''Strange Magic'' is a 2015 American animated
jukebox musical
A jukebox musical is a stage musical or musical film in which a majority of the songs are well-known, pre-existing popular music songs, rather than original music composed for the musical.
Some jukebox musicals use a wide variety of songs, while ...
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures.
The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...
film directed by
Gary Rydstrom
Gary Roger Rydstrom (born June 29, 1959) is an American sound designer and film director. He has been nominated for twenty Academy Awards for his work in sound for movies, and has won seven times.
Life and career
Rydstrom was born in Chicago. H ...
and written by Rydstrom,
David Berenbaum, and
Irene Mecchi, inspired by
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream
''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a Comedy (drama), comedy play written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One s ...
''. The film stars the voices of
Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming (born 27 January 1965) is a Scottish actor, writer and presenter. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades including a BAFTA Award, two Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and an Olivier Award. He re ...
,
Evan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood (born September 7, 1987) is an American actress. She is the recipient of a Critics' Choice Television Award as well as nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards.
She began acting in the 1990s, a ...
,
Elijah Kelley, Meredith Anne Bull,
,
Maya Rudolph
Maya Khabira Rudolph (born July 27, 1972) is an American actress and comedian. In 2000, she became a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). During her tenure on the show, she appeared in supporting roles in ...
,
Sam Palladio, and
Alfred Molina
Alfred Molina (born Alfredo Molina; 24 May 1953) is a British and American actor. He is known for his leading roles and character actor roles on the stage and screen. In a career spanning over five decades he has received a Drama Desk Award ...
. It follows the leader of the Dark Forest known as the Bog King, who hates the notion of love and orders the destruction of all primroses - a flower used to create love potions. However, he begins to change his mind upon meeting the feisty fairy princess Marianne whose heart was broken by her philandering fiancé Roland. Meanwhile, the elf Sunny seeks to have a love potion made so he may make Marianne's sister Dawn fall in love with him.
Lucas, who had long wanted to make a film for his three daughters, had been developing the project for 15 years before production began, and described the film as ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...
'' for a female audience. The musical score was composed by
Marius de Vries, and the soundtrack consists of numerous historical pop songs spanning several decades.
''Strange Magic'' was released in theaters in the United States on January 23, 2015 by
Touchstone Pictures
Touchstone Pictures was an American film distribution label of Walt Disney Studios, founded and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Feature films released under the Touchstone label were produced and financed by Walt Disney Studios, and featured ...
. The film received negative reviews from critics and was a
box-office bomb
A box-office bomb is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the combined production budget, marketing, and distribution costs exceed the revenue after release has te ...
, grossing $13.6 million against a $70–100 million budget.
Plot
A magical realm is divided between the Fairy Kingdom and the Dark Forest. When fairy princess Marianne sees her fiancé, Roland, kissing another fairy on their wedding day, she vows never to fall in love again. In the Dark Forest, the Bog King has the same view on love, despite his caring mother Griselda's protests.
Marianne's sister, Dawn, and her elf friend, Sunny, are nearly devoured by a giant lizard before Marianne rescues them. After falling through the border and into the Dark Forest, Sunny finds a
primrose petal and hides it. At the Spring Ball, Roland tries to win back Marianne, who angrily drives him away. Roland consults his warriors, who jokingly tell him to procure a love potion to woo Marianne. Roland then encounters Sunny, who has an unrequited love for Dawn, and convinces him to venture into the Dark Forest to get the love potion so they can use it on their respective fairies. Sunny goes back and finds the hidden primrose petal and, with the guidance of an Imp, travels to the Bog King's lair, where the Sugar Plum Fairy was being held prisoner by the Bog King. Sunny finds the Sugar Plum Fairy, who agrees to make the love potion if Sunny promises to set her free.
