Strange World Review

Strange World is the 61^st animated feature film made by Disney. This film sees Disney attempting to make an old-fashion style adventure.

Avalonia is surrounded by a wall of mountains. Jaeger Clade (Dennis Quaid) is determined to find a way through the mountains because he believes Avalonia’s future lies beyond the mountains. During one expedition Jaeger’s son, Searcher (Jake Gyllenhaal) discovers a plant with electronic properties and believes it could revolutionise Avalonia, leading to a split between father and son.

Twenty years after this event Searcher’s discovery of Pando has led to an industrial revolution. But the crops start to fail, which forces Searcher to become an explorer once again so he can find out why Pando is dying.

Strange World has become notorious since it has been projected to lose $147 million and holds miserable user scores on IMDB and Metacritic. It seems like a film that Disney was embarrassed by because there was little marketing for it. I only saw the trailers a few times at the cinema and anecdotal evidence online suggests that many people didn’t see much marketing for the film. This was a shame because Strange World was much better than its audience scores and box office numbers suggest.

Strange World didn’t deserve a 4.7 on IMDB, and a 2.7 from Metacritic users. Those sorts of scores should be reserved for desperate truly dreadful blockbusters like The Last Airbender and Fantastic Four (2015). There is something odd going on because the critical response on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic has been a lot more positive. The audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is a lot more positive and on Letterboxd it has a 3.2 out of 5 which was a bit more respectable.

Strange World was deliberately old-fashioned. It had a pulp feel to it because the story bore similarities to Jules Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth and it was made with a mix of 1930s serials, 1950s sci-fi adventures, and steampunk. It opened with a 1930s-style newsreel showing Avalonia’s unusual circumstances and Searcher and Jaeger were introduced in a 1950s-style comic book. Rapid industrialisation made Avalonia into a steampunk world like Steamland in Disenchantment and the world of Legend of Korra. It made Strange World a distinct entry in Disney’s animated catalogue.

As well as being an old-fashioned adventure, it was also a family drama. The Clade’s issues were a major part of the film. Searcher was trying to force Jaeger into being an explorer when Jaeger was more of a thinker. And Jaeger was trying to do the same with his son, Ethan (Jaboukie Young-White). During the film the trio needed to learn about their real goals and desires and learn from each other. It’s a standard theme for a family film but it was well done.

Each character had their own paternal approach. Jaeger forced Searcher to go on adventures and throw his son into danger. Jaeger’s paternal style was a mix of supportive and pressuring. Searcher praised Ethan when he worked on the farm and stated he was proud of his son but Ethan felt pressured because of it.

Jaeger, Searcher, and Ethan were distinctive characters. Jaeger was a fun-loving man of action, whilst Searcher was more of an intelligential who wanted a quiet life. Searcher had embarrassing dad energy when he interacted with his son. Ethan was a typical 16-year-old boy who had a crush he wanted to impress, and he struggled to find a way to tell his dad he wants to be an explorer.

Disney has made a song and dance about their films having a gay character. Onward, Cruella, and Jungle Cruise were all examples of this. But usually amounted to nothing and felt like the studio was trying to appeal to LGBTQ+ audiences, whilst being able to cut out material for when these films were released in socially conservative countries. In Strange World, Ethan was gay but unlike other Disney films, Ethan’s homosexuality was more than a fleeting idea. Ethan was shown to have a crush on another boy, his parents already knew of his orientation, and Ethan’s secondary goal was to impress Diazo (Jonathan Melo).

Strange World does have a typical setup for a Disney film because there’s an invisible threat. This happened in films like Moana, Raya and The Last Dragon, and Encanto. Moana would be the best comparison since both films saw vital resources failing and characters needing to go into the unknown to save their worlds. Strange World had a lot more peril and urgency than in Disney’s last animated feature, Encanto.

Visually Strange World was wonderful. It had a mix of steampunk technology and unique-looking nature when the characters went underground. There were some strong action sequences and visual gags throughout the film.

Strange World did attempt an environmental theme. There were mentions of humanity needing to work in harmony with nature, not against it. It led to foreshadowing for the film’s conclusion. I was reminded of The Day After Tomorrow since Quaid and Gyllenhaal played father and son in another environmentally-themed film.

Strange World didn’t deserve to be a box office since it was a fun old-fashioned adventure. Hopefully, it will find a second life in the home media market.