STRANGE MAGIC

US, 2015, 99 minutes, Colour.
Voices of: Alan Cumming, Evan Rachel Wood, Elijah Kelley, Meredith Anne Bull, Sam Palladio, Kristen Chenoweth, Alfred Molina, Maya Rudolph, Peter Stormare.
Directed by Gary Rydstrom.

Strange Magic is a brightly coloured animated film, a literal fairy story.

We are introduced to a fairytale forest, full of light and colour, contrasting with the dark wood, full of evil creatures, a clash between the two, especially concerning the growth of primroses from which a love potion can be distilled, to the delight of fairies and a threat to the control of the goblins.

The film is designed principally for a younger audience given the characters and the fairy behaviour. Adult audiences might find it too much of a fairytale, although parents who watch the film with their children may be attracted by the range of songs, one introduced every few minutes, starting with Chanson D’ Amour, I’ll never fall in love again, a great range of pop songs in between, and an unexpected dramatic climax with Wild Thing.

The central character is a lively fairy, Marianne, voiced by Evan Rachel Would who is betrothed to a young fairy, Roland (Sam Palladio) who dreams of marrying Marriane, the King’s daughter. She finds him fickle and breaks off the engagement. A great influence in her life is her father, the King (Alfred Molina). Marianne goes about the kingdom, something like a warrior. This is in contrast with her flirtatious sister, (Meredith Anne Bull) who falls in love with a mini creature, Sunny (Elijah Kelly) who goes on mission to rescue her from the dark wood, encountering the Sugar Plum Fairy (voiced by Kristen Chenoweth) who has been imprisoned by the seeming tough, Bog King (Alan Cumming).

There are many adventures in the dark wood, Marianne going to rescue her sister from the Bog King but strangely attracted to him, and the possibilities for his redemption – urged on by his rather loud- mouthed mother. Roland journeys with his guards into the dark wood to find the potion to win back Marriane – but, of course, the polion spills over him and he falls in love with a giant bee.

Otherwise, everything goes as expected with a happy ending.