Review: ‘Strange Magic’ has pop songs, pretty animation, nothing else

Posted on February 6, 2015

By MARK VIOLA

I’m really glad there wasn’t a camera pointed at me during the first 20 minutes of “Strange Magic,” the animated film from LucasFilms based on a story by “Star Wars” creator George Lucas. I’m sure my expression was a cross between a deer caught in headlights and abject horror.

Although I like animated films and I have no problem watching kids movies, I was really considering looking for an escape pod after 10 minutes of “Strange Magic.” The movie does improve a little bit by the end, but I can’t remember having such a negative visceral response to a movie.

Having watched the trailer, I knew the film had to do with fairies and goblins and presumably singing. What I didn’t realize, but became immediately apparent once the movie began, is that this is supposed to be a musical. Now I like musicals, but I can’t actually call “Strange Magic” a true musical because having your characters sing a seemingly random mix of love songs in place of dialogue does not make your movie a musical. It just makes your writers seem lazy and unwilling to actually write original dialogue for the film’s entire 99-minute runtime. I guess it could have worked if the rest of the dialogue and story hadn’t been one cliché after another.

I do have to give “Strange Magic” credit for having pretty animation, with the settings downright beautiful. The character animation is also quite good, although the fairies tend to fall into the uncanny valley, where the designs are too close to real without making it all the way. Still, the animation is definitely the high point in a film that otherwise misses the mark.

The movie is rated PG for some action and scary images.

(This is a shortened version of the full review available in our printed or e-edition papers.)

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