THE MAGICAL LEGEND OF THE LEPRECHAUNS (1999) *** Isn't it interesting how the most popular and effective metaphors for "reality" are magical myths? What we have here is failure to communicate nicely. What we have here is a Romeo and Julietprojected across the Irish troubles and particularly the peace process, with the republicans as leprechauns and the loyalists as troopin' fairies. Is Whoopi Goldberg God or America? Are her bodyguards capable of making that distinction? Is Randy Quaid America or corporate dissentors? He clearly can't be both. What else we have here is nearly three hours of ambitious fairy tale that connects with the entirity of its target audience which would consist then of children, Shakespeare enthusiasts, political science junkies and a spectrum of cross-cultural and trans-species interests. The cast is good, even the occasionally questionable entries above, Roger Daltrey is the dumb (but not deaf or blind) King of the Fairies (no typecasting there a million groupies cheer in unison); but the strength is the story and the script. It never lags and everyone has plenty of excellent lines, the best of which is probably "Work is the end of freedom as we know it." Richard Harvey's beautiful musical score intentionally veers between Titanic and the love theme from Zeffirelli's take on Shakespearean Verona, covering all ground Irish save the indignant realm best inhabited by Black 47. The computer graphics are so good that I found myself wondering if that was really extras floating up to the crystal castle in the bulbous spittle of a giant frog. The Irish countryside maintains its gold medal standards, and Daltrey eventually kicks down for drinks all around. Ok, let's see, so if the Leprechauns and Faeries can do it...
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