Like any decent trick, "Strange Magic" came about as a bit of a surprise. Instead of the usual multi-year lead-up of most animated film releases, the release announcement for this film came as a bit of a shock when its beans were spilled last November.
The project is directed by Gary Rydstrom, a sound designer and editor credited with the majority of the most popular live-action and animated films ever made, from "Toy Story" to "Titanic," with the "Star Wars" prequels, "Jurassic Park," and "Saving Private Ryan" under his belt. He has 17 Oscar nominations (with seven wins), yet this is the first time he's credited as the director of a film.
The story is credited to Rydstrom's boss at Skywalker Sound, the one and only George Lucas. This is a straight-up fairy tale, complete with dark forests, goblins, elves and the like.
Oh, dear. Are you going to be some Lucas fanboy about this?
Frankly, I went in fully expecting the film to be a dud. The trailers make the film look pretty miserable. Yet consider me pleasantly surprised with this film -- it has moments that are truly charming, and with some really commendable visuals, decent voicework, a bunch of catchy songs...
... Wait, this is a musical?
Yeah, basically. It's a "jukebox" style assemblage of pop tunes (not unlike how Lucas used the songs of the '50s in his seminal "American Graffiti"). The title (don't you know?!) is a song by E.L.O., and there's touches of Heart, The Doors, Bob Marley and more throughout.
I grant that this doesn't sound like it'd work, but if you give over to its infectious vibe (and like to be surprised about just what music clearances they were able to procure) it's a lot of fun. You've got vocalists like Alan Cumming, Evan Rachel Wood, Meredith Anne Bull, Elijah Kelley, Kristin Chenoweth and Maya Rudolph giving their all to some of these catchy-as-hell tunes.
Yeah, I'm not convinced.
Look, all musicals require a certain level of suspending your disbelief, and this film may require a bit more of that. If there's something to be said for this flick, it's a completely non-cynical look at cynics in love. Rydstrom described it as "'Beauty and the Beast' where the beast doesn't change," and that's a nice hook for the film. Yes, the movie is painting in primary colours, sloshing archetypes and story tropes around with big, at-times-obvious-and-predictable gestures. But hey, sometimes that can be satisfying, seeing a well-executed story that checks all the right boxes.
It does look pretty.
Well, it is. The animation is unique, even if it occasionally slips dangerously close to "uncanny valley" territory. Still, the features on the bog king or the gossamer quality of Marianne's wings are beautifully rendered, both in terms of design and in terms of, well, CGI rendering.
Yeah, I'm still not convinced.
Many won't be. This is hardly new stuff for Lucas to be doing -- his "Labyrinth" and "Dark Crystal" projects also were overtly "fairy tale" in their construction, and that delightful scene in the criminally unloved "Reign of Fire" demonstrates beautifully how the black knight vs. the good knight battle of "Star Wars" echoes deep into the recesses of Campbellian narratology, the notion that all stories in some way tell an ancient hero's journey over and over.
I'm not about to declare "Strange Magic" a modern classic or anything like that, but I admit I found its charms effective enough at pulling me into the story. I was also able to enjoy the visuals and cruise-ship arrangement of tunes.
As a standalone piece of ILM Animation, it's tonally quite different than its siblings that come from Disney Animation and Pixar, let alone the works from other studios. There could be allusions made to the execrable "Shrek" franchise, or maybe "Tangled," but I think despite its obvious nods to foundational myths and Baby Boomer pop songs, this feels like its own thing.
Meh.
Look, I'm aware the praise may be faint, but I had a soft spot in my heart for this film. I've seen enough of these kid-friendly tales to know the good from the bad, and this definitely leans towards the good. Its lack of self-reflexive irony and fart jokes may not make it the peer of some of the other crud that'll be fed to the kiddies from other animated works, but I found that strangely refreshing.
I've not completely fallen in love with "Strange Magic," but it did in its own way cast a spell. It's charming and engaging, with enough darkness to keep it engaging and enough lightness to keep you warmed throughout. Its twist on the meanings of certain anthemic love songs is a treat if you let it be. Maybe that's the trick with this film -- like anything you love, maybe you just have to go with it and see where it leads you. Strange magic indeed.
"Strange Magic" opens in theatres on January 23.
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