Plum's escape rouses Bog King, who recaptures her while Sunny and the Imp escape. Sunny returns to the ball and tries to hit Dawn with the love potion. Bog interrupts the celebrations and captures Dawn just as she is sprayed by the love potion and the imp steals it in order to spread it throughout the forest. Bog orders them to deliver the potion to him by moon-down or he will harm Dawn. Defying her father's order, Marianne flies off after her sister while he grants Roland a small army to head off on foot to Bog's castle.
Dawn falls in love with Bog due to the potion, and Bog has her imprisoned for his own sanity. Marianne arrives and fights with Bog to return her sister. When she realizes the severity of the situation, the two of them begin to find common interests. When they consult Sugar Plum for an antidote, she explains that true love will negate the effects of the potion. Bog hadn't known this, as he refused to listen to Sugar Plum after his failed attempt with the love potion years before. A mutual attraction begins to develop between Marianne and Bog, but only Griselda sees it.
Sunny recovers the potion from the imp and gives it to Roland as they march on to the castle. Bog sees this and suspects that Marianne had set him up, breaking his heart again as he leaves her stranded in a spider web. She escapes and joins in the battle taking place at the castle. Sunny frees Sugar Plum, Dawn, and the love-stricken forest creatures that the imp had hit with the love potion.
In the escape, Bog holds the mouth of his den open long enough for everyone to escape. He survives, to Marianne's relief, and Sunny reveals his true feelings to Dawn. After realizing her love for Sunny, the spell of the love potion breaks, and the two kiss. Roland returns after appearing to fall to his death, love potion in hand. He sprays Marianne, much to the dismay of Bog, and she appears to be under the spell and begins singing. Sugar Plum holds a very outraged Bog back and urges him to wait and watch. While going in for a kiss, Marianne punches Roland, who falls into the crevice after being sprayed with the falling love potion. It is revealed that the potion didn't work on Marianne because she is already in love with someone else. Bog and Marianne finally admit their feelings for each other and kiss.
After the credits, Roland returns to his warriors and has fallen madly in love with a female insect who Griselda had presented to Bog as a potential wife earlier in the movie, much to his warriors’ disgust.
Voice cast
*
Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming (born 27 January 1965) is a Scottish actor, writer and presenter. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades including a BAFTA Award, two Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and an Olivier Award. He re ...
as Bog King
*
Evan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood (born September 7, 1987) is an American actress. She is the recipient of a Critics' Choice Television Award as well as nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards.
She began acting in the 1990s, a ...
as Marianne
*
as Sugar Plum Fairy
*
Maya Rudolph
Maya Khabira Rudolph (born July 27, 1972) is an American actress and comedian. In 2000, she became a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). During her tenure on the show, she appeared in supporting roles in ...
as Griselda
*
Alfred Molina
Alfred Molina (born Alfredo Molina; 24 May 1953) is a British and American actor. He is known for his leading roles and character actor roles on the stage and screen. In a career spanning over five decades he has received a Drama Desk Award ...
as the Fairy King
*
Elijah Kelley as Sunny
* Meredith Anne Bull as Dawn
*
Sam Palladio as Roland
*
Bob Einstein
Stewart Robert Einstein (November 20, 1942January 2, 2019) was an American actor, comedy writer, and producer. He created and performed the satirical stuntman character Super Dave Osborne, and was also known for his roles as Marty Funkhouser in ' ...
as Stuff
*
Peter Stormare
Rolf Peter Ingvar Stormare (; Birth name, né Storm, 27 August 1953) is a Swedish actor. He played Prince Hamlet, Hamlet for Ingmar Bergman, Gaear Grimsrud in the film ''Fargo (1996 film), Fargo'' (1996) and List of Prison Break characters#John ...
as Thang
*
Kevin Michael Richardson
Kevin Michael Richardson (born October 25, 1964) is an American actor. Known for his distinctively deep voice, he has mostly voiced villainous characters in animation and video games. In film, Richardson voiced Goro in ''Mortal Kombat'' (1995) ...
