “I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You” with ambitious groom-to-be Roland (Sam Palladio). Once Roland is revealed as a bit of a rat, Marianne voices “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again,” with lyrics adjusted around the line “he’ll never phone ya,” because, you know, they don’t have phones in magical insect elf forests.

Soon enough there’s a lovesick Munchkin-type elf (this is the Adam Duritz-looking one) who sings Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds” (also known as “Every Little Thing”) to Marianne’s sister Dawn, and there’s a flying swordfight set to Heart’s “Barracuda” (which is not sung, thankfully), and the whole thing is making me squirm in a way that has me thinking “This could be high-tech computer animation’s answer to ‘The Room.’”

As it happens, this aspect of the move is directly attributable to Lucas, who’d built the scenario (which happens to include, among some incidental bits, a direct reprise of the light-saber-practice-while-blindfolded scene from what I will never stop calling “Star Wars”) around the various lyrics of favorite songs from every era, ranging from “Love Is Strange” to “Crazy In Love.” Around mid-film the Munchkin-type elf enters the dark forest to seek a love potion from the Sugar Plum Fairy (it’s complicated, as they say) and is given a semi-runaround by an albino rat referred to as an “imp.” I was thinking “It’s not every movie about which one can say ‘the best thing in it was the albino rat’” when, almost an hour in, something odd happened: as spunky Marianne found herself somehow drawn to the dark forest’s heretofore appalling Bog King (who introduces himself by singing Elvis’ “Trouble,” oy vey; not really a song that its multi-talented voicer Alan Cumming has the qualities to really sell).

At this point, movie settles into gear, and the scene in which the two characters fly around the newly-illuminated dark forest singing the title song (yes, the ELO number) is spectacularly engaging. It is not quite enough to pull the movie into anything like fully recommendable territory, alas. If you’re a hardcore animation person with not-very-demanding children you might take a chance.

Glenn Kenny

Glenn Kenny was the chief film critic of Premiere magazine for almost half of its existence. He has written for a host of other publications and resides in Brooklyn. Read his answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here.

Rachel's Reviews

They can perform extraordinary feats such as casting spells, predicting the future, and transforming objects or individuals. The nature of their powers is often enigmatic and mystical, adding to the allure and mystery of strange magic. In popular culture, strange magic is frequently portrayed in fiction and fantasy literature, as well as in movies and television shows.

Rottentomatoes Certified Critic. Reviews of the latest movies especially animation as well as classic reviews, family movie night picks and more

Strange Magic Review

Sometimes I feel sorry for George Lucas. Then I remember what he did to Star Wars and I don’t feel so sorry but still what must it be like for one human being to be so high and then so low? I can’t even imagine. Well, he certainly hasn’t let failure get to his head because last week he released an animated film, Strange Magic, emblazoned with “from the mind of George Lucas” right on the poster for all to see. I’m still baffled by that choice. I can’t think of a single person who would see that tagline and think “George Lucas? I want to go to that”.

But I promised you I’d see every animated film in 2015 and I intend do so. And no matter all the bad reviews I always try to go into every movie with an open mind and have been willing to go against popular opinion on more than one occasion (Atlantis: The Lost Emipre and Wreck-It Ralph anyone?).

The only theater I could find showing it (and just opened on Friday I will remind you) is this strange theater about 13 minutes from my house. Everytime I’ve been there it is like a ghosttown and tonight was no exception. Had the whole theater to myself which allowed me to take notes on my phone and not bother anyone.

So here’s the deal on Strange Magic. It is bad but mainly because of the writing, annoying music and obvious story. The animation is not half bad. It is for that reason I would put it above last year’s stinkers Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return which didn’t look finished and the garish and unfunny Nut Job. If it was just a predictable fairy movie I might be able to place it with The Tinker Bell movies in animation quality but those movies are more clear, vibrant, better vocal performances and stories.

Evidently George Lucas made this movie “because nothing is made for girls any more”. That was definitely true in the 70’s George but since Little Mermaid I think you’d have a hard time proving that at least with Disney (Pixar yes but plenty of movies made for girls). I mean Frozen made over 1 billion!

