Strange Magic (2015)

Excellent but underrated film

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This is the first movie that George Lucas personally worked on after he officially quit "Star Wars". It turns out this is why he's considered to be a fallen creator. Next to "Howard The Duck" and "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" this is the worst film he's ever worked on. It's so disappointing how utterly cliché this movie is. It's based on "A Midsummer Night's Dream" which is admittedly not one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. The animation can be good at times, but a lot of the time it's hard to stomach. The characters look so ugly.I was expecting at least some epic fights in the movie but the fighting was slow and poorly paced. These characters are so annoying. It's dumb that we hear all these modern songs being sung by fairies. It's basically if "Moulin Rouge" was bad. Well, as Doug Walker would say, if "Moulin Rouge" was, well, "Moulin Rouge". I don't believe any of the love stories featured in this at all and I think it would have worked much better as a straight up action cartoon. The characters are too shallow to enjoy. *1/2

I have seen quite a lot of hate towards this movie, but I can't quite see where it comes from. It seems to be a either you hate it or love it movie. The animation was dark yet beautiful. The music was well timed and perfect for where it was placed in the story. I particularly liked how it truly stuck to the theme of looking past looks and not judging a book by it's cover, unlike a certain Disney movie with the same premise. Bog isn't cruel because of his looks in the beginning, he is cruel due to the pain he feels, which is a realistic way to depict it. He doesn't magically become handsome when Marriane falls for him, but stays the way he is and they fall in love due to similar personality traits and experiences rather than because of either of their looks. It also show that beauty is in the eye of the beholder from both standpoints. We as the audience might find Marriane to be the attractive one due to her being conventionally attractive, but the movie makes it clear that she doesn't fit what Bog finds to be physically attractive initially. Sometimes who we perceive to be unattractive can become attractive if you get to know them. I think that this movie portrays that very well.

I watched this on the recommendation of a friend, and then the very next day got my mom, younger sister, and sister-in-law to come over and watch it with me. General consensus? Pretty dang adorable. We all really enjoyed it, and even my brother who came in about a quarter of the way through and then sat hostage to it had to admit it's a good movie. I'm not sure where all the critic hate is coming from. Great vocals, fun soundtrack, beautiful visuals, and a love story that isn't cut- and- paste from every other princess movie you've ever seen... what's not to like? There were parts that genuinely made me laugh out loud. About the only bad thing I can say about it is that it was fairly predictable - you could see the plot twists coming a mile away - but it was still delightful to watch. Bog King is definitely my favorite character. I think he had all the best songs.I think it may have gotten poor reviews because it wasn't what people expected it to be, but it feels like the filmmakers had a clear vision of what they wanted to do and they accomplished it beautifully. Give it a chance, you may like it too!

Strange Magic was an okay movie. As an adult who is obsessed with animated films and the fantasy genre, I believed that the film would go onto my list of lesser known favorites. This was not the case.The film was a mixture of Epic, Arthur and the Invisibles, and Labyrinth. The similarities were blindingly obvious, and took some of the most annoying aspects from the three.The SINGING, dear lord, stop the singing. Around fifteen popular songs, from the past sixty years, are retooled and force fed to you till you suffocate. Over thirty minutes! I'm absolutely fine with musicals, but it was done poorly here. The movie would have been exponentially better if the simply cut out the singing.The characters are basic and stereotypical, but each have a little charm to them. The gender representation on both ends is rather insulting, particularly the fact that all the male leads resorted to drugging one of their love interests. Bog and Marianne were adorable, I genuinely liked their characters. It's unfortunate that the film didn't capitalize on them, even more aggravating is that these two sworn-off-love characters fall in love with each other in a matter of hours! The plot is messy, predictable, and bland. The graphics are fantastic, hated the obvious 3d moments and awkward Wild Thing psychedelic nonsense. My mother and sister loved the movie, deeming it 'cute', while I remain disgusted that Lucas proclaimed that Strange Magic was supposed to be the Star Wars for girls.Verdict: The fanfiction is better than the movie.