as Brutus
* Llou Johnson as Pare
*
Robbie Daymond
Robert Daymond Howard (born March 11, 1982) is an American voice actor who is mostly known for his roles in video games, animation, anime and audiobooks. Some of his best known roles include Tuxedo Mask in the Viz Media redub of ''Sailor Moon'', ...
as Fairy Cronies
*
Brenda Chapman
Brenda Chapman (born ) is an American animator, screenwriter, storyboard artist, and director. In 1998, she became the first woman to direct an animated feature from a major studio, DreamWorks Animation's ''The Prince of Egypt''. In 2012, she ...
as Imp
*
Tony Cox as Plum Elf
*
Gary Rydstrom
Gary Roger Rydstrom (born June 29, 1959) is an American sound designer and film director. He has been nominated for twenty Academy Awards for his work in sound for movies, and has won seven times.
Life and career
Rydstrom was born in Chicago. H ...
as Angry Gus
Production
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman ...
had long wanted to make a film for his three daughters, having had this original idea 15 years prior to its production.
He described the film as ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...
'' for a female audience, stating "''Star Wars'' was for 12-year-old boys; I figured I'd make one for 12-year-old girls."
About the plot, co-writer and director
Gary Rydstrom
Gary Roger Rydstrom (born June 29, 1959) is an American sound designer and film director. He has been nominated for twenty Academy Awards for his work in sound for movies, and has won seven times.
Life and career
Rydstrom was born in Chicago. H ...
stated, "We pitched it as a ''
Beauty and the Beast
"Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales'').
Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and publish ...
'' story where the Beast doesn't change." According to Rydstrom, Lucas, who ultimately served as executive producer and story writer on the project, "really wanted to make a beautiful fairy tale with
goblin
A goblin is a small, grotesque, monster, monstrous humanoid creature that appears in the folklore of multiple European cultures. First attested in stories from the Middle Ages, they are ascribed conflicting abilities, temperaments, and appearan ...
s and
elves
An elf (: elves) is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology, being mentioned in the Icelandic ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda''.
In medieval Germanic-speakin ...
, and do it in a way that only this company can do. He had been working on it for a long time." Rydstrom mentioned that Lucas emphasized that the story should be about "finding beauty in strange places". Rydstrom also stated "It was important for him to tell this story where you saw the beauty in something you didn't expect to see—that it looked ugly on the outside but you saw the beauty underneath." The film was in development for 15 years, including alongside the ''Star Wars'' prequels.
[ Before ]The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...
acquired Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company founded by filmmaker George Lucas in December 10, 1971 in San Rafael, California, and later moved to San Francisco in 2005. It is best known for creating and producing th ...
in late 2012, production on ''Strange Magic'' was already well underway. The crew, including Rydstrom, screened the film for Disney executives. Rydstrom stated, "We're not Pixar
Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney ...
or Disney Animation, so in some ways George was our John ">asseteron this one ..I like the fact—not that I don't like advice from all over—but this is our own thing, this is a Lucasfilm project ... I remember when ''Labyrinth
In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth () is an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by the h ...
'' came out and how exciting that was. There was a magic to that, this has the same vibe to me."
One of the biggest inspirations for the soundtrack was another Lucasfilm production, ''American Graffiti
''American Graffiti'' is a 1973 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by George Lucas, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz and Lucas, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat ...