The strangest thing about him making this for girls is a good chunk of the movie is about Sonny the elf finding the fairy Dawn (Meredith Anne Bull) with little scenes of Dawn and Marianne(Evan Rachel Wood) fairies usually thrown in to sing about love or how tough they are.

I think Lucas also thinks it will appeal to girls because there is lots of talk about love (it is Midsummer’s Night Dream in the same way Gnomeo and Juliet was about Romeo and Juliet). And of course you have to throw in a wedding, a Spring Ball and an Elf Festival because girls love parties! (Groan…).

The two faeries are sisters (of course) and one is free spirited and the other is bitter about love. There is also a Sugar Plum Fairy (Kristin Chenoweth) who is taken captive by the evil Bog King (Alan Cumming) who is known simply as Bog by his mother and followers.

All of this could be good in a corny kind of way but the music puts it over the top with each choice being so on the nose it is like playing a game of Name that Tune. We know the moment we here the character is named Marianne we are going to hear “C’mon Marianne” by Frankie Valli. As soon as a character is at the dance we hear “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” by Whitney Houston. It’s like Moulin Rouge but a decade too late and with an even more predictable plot.

The worst was at the end when a character breaks into Wild Thing by The Troggs. Couldn’t they have been a little more creative? It’s like George Lucas downloaded his ipod, threw in a few modern songs like Kill You Makes You Stronger and Say Hey.

Even the songs would be passable if the script was better. We get lines like

“Looking for trouble? Well, you’ve come to the right place” says the Bog King and then we get Trouble by Elvis which has lines “Well, I’m evil so don’t you mess around withe me”. Groan. It’s like these guys learned to write scripts in kindergarten.

Another line “You’re one to talk with your magic recipe. A recipe for failure”.

“See what happens when love is unleashed on the world”

“Even with a love potion I’m too hideous to love”

“Why would you think a beast like you could get a beauty like Marianne” (surprised Disney allowed that one. Gaston should be offended!

“My life flashed before my eyes. I was hot…”

“I’ve learned something. Never judge someone or it by the way he, she or it looks” Thank George for explaining the most obvious moral in the world to us in case we didn’t catch on…

And my favorite “Pull your head out of the clouds. Clouds of boys…”. Oh boy. Now I’m thinking the writers have never met a little girl. Do they think this is how they really talk?

Basically the story is a girl fairy is jilted on her wedding day by a jerk fairy. She turns against love but her sister is still a believer. The elf Sonny is in love with fairy Dawn and wants to get the potion for her from the Sugar Plum Fairy. The jilted beau also wants the potion to force Marianne to love him (the antidote is so groan inducing).

Then they meet various obstacles but get the potion fairly easily which is not guarded well by the Bog King who wants to keep the fairy because the potion didn’t work on the girl he loved. (that darn antidote again!).

They all end up meeting in the forest and battling over the love potion and it is so predictable and full of terrible puns and one liners.

I can’t figure out why they wouldn’t have made Kristin Chenoweth Dawn? The Sugar Plum Fairy isn’t in the movie that much and has only 1 song.

Lucas did get some decent singers in Alan Cumming, Chenoweth and Wood but it is all like a karaoke theme night on romantic songs.

Like I said the animation is tolerable and it isn’t going to harm your kids like something such as The Smurfs with all its obnoxious product placement. This is just a predictable bland movie with a lot of music kids won’t have heard of like People are Strange by the Doors or Mistreated by Deep Purple. What little kid knows those?

As far as content goes there is a scene where two male characters kiss for laughs which has gotten so tired a joke. Get over it! The Bog King might be scary to little children but it is tempered pretty quickly with songs and jokes (and the Bog King’s mother trying to set him up).

So it is not as bad as Nut Job or Legends of Oz but that’s really damning with faint praise. A definite skip. (The things I do for you guys!).

