Earlier this week, my son Aidan and I had the opportunity to see the new animated film “Strange Magic.” I walked in not really knowing what to expect and was happily surprised to experience a movie with a great message and beautiful music. The movie has an all-star cast of voices, including Alan Cumming as the Bog King, Evan Rachel Wood as Marianne the fairy, Kristin Chenoweth as the love potion-making Sugar Plum Fairy and Maya Rudolph as the Bog King’s mom. The story is by everyone’s favorite story genius George Lucas, and if pay attention during the film there is a very “Jedi” scene that Star Wars fans are going to love.
Strange Magic is a fairy tale musical adventure inspired by “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” It follows a fairy princess named Marianne who has sworn off love and her lovelorn sister who Dawn who is determined, almost desperate, to fall in for the wrong reasons as well as spunky and big-hearted elf, a mischievous imp and a knight who is the farthest thing from a knight in shining armor. Their stories intertwine as the elf sets off the Dark Forest to obtain a love potion that will make Dawn fall in love with him. The Dark Forest, however is ruled by a Bog King who rules without empathy or emotion of any kind and is determined that no one fall in love or obtain the love potion. The Fairy Kingdom and the Dark Forest at odds with one another and when they invades one another’s lands, adventure… and misadventure ensues.
This is a great movie for the entire family–both adults and kids. For me, the music is what makes this movie wonderful. “Strange Magic” uses contemporary music medleys made up of songs from the last six decades and original music to drive the story and take audiences and an incredible, emotional adventure–all of which arranged by the same musical director behind “Moulin Rouge,” Marius de Vries. (If you are a big fan of “Moulin Rouge,” you will definitely be a fan of this movie and its soundtrack.) In the making of the film, more than 400 songs were considered and in the end 50 songs were used in the film. You might not be able to pick up all of the songs though. According to Meredith Ann Bull who voices the character Dawn in the film, “A lot of the songs are just little snippets or they’re weaved into the background of other songs.”
Dawn and Sunny in “Strange Magic.”
The message of “Strange Magic,” is a powerful one. The entire movie drives home the importance of loving someone for who they are on the inside and not the outside and the importance of respecting those who may not look or live like us–messages that are so important for us to drive home to our children. This sentiment about the movie was eloquently summed up by one of the film’s voice stars, Elijah Kelly who voices Sunny–who is the most lovable character in the movie and, in my heart, the character that teaches kids the most about doing the right thing and the importance of being a hero for those you love. “The fact that…we are able to leave something with a really positive message for generations to come… a movie so blatant with the symbolism and metaphors about loving someone for who they are and its about what’s on the inside not the infatuation. It’s about the beauty of the mind, the beauty of the heart and the beauty of the spirit,” says Kelly.
And speaking of great life examples in Strange Magic. Kelly’s character Sunny exemplifies a lot of great virtues and helps to forward the film’s lessons. Here is what Kelly has to say about how he relates to his character.
“Strange Magic” sends a very powerful message to young girls about the importance of not falling in love with boys who may not love them for who they are or just 
because of their looks. It encourages girls to be in charge of their own hearts and destinies and that love comes around when it is right. It can’t be forced and should saved for the person who appreciates the girl for who they are on the inside.
Although “Strange Magic” is a movie about love and opening yourself up to loving the right people for the right reason, this is a movie packed with humor. It isn’t easy for a film to teach kids valuable lessons about love and respect while making it funny, but this movie nails that on the head. In fact there were many parts of the movie where the entire audience was laughing–adults and kids.
Aidan and I had the opportunity to meet Elijah Kelly and Meredith Ann Bull who star in the “Strange Magic.” What an honor!
The movie is playing everywhere throughout the U.S. and I highly recommend heading out with the family to see it this weekend. Children under the age of 3 (maybe 4 in some cases) may find the appearance of some of the characters a bit scary, but showing them pictures of the characters in this post ahead of time can go a long way toward alleviating such fears ahead of time.
The amazing soundtrack is also available in iTunes right now! You can get a taste for all of the amazing music before you head to the theater by heading over and taking a listen. Click here to listen to snippets of songs featured in the film.
My son and I were treated to a free screening of the movie in order to write this review. We also had the pleasure of interviewing two of the stars of the film. The opinions in this post are my own and not influenced by Disney/Touchstone/LucasFilm.
