diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 6ce57ea5bd..40f3016eac 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2012-12-24  Mike Blumenkrantz
+
+        * eina_magic_fail() now throws error messages on NULL pointers instead of critical
+
 2012-12-19  Gustavo Sverzut Barbieri (k-s)
 
 	* Fixed Evas RGBA_Image->flags.loaded for copied images.
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index ecc229610c..3423f2e745 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ Improvements:
     * Speedup Eina Rbtree Iterator by recycling memory instead of
       repeatedly calling malloc/free.
     * Display more information with eet -l -v.
+    * eina_magic_fail() now throws error messages on NULL pointers instead of critical
 
 Fixes:
     * Fix PPC (big endian) image codec bug.
diff --git a/src/lib/eina/eina_magic.c b/src/lib/eina/eina_magic.c
index a42db2d643..0260aa63b7 100644
--- a/src/lib/eina/eina_magic.c
+++ b/src/lib/eina/eina_magic.c
@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ eina_magic_fail(void *d,
 {
    eina_error_set(EINA_ERROR_MAGIC_FAILED);
    if (!d)
-      eina_log_print(EINA_LOG_DOMAIN_GLOBAL, EINA_LOG_LEVEL_CRITICAL,
+      eina_log_print(EINA_LOG_DOMAIN_GLOBAL, EINA_LOG_LEVEL_ERR,
                      file, fnc, line,
                      "*** Eina Magic Check Failed !!!\n"
                      "    Input handle pointer is NULL !\n"