Gone are the days when the standard fairy tale had the dashing prince charging to the rescue of a hapless princess. The twenty-first century has girl power center stage. Strange Magic, the last film written and produced by George Lucas before selling Lucasfilm to Disney, is a computer animated musical about female empowerment. It's not remotely in the same class as Frozen or Maleficent, but does deliver a pop medley fueled lesson on the meaning of true love.

Strange Magic opens with a besotted faerie princess, Marianne (Evan Rachel Wood), nervous about marrying the vain Roland (Sam Palladio). Her trepidation turns out to be correct when she finds Roland smooching it up with another gal. Furious, Marianne swears off love, cancels the wedding, and sharpens her sword fighting skills. Roland tricks a gullible elf, Sunny (Elijah Kelley), into retrieving the forbidden Love Potion from the dark forest. Sunny is enamored with Dawn (Meredith Anne Bull), Marianne's sister, but doesn't think a princess could ever love a lowly elf. He makes a deal to split the Love Potion with Roland to win both their hearts. The entire plan goes awry when the Bog King (Alan Cumming), leader of the dark forest kidnaps the love struck Dawn to get back the Love Potion. As Marianne swoops in to rescue her sister, she discovers the Bog King may not be a villain at all.

Strange Magic is a frame to frame musical. The entire plot is driven by song after song, after song. This can be somewhat jarring. The initial set-up is rushed and clunky, but the film does settle down into a groove. Kids should find the music entertaining; although adults may be overcome by the musical onslaught. The script by George Lucas and David Berenbaum fails to establish chemistry between the characters in the beginning. They do make up for this as the story goes on, but a lot of ground is lost. Frozen and Maleficent were successful because the plight of the leads were firmly established in the first act. Strange Magic would have been a much better film if more attention had been paid in this regard.

I found the overall theme to be rewarding. Marianne and the Bog King fall in love despite their differences. This is a valuable lesson for children. The musical aspect is overblown, but I think it may subliminally deliver the morale of the story. Strange Magic is recommended for a younger audience. There isn't much to grab adults and teens, but it isn't horrible to sit through if taking a child.