Strange Magic

The animated musical fairy tale Strange Magic from Lucasfilm Animation envisions A Midsummer Night’s Dream as your hit parade, churning out pop tune after pop tune with an unrelenting zeal that’s nothing short of maddening. It’s like watching a cartoon version of American Idol on an endless karaoke loop. The hodgepodge Top 10 songbook includes everything from Burt Bacharach to Kelly Clarkson to the Troggs, as well anything with the word “strange” in the title. (Yes, Jim Morrison is rolling over in his grave.) The setup for each of the musical numbers takes triteness to a new (that is, lower) level. Princess Marianne catches her vacuous fiancé kissing another fairy? Cue a defiant “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again.” Need something to convey her burgeoning female empowerment after the incident? How about “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”? It’s painfully amateurish. What hath Moulin Rouge wrought?

Based on a story sprung from the mind of George Lucas himself, Strange Magic is strange indeed, an often dark tale populated by goblins, elves, sprites, and every creepy insect imaginable. The first third of the film meanders – not a wise strategy for a movie aimed at kids – before it focuses on the journey to the Dark Forest to obtain a powerful love potion concocted by the imprisoned Sugar Plum Fairy (a batty Chenoweth). There’s an occasionally clever moment during this misadventure – Venus flytraps providing a walkway as they close one after the other, a strand of toadstools garbling a message à la the telephone game – but it’s a pretty witless affair for the most part. Even the gorgeous hues that color the film (greens and indigos straight from a Tiffany lamp) can’t redeem a mundane narrative overwhelmed by all of that inane warbling. By the time the film’s ending upends traditional conventions with its unlikely couplings, you’re too distracted to fully appreciate the chutzpah, instead cringing at the opening chords of “Wild Thing,” as sung by our fairy heroine as a sexy come-on to a bug. It’s a moment that must be seen to be believed.