CREDIT: LUCASFILM LTD.
Lucasfilm's new release, Strange Magic, may have not sat well with critics, but it managed to capture this reviewer's heart.

In a world infested with fairies, goblins, elves and random musical numbers, there’s only one thing that is more dangerous than the Dark Forest: love. Drawing inspiration from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Strange Magic delves into the world of rose-tinted glasses, jaded hearts and delightful naiveté without apology.

Visually stunning, with a wonderful variety of uniquely designed characters and an amazing setting, the movie manages to stay original even while drawing heavily from both Shakespeare’s play and well-known musical numbers. The writing allows for a tonguein- cheek lighthearted wit that is rarely seen these days. It also has a great amount of situational humour mixed with enough one-liners to keep the audience interested.

The vocal talents of Alan Cumming (the Bog King), Evan Rachel Wood (Marianne) and Elijah Kelley (Sunny) are undeniable. But it’s Sam Palladio (Roland) who steals the spotlight with an amazing combination of self-centered narcissism and over-the-top conceitedness that manages to mock itself while remaining entirely serious. Every character is so over-the-top that it brings a strange kind of balance to the film that couldn’t have been achieved in any other way. No character stands out as being implausible, because they are all insane, and the development of these characters is wonderful to watch.

What doesn’t make any sense is the number of negative reviews Strange Magic has been getting. Sitting at 17 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes and a 5.5 on the Internet Movie Database at the time of print, these scores are far lower than the movie deserves. Perhaps it’s due to the fact that the film decided not to cater to the lowest common denominator, instead choosing clean jokes, earnestness and genuinely good writing.

The fact that it’s currently below The Wedding Ringer in ratings, a movie that is comparatively dull, clichéd and poorly written, is a depressing commentary on the modern movie watcher. It’s almost as though any movie that doesn’t focus on crude physical comedy or dick jokes is considered unfunny.

This is a movie that asks us to turn off our overly-cynical, jaded selves and recall our enjoyment of magic and music and beauty. This feels almost like an appeal, a call back to the days before the ‘90s when David Bowie charmed us, dancing around with puppet goblins while wearing tight pants; we held our collective breaths as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial flew the bike away from the bad guys; or felt our hearts swell as Little Foot and his friends finally discovered the Lost Valley. This is the first animated feature length film not related to Star Wars to come out of LucasFilm in a long time, and it really does try to bring us back to that slightly nostalgic, pre-Kurt Cobain world of wonder that we seem to barely remember these days.

Strange Magic is a beautiful film, with an amazing cast, a fun soundtrack, and a self-aware delight in its own silliness. Homages to A Midsummer Night’s Dream abound, with a particularly delightful Puck parallel who sows chaos in his wake, keeping to the intent of the play while still being surprisingly original. The amazing design is only matched by the incredible writing that gives soul to Lucas’ newest creation.