Film Review: ‘Strange Magic’

'From the mind of George Lucas' comes this mirthless and derivative animated tale of two fairy princesses.

Justin Chang

Latest

If you’ve ever longed for a movie with all the insistent life lessons of a Disney fairy tale, the tacky visual excesses of digital-era George Lucas, and enough glorified karaoke covers to fill half a season of “Glee,” then you may want to treat yourself to the altogether perplexing animated brew that is “Strange Magic.” Everyone else can just imagine a CG cartoon mash-up of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Arthur and the Invisibles” and “American Idol” populated by extras from the Mos Eisley Cantina, and they’ll pretty much get the idea. An insipid byproduct of the Disney-Lucasfilm merger that looks to attract a fraction (if that) of the audience for this year’s “Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens,” this noisy, unappealing children’s fantasy fails to distinguish itself among January’s many, many reasons to steer clear of the multiplex.

Lucas is credited here as an exec producer and as the writer of the film’s story, which follows the romantic misadventures of two tiny, spirited princesses in the magical Fairy Kingdom: pointy-eared, purple-winged Marianne (voiced by Evan Rachel Wood) and her younger sister, Dawn (Meredith Anne Bull). Life is sweet and idyllic in this bright-colored, flower-strewn paradise, as Marianne celebrates her upcoming marriage to the dashing, Gaston-like Roland (Sam Palladio) with an airborne performance of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” — the first of some 20-plus pop-rock chart toppers, by artists ranging from the Doors to Lady Gaga, crudely repurposed here into a soundtrack that’s as obvious as it was undoubtedly expensive.

When she catches Roland two-timing her with some woodland strumpet, Marianne finds herself singing a different tune (specifically, Burt Bacharach’s “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again”), donning gobs of goth-girl eyeshadow and an aggressively punk attitude as she transforms herself into a sword-wielding, independent-minded feminist heroine. (The ditzier Dawn, conceived in line with the usual dumb-blonde stereotypes, remains an irrepressible flirt.) Given that wised-up gender politics have largely become the princess-pic norm (as demonstrated by superior recent Disney releases like “Frozen” and “Maleficent”), Marianne’s bratty makeover feels more like a sop to convention than anything else, which could also be said of just about every aspect of this thoroughly derivative and unengaging fantasy.

In a twist that nods in the direction of “Midsummer” (apparently a key influence on the script by David Berenbaum, Irene Mecchi and first-time feature director Gary Rydstrom), Roland, still bent on winning Marianne’s hand and the crown that comes with it, decides to exploit the good-natured Sunny (Elijah Kelley), a diminutive, ebony-skinned elf who has unrequited feelings for Dawn. Injecting a self-conscious note of ethnic diversity into this cartoon universe, Sunny also happens to be the movie’s most likable character, not least when Kelley’s crooning his way through a cover of Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds.”

Roland’s plot involves sending Sunny into the dangerous Dark Forest to secure a powerful love potion from the Sugar Plum Fairy (Kristin Chenoweth, her helium-happy tones recognizable anywhere), who was imprisoned there ages ago by the wicked Bog King (Alan Cumming). A foul-tempered frowner who’s determined to stamp out love wherever he finds it, this malevolent human-grasshopper hybrid is no one’s idea of a romantic lead — which gives the movie its one remotely clever, “Beauty and the Beast”-esque twist, as the Bog King learns that, with a major self-esteem boost and a sprinkling of pixie dust, even the meanest, ugliest dude can become a deserving object of affection.

A worthy and unobjectionable lesson, to be sure. But at the risk of contradicting the notion that beauty is only skin-deep, it must be said that “Strange Magic” is a weirdly unattractive and frequently off-putting piece of animation, filled with characters whose faces, even the vaguely human ones, provide no point of emotional entry. Although rendered with predictable polish by the digital artists at Lucasfilm Animation Singapore and Industrial Light & Magic, the picture seems to unfold not in a coherently realized fantasy world, but rather at some sort of grotesque interspecies convention where Lucas and his collaborators have taken every conceivable character type that came to mind — goblins, imps, talking mushrooms, etc. — and plopped them down in front of the same meticulously detailed forest backdrop.

