20s Movie Review - Strange World

Director: Qui Nguyen, Don Hall
Genre: Animation/ Family/ Adventure
Runtime: 117 minutes
Year: 2022
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Gabrielle Union, Lucy Liu, Alan Tudyk

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2023 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 23: A DISNEY ANIMATION
 
Description: The legendary Clades are a family of explorers whose differences threaten to topple their latest and most crucial mission.

Review: In “Strange World” we are introduced to three generations of the legendary Clade family, as they try to work together and navigate the unknown, treacherous land beneath their own world. Searcher is a family man who is out of his element on an unpredictable mission, he rather stays on his farm. Jaeger is Searcher’s larger-than-life explorer father. Ethan is Searcher’s 16-year-old son, who secretly wants to adventure like his grandfather, much against his father’s will.

I totally missed out on “Strange World” when it first came out. It only played in theaters for a short amount of time, before it hit Disney+. And in case of “Strange World” it says something about the quality of the film. It’s one of the worst films by Disney I have seen in years. The animations are very different from what we are used to from them and the story itself doesn’t really hit any nerves. It’s all about family relationships and that has been done way too many times, and much better. The film doesn’t really connect with the viewer, because you don’t know who to sympathize with.

Strange World doesn't really connect with the viewer, because there are too many main characters, and so as a viewer you can't really choose who to sympathize with. Is it the father, the son, the grandson, mother, expedition members, etc. The out-and-out story where Strange World is now set has its origins in American and Asian cultures, but is not so familiar that it really evokes recognition in the viewer.

One thing I did like, was the LGBTQ+ representation and different ethnicities were represented as well. Kudos for Disney to bring that to the attention.

All in all, there is a reason why many people missed “Strange World”: it’s just not a very good animation, it doesn’t have a memorable story or characters and I already forgot most that happened. So you can see that even Disney has a miss ever once in a while.  

Rating: 2,5/ 5