There is a magical realm that is split up between the fairies of light and the bog creatures in the Dark Forest.   Marianne (voiced by Evan Rachel Wood), a fairy princess and heir to the throne, finds out that her husband-to-be Roland is a cheating and power hungry warrior and she calls off the wedding.   She vows never to love again while the Bog King is determined to make sure no one uses the Primrose Flowers will grow on the border between the two kingdoms are never used to make a love potion.  On the day of the Spring Ball, Sunny the elf agrees to help Roland to make a love potion (which means sneaking into the Dark Forest to visit the Sugar Plum Fairy) as Roland wants the throne and his army badly.   Sunny is hopelessly in love with Marianne’s sister Dawn (who wonders what boy she could meet at the Spring Ball).   Sunny’s actions leads to Dawn being kidnapped by the Bog King as Roland and Marianne mount their own separate rescue missions.

 

STRANGE MAGIC is an odd and delightful animated musical.  It is a Shakespearean animated fairy tale musical.   George Lucas wanted a story where the parable of it is that everyone deserves to be loved no matter how different they could be.   The script probably works since George Lucas collaborated with other writers to get the vision of what he wanted (plus it has a better love story than the STAR WARS prequel trilogy).    It is destined to be a cult film among teens and adults where some of the love stuff might be over some the heads of some children.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

CREATING THE MAGIC- a 5 ½ minute promotional featurette that has interviews with the voice cast and crew including George Lucas wanting to do something different and fun

 

MAGICAL MASHUP- it is a mix of outtakes, animation tests, and footage from the music recording sessions

 

FINAL ANALYSIS: STRANGE MAGIC is a nice different kind of animation movie that some will enjoy as this will be a cult movie in years to come.

 

This review is ©5-25-2015 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com