By and large, however, it’s not the look of the thing that grates so much as the thing itself. “Strange Magic” is the sort of picture often charitably dismissed as harmless fun for kids, never mind that it stems from an all-too-familiar corporate sensibility that insists on treating its target audience like pint-sized dummies, to be ribbed and lectured into submission rather than honestly engaged or entertained. Devoid of charm, mirth or inspiration, the movie is quick to distract you with the nearest weapon at hand — a frenetic action scene, an unfunny one-liner or, worse yet, another ear-clogging rendition of a hit single, in what the press notes have characterized as a deliberate tip of the hat to “American Graffiti.” That’s a stretch: The Lucas who made that 1973 classic might well have included the Four Tops’ “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch),” but he’d have drawn the line at a fourth reprise.

Characters with magical abilities, such as wizards, sorcerers, and witches, captivate audiences with their awe-inspiring powers. Strange magic can create fantastical worlds, enable telekinesis and telepathy, and even grant immortality. These depictions often explore the consequences and dilemmas that arise from possessing such incredible abilities. The fascination with strange magic stems from humanity's quest for the extraordinary and unknown. It represents a longing for a reality that surpasses the limits of our everyday existence. Strange magic offers an escape from the mundane and offers a glimpse into a world filled with wonder and possibilities. However, strange magic is not without its dangers and pitfalls. In many stories, the misuse or abuse of magical powers leads to chaos, destruction, and corruption. It serves as a cautionary tale, reminding us of the importance of responsibility and ethical choices when dealing with such formidable forces. Strange magic continues to captivate and intrigue people of all ages and cultures. It taps into our innate desire for enchantment and a sense of wonder beyond the confines of the known world. Whether it is found in ancient tales of folklore or in modern fictional works, strange magic remains a powerful symbol of our imagination and our yearning for the extraordinary..

Reviews for "Delving into the Dark Arts of Strange Magic"

1. John - 1/5 stars - I found "Strange Magic" to be extremely disappointing. The story was scattered and confusing, making it difficult to connect with any of the characters. The animation felt outdated and the musical numbers were cheesy and forced. Overall, it lacked the magic and charm that I was hoping for, and I was left feeling bored and uninterested throughout the entire film.

2. Emily - 2/5 stars - "Strange Magic" had potential with its interesting premise, but it fell short in execution. The characters were one-dimensional and lacked depth, making it hard to care about their struggles or journey. The musical choices felt forced and the songs themselves were forgettable. The humor often missed the mark and relied too heavily on tired clichés. I simply couldn't connect with the film and it left me feeling underwhelmed.

3. Sarah - 1/5 stars - I had high hopes for "Strange Magic" as a fan of animated films, but unfortunately, it failed to deliver. The storyline was predictable and lacked any real surprises or depth. The animation was lackluster and didn't live up to the standards set by other films in the genre. The characters were forgettable and their development was minimal. Overall, "Strange Magic" felt like a generic and uninspired attempt at creating a magical world that fell flat.

4. Alex - 2/5 stars - "Strange Magic" had some potential with its imaginative concept, but it ultimately failed to capture my interest. The pacing was inconsistent, with moments of slow development followed by rushed plot points. The animation was decent, but it lacked the attention to detail and visual appeal that I've come to expect from animated films. The dialogue felt forced and at times cringe-worthy. While it had some enjoyable moments, overall, "Strange Magic" left me feeling underwhelmed and wishing for more substance.

5. Jessica - 1/5 stars - I found "Strange Magic" to be a complete waste of time. The plot was convoluted and didn't make much sense, leaving me confused and uninterested. The characters were forgettable and lacked any real depth or emotional connection. The animation felt dated and was nothing special. The musical numbers seemed out of place and didn't add anything meaningful to the story. Overall, "Strange Magic" was a forgettable and lackluster film that I wouldn't recommend to anyone.

Unraveling the Mysteries of Strange Magic