The New Trailer for 'Strange Magic' is Pretty Creepy

Fairies and elves do battle with goblins and other scary creatures over a magical potion in the animated comedy action-adventure Strange Magic. The story, written by George Lucas, is based loosely on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The screenplay is by David Berenbaum (Elf), Irene Mecchi (Brave, The Lion King) and Gary Rydstrom, who also directs.

The animation in the trailer above is lush and detailed--and just a bit creepy, teetering into uncanny valley territory. It was created by Lucasfilm Animation Singapore and Industrial Light & Magic, who also did Rango, another creepy-looking animated film.

Strange Magic has a music soundtrack that draws from "popular songs from the past six decades." You can catch snippets of the '60s staple "Wild Thing," the Motown classic "I Can't Help Myself" and the reggae-tinged "Say Hey" in the trailer. I can't say I'm a fan. They're great songs, but their over-familiarity makes them that much harder to weave into a musical film (See: Moulin Rouge, Gnomeo & Juliet).

Strange Magic stars the voices talents of Alan Cumming, Evan Rachel Wood, Kristin Chenoweth and Maya Rudolph. It opens in U.S. theaters on January 23rd.