'' (1973). For ''Strange Magic'', Lucas revealed: "I had a lot of Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
songs in there originally, but we couldn't afford them." Many of the songs that did make it into the film were tweaked to help tell the story such as " Bad Romance", which became a march for an invading army, and " I'll Never Fall in Love Again", which was made into a warrior anthem for Marianne. According to Lucas, the main message of the film is that "A real relationship rests in a much deeper place, where you love somebody and you've thought through it carefully as you've been carrying on conversations and doing things. You fall in love with their mind and everything else more than just the way they look."[ The crew experimented with the idea of having the entirety of the dialogue sung.][
The hair design of sisters Marianne and Dawn went through several revisions. According to Meredith Anne Bull, the voice of Dawn, " he sisters'hair has changed a lot since the beginning, we used to have long, brown hair. It was red for a while and now it has ended up short and blonde! ..There's a lot of work that goes into creating the hair of an animated character. There are actually groups of people where that's their only job, to do the animation of hair! That was really cool, learning that." On the subject of voice recording, Bull stated, "There's just a lot of really cool stuff hat our directorwould show us—tricks and stuff to do when we were recording: Special effects with our mouths, or by chewing stuff. One time I watched ]Peter Stormare
Rolf Peter Ingvar Stormare (; Birth name, né Storm, 27 August 1953) is a Swedish actor. He played Prince Hamlet, Hamlet for Ingmar Bergman, Gaear Grimsrud in the film ''Fargo (1996 film), Fargo'' (1996) and List of Prison Break characters#John ...
chew an entire pack of gum while he was trying to record!" Bull also noted that while recording she did not have many visuals to reference, "For the first year of production, I really had no idea, sometimes they would have drawings, but other than that I just had to use my imagination of what was going on!"
Music
The soundtrack includes cast performances of new versions of pop and classic rock songs which were chosen by George Lucas
George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman ...
. The soundtrack was released by Buena Vista Records
Disney Music Group (DMG) is the music recording and publishing arm of Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. It is located at the studio's headquarters in Burbank, California. The divi ...
on January 20, 2015, followed by a physical release on February 17, 2015.
Some songs are in the film, but not in the album. An instrumental of " People Are Strange" is during the mushrooms' first spread messages through the bog forest, and the chorus from " Bad Romance" is a march for an invading army.
Track listing
Release
Box office
''Strange Magic'' was released on January 23, 2015. During its opening weekend in the United States and Canada, it grossed $5.5 million across 3,020 theaters, debuting at number seven. It had the lowest ticket sales of any animated film released in over 3,000 theaters. The previous animated films with lowest opening weekend gross are ''The Wild Thornberrys Movie
''The Wild Thornberrys Movie'' (or just ''The Wild Thornberrys'') is a 2002 American animated adventure film based on the television series of the same name. It was produced by Klasky Csupo and distributed by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeo ...
'' (2002) and '' Quest for Camelot'' (1998).[The Mind Of Lucas Fails]
". ''blog.bcdb.com'', January 25, 2015 The film closed on April 16, 2015, and had earned $12,429,583 in the domestic box office, with $1,173,870 overseas for a worldwide total of $13,603,453. With a estimated budget of $70–$100 million. ''Strange Magic'' was considered by analysts to be considered to be a box-office bomb
A box-office bomb is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the combined production budget, marketing, and distribution costs exceed the revenue after release has te ...
, resulting in a loss for Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
of a estimated $40–50 million.
Home media
''Strange Magic'' was released by Touchstone Home Entertainment on DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
and digital download on May 19, 2015. The DVD release includes two behind-the-scenes featurettes.
Reception
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film holds an approval rating of , based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus states, "Like most modern animated movies, ''Strange Magic'' is lovely to look at; unfortunately, there isn't much going on beneath the surface." On Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, the film has a score of 25 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore
CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data.
Background
Ed Mintz, who ...
gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.
Alonso Duralde
Alonso Duralde (born May 18, 1967) is an American film critic, author, and podcaster. He has been a writer and editor for ''The Film Verdict'', ''The Wrap'', ''The Advocate (LGBT magazine), The Advocate'' and MSNBC.com.
Personal life
Duralde ...
of '' The Wrap'' gave a negative review, writing "That terrible character design, combined with a painful lack of laughs and a crushing plethora of ghastly songs, makes ''Strange Magic'' perhaps the worst animated feature ever to come out of Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
." Conversely, Drew Taylor of Indiewire gave the film a B−, stating, "''Strange Magic'' does manage to enchant you (mostly) with its oddball charm." Justin Chang of '' Variety'' gave the film a negative review, saying "This noisy, unappealing children's fantasy fails to distinguish itself among January's many, many reasons to steer clear of the multiplex." Alan Scherstuhl of ''The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...
