[5] The film's screenplay, by Rydstrom, David Berenbaum, and Irene Mecchi, is based on a story by George Lucas inspired by William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

The film stars the voices of Alan Cumming, Evan Rachel Wood, Elijah Kelley, Meredith Anne Bull, Kristin Chenoweth, Maya Rudolph, Sam Palladio and Alfred Molina.

However, he begins to change his mind upon meeting the feisty fairy princess Marianne (Wood) whose heart was broken by her philandering fiancé Roland (Palladio).

The musical score was composed by Marius de Vries, while the soundtrack consists of numerous pop songs spanning several decades.

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.

George Lucas had long wanted to make a film for his three daughters, with the original idea for the movie being generated 15 years prior.

According to Rydstrom, Lucas, who ultimately served as executive producer and story writer on the project, "really wanted to make a beautiful fairy tale with goblins and elves, and do it in a way that only this company can do.

Rydstrom stated, "We're not Pixar or Disney Animation, so in some ways George was our John [Lasseter] on this one [...] I like the fact—not that I don't like advice from all over—but this is our own thing, this is a Lucasfilm project ...

Many of the songs that did make it into the film were tweaked to help tell the story such as "Bad Romance", which became a march for an invading army, and "I'll Never Fall in Love Again", which was made into a warrior anthem for Marianne.

According to Lucas, the main message of the film is that "A real relationship rests in a much deeper place, where you love somebody and you've thought through it carefully as you've been carrying on conversations and doing things.

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.

The website's critical consensus states, "Like most modern animated movies, Strange Magic is lovely to look at; unfortunately, there isn't much going on beneath the surface.

[14] Alonso Duralde of The Wrap gave a negative review, writing "That terrible character design, combined with a painful lack of laughs and a crushing plethora of ghastly songs, makes Strange Magic perhaps the worst animated feature ever to come out of Disney.

"[23] Conversely, Drew Taylor of Indiewire gave the film a B−, stating in his review "Strange Magic does manage to enchant you (mostly) with its oddball charm.

"[24] Justin Chang of Variety gave the film a negative review, saying "This noisy, unappealing children's fantasy fails to distinguish itself among January's many, many reasons to steer clear of the multiplex.

"[25] Alan Scherstuhl of The Village Voice described Strange Magic as "the best Lucas film in 25 years: funny, idiosyncratic, hippy-dippy, packed with creatures and visions worth beholding.

"[26] Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter called the film "A shrill, garish hodgepodge of familiar elements from other animated vehicles (most evidently 2013's Epic), there's virtually nothing about this forced, fractured fairy tale that feels remotely fresh or involving.

"[27] Michael Ordoña of the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film one out of four stars, saying "The plot movement feels very much like an unpleasant formality, shoved forward by tiresome devices.

Club gave the film a B, saying "The movie maintains its own level of oddball invention that at least feels pleasantly removed from the grind of big-studio cartoon manufacturing.

"[30] Rafer Guzman of Newsday gave the film one out of four stars, saying "A noxious cauldron of ingredients that shouldn't have been mixed: fairies, Shakespeare and classic rock.

"[33] Bilge Ebiri of New York magazine gave the film a negative review, saying "The problem with Strange Magic isn't so much its derivative story as it is the odd, half-complete way it unfolds.

"[34] Glenn Kenny of RogerEbert.com gave the film one and a half stars out of four, saying "Strange Magic is essentially a jukebox musical so song-laden as to practically be an operetta, and the songs are so eclectic that they never quite fit into the movie's flying-insect world, which is divided into dark and light forests.