Strange World review: Disney’s ambitious fantasy deserves better

The original publication was in conjunction with this review. With Strange World’s theatrical release. It has been updated and republished for the movie’s streaming release.

While Disney musicals have traditionally been a slam dunk for audience success, the animation studio’s Others movies — the buddy comedies, the action-adventures, the science fiction epics — are bigger risks with varying returns. ZootopiaAnd Ralph the Wreck-It Ralph were beloved, sure, but there’s also the whole gamut of early-2000s misfires that only became popular years after their release.

Strange World is Disney’s latest big gamble: a weird movie inspired by pulp magazines and retro science fiction. Don Hall directed the movie with Qui Nguyen (who previously collaborated on Raya, the Last Dragon, this new Disney movie is an absolutely gorgeous genre fest that gets bogged down by clichéd family drama. There are two stories battling it out here: a phenomenally cool sci-fi epic, and a family story that mostly boils down to “this dream isn’t mine, Dad — it’s You.”

[Ed. note: This review contains some slight setup spoilers for Strange World.]

in a scene from Strange World, a teenage boy looks out at a wondrous landscape, where everything is pink, orange, and red; there are floating rockscapes and clouds covering them

Strange WorldIt takes place in Avalonia, a fantasy country surrounded by high mountains. Jaeger Clade (Dennis Quaid), a brave explorer, led an expedition team that attempted to conquer the mountains. But, Searcher (Jake Gyllenhaal), discovered a bizarre energy-producing plants.

Jaeger refused to give up, and Searcher and his colleagues returned to Avalonia, where they eventually transformed the pando (or pando) into a reliable power source. In the present, the recent pando crops have been failing, so Searcher must embark on a mission to figure out what’s affecting them, even though he’d rather stay on his farm. Ethan Young-White, his teenage son (Jaboukie) is with him. Ethan secretly wants to be an explorer. Ethan and Searcher end up under the mountain in an unknown world. Soon, Jaeger is back. Tensions spark between the two different father-son pairs, as they all try to save their land’s primary energy source.

in a scene from Strange World, a gorgeous landscape, where everything is orange, pink, and red; two silhouetted figures stare out at the vista point, which is full of cliff-like structures and strange creatures that look like dinosaurs

It is visually stunning. Strange World This is why so many movies are successful. Should be animated — there’s no way that this gorgeously weird world, with its warm hues and constantly moving organic shapes, would look remotely this good in live action. And it’s not just the wacky world below the mountains. Avalonia is an interesting solarpunk/steampunk world where there are coffee machines, personal airships and no cellphones. The tech they use is both familiar and unique, which makes the film easy to understand. However, the heart of the film comes from the real strange world and each moment is an absolute delight.

Problem is, the Clade family’s emotional connection feels tacked on to an adventure story. The movie could have focused more on saving pando, and exploring this strange new world. It would still be solid sci-fi with an environmental message. Clade Family Conflict is about men in bad relationships with their dads who fight to prevent them from going down the same path. In doing so they end up being what they were trying to dodge.

in a scene from Strange World on the deck of an airship, a large burly man, a smaller man, a teenager, and a blue amorphous blob play a card game

It might make for an intriguing movie concept, however. Strange WorldThe story is more interesting and has higher stakes. There’s also a shorter time frame. There are some heartwarming scenes between the father-son duo. Ethan ropes his grandfather and dad into his favourite card game. This is a Settlers of Catan-inspired strategy board game. It’s one of Ethan’s best scenes. With more nuance and novelty, these relationships could be something new, but the “Sad Because Dad Left to Explore” trope is already overused in science fiction movies like Interstellar, Ad AstraAnd Armageddon. Und in Strange WorldThe storyline is resolved in the best way possible.

The exploration arc is less predictable, and it has one of the zaniest twists in a Disney movie — heck, one of the coolest twists in science fiction. When the emotional heart of the movie focuses on this group of ragtag explorers desperately trying to save the world they know, it’s a grand and exciting adventure, with beautiful scenery and fantastical creatures at every turn. The movie shines when it focuses on the bigger picture. However, it falls apart when it refocuses its attention on the relationships that are too complicated. The father-son dynamic seems to have been meant to anchor the movie into some reality, but they only drag. Strange World down when it could’ve soared.

Strange World Disney Plus now streams the video.

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