Strange Magic (film) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Strange Magic
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Gary Rydstrom
Produced by	Mark S. Miller
Screenplay by	David Berenbaum Irene Mecchi Gary Rydstrom
Story by	George Lucas
Starring	Alan Cumming Evan Rachel Wood Kristin Chenoweth Maya Rudolph Sam Palladio Alfred Molina
Music by	Marius de Vries
Editing by	Chris Plummer
Distributed by	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release date(s)	January 23, 2015 (2015-01-23)
Running time	99 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$70–100 million
Money made	$13.6 million

Strange Magic is a 2015 American computer-animated musical fantasy film directed by Gary Rydstrom and produced by Lucasfilm, with feature animation by Lucasfilm Animation and Industrial Light & Magic. The film's screenplay was written by Rydstrom, David Berenbaum and Irene Mecchi, from a story by George Lucas inspired by William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The film stars Alan Cumming, Evan Rachel Wood, Kristin Chenoweth, Maya Rudolph and Alfred Molina. The score was composed by Marius de Vries and includes contemporary songs, such as "Love Is Strange" and "Strange Magic".

Lucas had been working on developing the project for 15 years before production began. It was his first writing credit since the 1994 film Radioland Murders that is not associated with the Star Wars or Indiana Jones franchises. The film was released in the United States on January 23, 2015 by Touchstone Pictures, making it the first Lucasfilm production to be distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, following their parent company's acquisition of the studio in 2012. The film received generally negative reviews from critics, who criticised its script, humor and songs but praised its animation, and was a box-office bomb, grossing $13.6 million worldwide and losing around $40–50 million. To date, it is the only Lucasfilm Animation production that is not part of the Star Wars franchise.

Plot

A realm is divided between a land of fairies and light, and a land of bog creatures and darkness, living in the dark forest. Primrose flowers, which are a crucial ingredient to love potions, mark the border between the lands. Marianne is a fairy princess and heir to the throne of the Fairy Kingdom, and is engaged to be married to Roland, a handsome warrior who disappoints her when she discovers him kissing another fairy on their wedding day. Marianne vows to never fall in love again. In the dark forest, the Bog King also shares the same view on love, despite his caring mother Griselda's protests.

Sometime later, her sister Dawn, who frequently says she is in love, is desperate regarding the upcoming Spring Ball over which boy she could meet there. Her best friend Sunny, an elf who has a crush on Dawn, tries to cheer her up with a song, but they are nearly devoured by a giant lizard before a hardened Marianne rescues them. Sunny, having fallen through the border of the dark forest, finds a Primrose petal, which he subsequently hides when fleeing the forest.

At the ball, Roland tries to assert his intention to marry Marianne, who refuses and humiliates him out of the dance. He encounters Sunny and tricks him into returning to the dark forest to convince the Sugar Plum Fairy, who had been captured years ago by the Bog King, to create the love potion. Sunny acquires the petal he had hidden and with the help of a curious imp, ventures into Bog's castle, eventually finding the fairy and promising to free her in exchange for the love potion.

Their escape rouses Bog, who manages to recapture Sugar Plum while Sunny escapes, followed by the imp, and Bog is enraged when he learns that Sunny has a vial of love potion. Sunny returns to the ball and tries to hit Dawn with the love potion during his musical number. Bog interrupts the celebrations and captures Dawn just as she is sprayed by the love potion and the imp steals it in order to spread it throughout the forest. Bog orders them to deliver the potion to him by moondown or he'll harm Dawn. Defying her father's order, Marianne flies off after her sister while he grants Roland a small army to head off on foot to Bog's castle.

Meanwhile, Dawn falls in love with Bog due to the potion, and Bog has her imprisoned for his own sanity. Marianne arrives and fights with Bog to return her sister. When she realizes the severity of the situation, the two of them begin to find common interests. When they consult Sugar Plum for an antidote, she explains that true love will negate the effects of the potion, recounting a time where Bog fell in love with another female in the forest who left him despite his use of the love potion on her, as she was in love with someone else at the time he used the potion on her. A mutual attraction begins to develop between Marianne and Bog, but it is only Griselda who sees it.

Sunny recovers the potion from the imp and gives it to Roland as they march on to the castle. Bog sees this and suspects that Marianne had set him up, breaking his heart again as he leaves her stranded in a spider web. She escapes and joins in the battle taking place at the castle. Sunny frees Sugar Plum, Dawn, and (at Sugar Plum's insistence) the love-stricken forest creatures that the imp had hit with the love potion.

In the escape, Bog seemingly sacrifices himself by holding the mouth of his den open long enough for everyone to escape. He survives, to Marianne's relief, and Sunny reveals his true feelings to Dawn, who then reciprocates them, breaking the love potion's spell over her and they kiss, to her father's surprise. Roland sprays Marianne with the love potion, who pretends to fall in love with him, only to suddenly punch him and send him off the chasm, being hit by the love potion in the process.

Bog and Marianne, at the insistence of Dawn and Griselda, finally admit their feelings for each other and kiss.

In the last scene following the credits, Roland has apparently fallen in love with an ugly insect due to the potion, and the mushrooms' communication line of Bog's servants, spreading messages through the bog forest with results similar to the 'telephone game', ends with the pronouncement of 'Tea Blend.'

Cast

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack includes cast performances of new versions of pop and classic rock songs which were chosen for the film by George Lucas. The soundtrack was released by Buena Vista Records on January 20, 2015, followed by a physical release on February 17, 2015.

Additionally, there are songs used in the film, but not in the album. An instrumental of "People Are Strange" can be heard during the mushrooms' first spread messages through the bog forest, and the chorus from "Bad Romance" is used as a march for an invading army.

See also

In Spanish: Strange Magic (película) para niños