Magia Estranha

"Strange Magic" is a fun, entertaining musical. If you watch the film without expecting "Hamilton" out of it, you would be well pleased.

All too often, fun, children's movies fall victim to stinging reviews from jaded movie critics who expect "Taxi Driver" from children's fairy tales. The initial negative critical reception of "Strange Magic" is a perfect example of how such mismatched critical expectation can wreak havoc on a perfectly entertaining movie.

With a colorful, over-the-top cast of characters with ticklish absurdity, and seamlessly integrated pop-rock karaoke performances, "Strange Magic" is an entertaining oddball sketch of the early millennial spirit wrapped into "A Midsummer Night's Dream." The film is a crowd pleasing cult classic in the spirit of "Willow."

If you look at the statistics of IMDb votes, you will find that Strange Magic unfortunately falls into the category of "either you love it or hate it" - very few in-betweeners.

From a graphical animation viewpoint it is superb, with well thought out details backed by a lot of hard work. For adult viewers who like animations (like me of course!) the plot, musicality and characters are significantly above the average animation, with a well-balanced socially and politically conscious theme.

The immense flake it has got in the media and the "hate it" viewers are totally unwarranted. Its main problem is the strong disconnect between its actual adult theme and characterization, vs the way it is portrayed and marketed as a family animation - a sort of fairy tale mummy bring kiddies to - and you can see many of the complainers fall directly into this category.

In other words, it 'looks like' animation for kids, but the plot and dialogue is totally way too adult.... which is exactly what keeps it interesting for me! Kudos to Mr Lucas for doing this - just too bad the real target market segment of "adults who like fairy tale animation" is just too small for it to make any commercial impact. But... thanks all the same!

Strange Magic is a not an animated film for kids, more directed to teens and adults. This is an odd film, a mix of The Princes Bride meets Tim Burton's world and they sing Moulin Rouge style.

The main virtues of the film are, beyond the beautiful animation and character design, the quirkiness of it. To me, the most important thing in movies that are derivative an predictable like this one is the sense of humour and the message conveyed. Strange Magic was funny to me, and found myself laughing more than once. The message if is not new, but important to recall it, there is a lid for every pot, love comes in all colors and shapes, and love happens between people who are, a priori, very different and even opposite. The film is unpretentious, and the familiar soundtrack will keep you (or at least me) singing along.

The cast does a good job at providing the characters with their voice and songs. I especially liked Allan Cumming as Bog King and Elijah Kelly as Sunny.

There is strange magic in this film, because from the known and predictable we get something magic, perhaps just hocus-pocus, and a freaky love story. I think this is one of those movies you really like or dislike, nothing in between. I did find it very enjoyable, but I had no expectations about it, so that always helps.

First, comment on one star ratings. I can see where children under the age of six (6) or so might not be as captivated as they would be for PBS style kids' programming: expecting simple graphics and age readability appropriate dialogue such as few syllables; short sentences; concrete familiar references; simple, not abstract concepts. Add to this mix some scary visuals. Also, some of the songs are teen and above. So … Second, for all ages (except above mentioned) the blend of straight dialogue with pop music (some oldies; some newer) dialogue to move the story forward was artfully blended. Admittedly I didn't quite get it in the beginning, but I was able to overcome some of my dumbness and learned to appreciate it. The singing vocal quality from the voice actors was surprisingly good. Third, computer hardware and graphics' programs continue to evolve and are producing scaringly realistic animations: surfaces, modeling, mattes, compositing naturalistic movement. Kudos to all involved. Fourth, the film's messages of seeing in a new way; looking under the surface; love - all make the film worth watching just for that reason.

I just discovered this movie on Disney+ for the first time today. My two year old was intrigued by the picture so instead of the Baymax series (totally recommend btw, it's adorable) for the 100th time, I clicked on this. He was enthralled for a good hour, which has NEVER happened with a tv show or movie. It's an interesting little film. The visuals are cool and the music is fun. It's not Oscar caliber or anything, and not nearly as funny as something like Shrek, but it's got its laugh out loud moments. Overall, cool movie that got me some solid snuggle time with my normally never still toddler, so it's a win for me!