'' described ''Strange Magic'' as "the best Lucas film in 25 years: funny, idiosyncratic, hippy-dippy, packed with creatures and visions worth beholding." Michael Rechtshaffen of ''The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' called the film "A shrill, garish hodgepodge of familiar elements from other animated vehicles (most evidently 2013's ''Epic
Epic commonly refers to:
* Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation
* Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale
Epic(s) ...
''), there's virtually nothing about this forced, fractured fairy tale that feels remotely fresh or involving." Michael Ordoña of the ''San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...
'' gave the film one out of four stars, saying "The plot movement feels very much like an unpleasant formality, shoved forward by tiresome devices." Claudia Puig of ''USA Today
''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
'' gave the film two out of four stars, saying "''Strange Magic'' is strange all right, but hardly magical." Jesse Hassenger of ''The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'' gave the film a B, saying "The movie maintains its own level of oddball invention that at least feels pleasantly removed from the grind of big-studio cartoon manufacturing." Rafer Guzman of ''Newsday
''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...
'' gave the film one out of four stars, saying "A noxious cauldron of ingredients that shouldn't have been mixed: fairies, Shakespeare, and classic rock."
Betsy Sharkey of the ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' gave the film a negative review, saying "''Strange Magic'', the new animated musical fairy tale from the mind and the mixtape of George Lucas, is indeed strange. What's missing is the magic." Ben Kenigsberg of ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' gave the film a negative review, saying "Said to be inspired by ''A Midsummer Night's Dream
''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a Comedy (drama), comedy play written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One s ...
'', the film plays more like ''Avatar
Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...
'' scored to a karaoke competition." Bilge Ebiri of ''New York'' magazine gave the film a negative review, saying "The problem with ''Strange Magic'' isn't so much its derivative story as it is the odd, half-complete way it unfolds. You can sense the weird mixture of tones, influences, ideas—as if the whole thing were still in its planning stages." Glenn Kenny of '' RogerEbert.com'' gave the film one and a half stars out of four, saying "''Strange Magic'' is essentially a jukebox musical
A jukebox musical is a stage musical or musical film in which a majority of the songs are well-known, pre-existing popular music songs, rather than original music composed for the musical.
Some jukebox musicals use a wide variety of songs, while ...
so song-laden as to practically be an operetta
Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...
, and the songs are so eclectic that they never quite fit into the movie's flying-insect world, which is divided into dark and light forests." Keith Phipps of ''The Dissolve
''The Dissolve'' was a film review, news, and commentary website which was operated by Pitchfork and based in Chicago, Illinois. The site was focused on reviews, commentary, interviews, and news about contemporary and classic films.{{cite web, url ...
'' gave the film one and a half stars out of five, saying "''Strange Magic'' certainly isn't an ordinary sort of mess, and the personal nature of the project is still evident in the finished film."
Accolades
Rudolph received a nomination for Best Voice Performance at the Black Reel Awards of 2016.
References
External links
* at
*
*
{{Disney theatrical animated features
2015 American animated films
2010s English-language films
2010s fantasy comedy films
2010s musical comedy films
2010s musical fantasy films
2015 comedy films
2015 computer-animated films
2015 directorial debut films
2015 films
American animated fantasy films
American children's animated fantasy films
American children's animated musical films
American fantasy comedy films
American musical comedy films
American musical fantasy films
Animated films about elves
Animated films about fairies
Animated films about magic
Animated films about legendary creatures
Animated films set in forests
Animated musical films
Films about potions
Films based on A Midsummer Night's Dream
Films directed by Gary Rydstrom
Films scored by Marius de Vries
Films with screenplays by George Lucas
Films with screenplays by Irene Mecchi
Goblin films
Jukebox musical films
Lucasfilm animated films
Lucasfilm films
Touchstone Pictures animated films
English-language musical fantasy films
English-language musical comedy films
English-language fantasy comedy films
2015 musical films