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George Lucas may have handed the reigns over to Disney for the upcoming flood of Star Wars films, but that doesn’t mean that he’s wandered off to some tropical paradise somewhere to enjoy his retirement. Instead, he’s inspiring other projects—like Strange Magic, his animated musical fantasy.
Strange Magic ventures into a magical forest that’s home to fairies and elves and goblins and imps. After the fairy princess, Marianne (voiced by Evan Rachel Wood), discovers that her fiancé, Roland (Sam Palladio), has been unfaithful, she swears off love forever. In order to win Marianne back—so he can someday become king—Roland will need some help from a love potion. Unfortunately, there’s just one fairy who can create a love potion, and she’s held captive in the Dark Forest. When he realizes that an elf named Sunny (Elijah Kelley) is secretly in love with Marianne’s boy-crazy younger sister, Dawn (Meredith Anne Bull), Roland convinces Sunny to venture into the forest to get the love potion, setting off a battle to control its powerful magic.
George Lucas’s latest project is a strange stew of irritating characters and jumbled musical numbers that’s sure to reassure Star Wars fans that his decision to step away from the beloved sci-fi franchise was for the best.
Admittedly, the settings are often quite striking—and some of the design is clever and imaginative. But the characters are all taken to the most stereotypical extremes. From vain, selfish Roland to angry, bitter Marianne to shrieking, superficial Dawn, they’re all completely one-note. Within a matter of minutes, it’s clear that there’s nothing more to learn about any of them—except, perhaps, Sunny, the lovesick elf. And you don’t have to be familiar with the story’s inspiration—Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream—to know what’s in store for each one. Even the fairies’ animation seems just a little bit off—almost realistic but not quite right—in a way that’s often distracting.
The music, meanwhile, is a hodgepodge of hits from the last several decades—everything from Burt Bacharach to Bob Marley to Beyoncé. But instead of blending old and new to make something that kids can enjoy with their parents and grandparents, it all feels about as natural as a senior citizen in skinny jeans.
As a result, Strange Magic is an awkward and entirely forgettable animated film that thinks it’s far more clever than it really is. The idea may have been an interesting one, but, sadly, it’s not hard to believe that it was created by the same guy who thought that Jar Jar Binks was a good idea.
DVD Review:
Strange Magic isn’t currently available on Blu-ray (which—combined with the fact that the film didn’t widely screen for critics when it was originally released back in January—seems to indicate that the studio doesn’t have a whole lot of confidence in it). But the film’s DVD release comes complete with a pair of special features. Magical Mash Up is a collection of outtakes, storyboards, tests, and more, while Creating the Magic is a short making-of featurette, offering a brief overview of everything from the animation to the cast and characters. Together, these two extras focus on some of the film’s best parts—and Alan Cumming alone is so charming that he might make you consider giving the film a second chance (though I’d advise against it).
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