Strange Magic

Story

A beautiful fairy kingdom borders the dark forest where the Bog King (voice of Alan Cumming) and his army of goblins and creepy creatures dwell. The border between these communities is formed of primroses, which are used to make love potions.

On their wedding day, the fairy princess Marianne (voice of Evan Rachel Wood) catches her fiancé Roland (voice of Sam Palladio) kissing another fairy. Marianne calls off the wedding and swears off love and men. Roland is more upset about not getting his army than he is about losing his bride. He convinces Sunny (voice of Elijah Kelley), a midget elf in love with Marianne’s sister Dawn (voice of Meredith Anne Bull), to go into the dark forest to find primroses. Roland must then convince the Sugar Plum Fairy (voice of Kristin Chenowith), who is being held prisoner by the Bog King, to make a potion for him to use on Marianne.

When things don’t quite go according to plan, the goblins kidnap Dawn and the potion is accidentally used on her instead. She falls in love with the Bog King, much to the delight of his mother, Griselda (voice of Maya Rudolph). Can Marianne save her sister, and will she ever be able to get past her own heartache to discover true love for herself?

Themes

Vanity; personal insecurities; cheating; judging others by how they look instead of who they are

Violence

Strange Magic has some violence. For example:

A massive lizard nearly eats a fairy.
Goblin creatures try to grab a fairy.
The Bog King tells his goblins to destroy the primroses or he’ll destroy them.
A lizard tries to kill Sunny and Dawn.
Marianne throws acorns at a lizard and smashes it in the face with a branch.
Marianne shoves Roland out a door and slams the door in his face.
The Bog King kicks goblins out of the way and throws and kicks them aside.
Sunny is freaking out because he believes that a sinister-looking creature is about to kill him. He begs to be killed quickly.
The Bog King says to his goblins, ‘If you see him [Sunny], kill him’.
Goblins attack the Sugar Plum Fairy and Sunny. Sunny escapes, but the fairy is captured.
A rat-like creature is pushed off a ledge and falls backwards through the clouds.
Roland tosses people aside as he dances.
Fairies are thrown, grabbed from behind and kicked away as goblins take over a dance.
Marianne uses swords to fight the goblins as they attempt to restrain her.
The goblins kidnap Dawn.
Marianne punches a character in the face as he’s about to strike her with her sword.
A character says that he gets to rip off Dawn’s wings.
Marianne attacks a goblin with her sword.
Dawn is told that if she doesn’t keep her mouth shut, she’ll have her wings ripped off.
A lizard eats a rat-like creature.
Marianne smashes through the Bog King’s window and attacks him with her sword. They fight each other. The Bog King tells Marianne that she can kill him if she wants but she’ll never get her sister.
The Bog King kicks Marianne into some spiderwebs.
The Bog King and Roland punch each other and fight with swords.
Roland holds Dawn hostage at knifepoint.
The Bog King’s cave collapses as his prisoners are freed. His mother is nearly crushed by falling stones.
Roland kidnaps Marianne.
Marianne holds Roland at sword point and kicks him away.
The Bog King saves Marianne and Dawn and appears to be crushed in giant jaws as everything collapses around him.
Marianne punches Roland in the face.

Sexual references

Strange Magic has some sexual references. For example:

Griselda puts her leg up in a suggestive way, and the camera angle catches it from behind.
Griselda parades countless female creatures for her son to inspect because she’s hoping he’ll marry one of them. They try to appear desirable or seductive but are disregarded and dismissed.
Griselda reminds the Bog King that she carried him for 23 months in her womb.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Strange Magic shows some use of substances. For example:

The love potion makes people believe they’ve fallen in love with the person they first see after taking it.
Characters are ‘love dusted’. They have love potion released near them, and they fall under its influence.

Nudity and sexual activity

Strange Magic has some nudity and sexual activity. For example:

Marianne sees Roland kissing another fairy on what’s supposed to be their wedding day.
Roland asks Marianne to try to understand why he cheated on her.
One character says, ‘Kiss me quick’.
Another character says, ‘No smooching’.
Two random characters kiss each other.
Roland accidentally kisses a male character.
Marianne and the Bog King share a passionate kiss.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in Strange Magic.

Coarse language

Strange Magic has some mild coarse language and insults, including ‘pig’, ‘crazy’ and ‘son of a …’ (the phrase isn’t completed).

Ideas to discuss with your children

Strange Magic is an animated musical that features some classic songs and a plot similar to William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. At first glance this looks like a family movie, but its content means it’s more suited to older children and tweens.

The main messages from Strange Magic are that looks can be deceiving and that everyone deserves to be loved.

Values in Strange Magic that you could reinforce with your children include courage, love, tolerance, forgiveness and understanding.

Strange Magic could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the real-life consequences of things like:

judging people by how they look instead of who they are
cheating on someone you’re supposed to love
refusing to listen to reason
making assumptions about how other people feel based on what you think rather than what happened
hurting others to get what you want.