'strange Magic’ Review: Music Can’t Save A Sprinkle Of Plot

There are good things in the animated musical fantasy “Strange Magic”: the ultra-detailed, photorealistic animation; the name-that-tune pleasures of a mashup-jukebox soundtrack; fine vocal performances from the cast’s actor-singers; and a transcendent sequence featuring the 1975 title song. “Strange Magic” borrows the notion of fairies having misadventures with a love potion in the woods from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and the growingly popular, “Glee”-ful musical approach of “Happy Feet,” “Pitch Perfect” and “Moulin Rouge” (on which composer and musical director Marius De Vries also worked). BFF elf Sunny (Elijah Kelley) pines for her — it seems unthinkable for the beautiful fairies to love the simple, shall we say, less-beautiful, worker-class elves (who look more like troll dolls anyway). [...] the unsightly Bog King (Alan Cumming) wants to eradicate love, which means when Sunny acquires a passion potion to aid Roland’s schemes, there’s a-gonna be a fight. Cumming proves yet again he is an extraordinarily versatile talent, and Wood is a revelation as a singer, given the opportunity to show more range and expression than in “Across the Universe.” [...] fare is rarely intended for scrutiny beyond the surface (ironically, considering the film’s message of finding beauty in unexpected places). [...] as with the Ghost of Jar Jars Past, that kid-focus means here that characters and relationships are painfully simplistic, drawn with the broadest of strokes. The fairy king cheerfully humiliates his betrayed daughter in front of the whole community by throwing her together with the cowardly climber who messed around on the eve of their wedding. To a gorgeous reworking of Electric Light Orchestra’s hit used as the title song, Bog King takes Marianne on a tour of his initially frightening domain, revealing the beauty within.