Let me say this at the onset – Strange Magic is not as bad as many of the critics would have you think. Yes, it could, and should have been better, but it isn’t the atrocity some are claiming.
Based on, or inspired by, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Strange Magic tells the story of woodland creatures, fairies, elves, goblins, etc. as they navigate a story contrasting light and dark sections of the forest, a sort of “good versus evil” plot. And yes, as it is a sort of adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, there is a lot of love plots threaded throughout. Actually, that gets equal emphasis if not more with regards to character motivations.
The fairy princess is betrothed to a vain jerk who she catches kissing another fairy. The wedding is off and Marianne (the fairy princess voiced by Evan Rachel Wood) resolves to not need somebody who will only go out and hurt her. Meanwhile the Bog King (voiced by Alan Cumming) hates love. He has all the primrose petals destroyed because they are the main ingredient in making a love potion. Of course the two different sections of the forest have nothing to do with each other. Until now.
I remember hearing about how bad the animation was when the film came out theatrically, and I just don’t see it. The animation simply isn’t that bad. While it isn’t Pixar quality, it is still theatrical release quality. I don’t know what people are expecting.
The biggest problem I had with Strange Magic was the music. I think in many ways the film was supposed to be like Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge, which is essentially a near opera with (mostly) modern music. This was a major selling point about Strange Magic, and this is where it falls short. A few modern songs will resonate with the kids, but there were a couple that I had to look up myself. I don’t have a problem with this, but when the songs happen so infrequently, it does become a problem. Instead of being a fun method of telling a story at times a song will come along and just… stop the narrative. A great example of the use of song being effective is “Stronger” by Kelly Clarkson, having Marianne use it to tell her ex-fiance to go to ****. A little earlier “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley is used to convey that every thing is going to be alright, but it drags out what could be conveyed in 15 seconds to 2 minutes. One song that gets used in passing is Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” which just wasn’t used effectively.
If Strange Magic had not messed up with the music it would have been a heck of a lot better. As it is, it feels decent enough for kids, but parents won’t want to watch it a second time. Many might get bored the first time through.
Only two special features are present, the first being a fairly standard “behind the scenes” type of affair that is mostly superficial. The second is a musical mashup of songs featuring storyboards, basic animatics and film footage.