A One Mann’s Movies review of “Strange World” (2022).
Disney’s latest animated feature has been released with so little fanfair that it’s like it’s crept out through the cat-flap while the Disney execs weren’t looking. And as a result it looks like “Strange World” is going to be a financial flop. I can understand why it might be a difficult concept to market, since it doesn’t have an obvious “hook” to sell it on. When the grandkids asked me what it was about, I described it as an “outer space” adventure… which is actually false!
I just HOPE the lack of success of the movie will not be blamed on one of the key characters being gay. This has resulted in the film not being released in the Middle East, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Vietnam, East Africa, West Africa, the Maldives, Nepal and Bangladesh. And although released in the US, I’m sure this is certain to enrage a good proportion of the parents of middle-America.
I saw this at the cinema, with my grandsons Ellis (8) and Harry (5), but I note that it is very quickly dropping onto Disney+ from this Friday.
Bob the Movie Man Rating(s):
Plot Summary:
In the land-locked realm of Avalonia, the Clade family are famous as explorers who brought fortune and modern tech to the country through the discovery of a crop-generating electrically-charged berries. But after many years of success, the crop is beginning to fail and Searcher Clade (Jake Gyllenhaal) is recruited as an expert botanist to try to identify the cause.
Certification:
UK: PG; US: PG. (From the BBFC: “Mild fantasy threat”).
Talent:
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Jaboukie Young-White, Gabrielle Union, Lucy Liu.
Directed by: Don Hall, Qui Nguyen.
Written by: Qui Nguyen.
Twitter Handles: #StrangeWorld.
“Strange World” Review:
Positives:
- It starts in great style, with a pre-title sequence introducing Jaeger Clade (Dennis Quaid) and his son Searcher (Jake Gyllenhaal) and how they fell out (with Jaeger disappearing forever into the mountains). It’s quirky and fun. Similarly as we flash forward to see Searcher with his family today, and particularly the natural relationship between Searcher and his wife Meridian (Gabrielle Union), it filled me with a lot of hope for the film.
- I loved the fact that the teenage son Ethan (Jaboukie Young-White) was openly gay, clearly in love with his friend Diazo (Jonathan Melo). And more importantly, his parents AND his grandfather were just fine with that. It’s how it should be. But I can see the Christian right in America going bat-shit crazy that Disney has gone there so brazenly.
- There are some innovative concepts in here. The society ‘growing’ their own power is cute. And a surprising ‘reveal’ (no spoilers) makes more sense of what you’ve seen to that point.
Negatives:
- For me, the wheels rather fell off this when we entered the “strange world”. It possibly didn’t help going straight from Pandora (“Avatar: The Way of Water“) to this. Since Avatar created the world so much better. The ‘strange world’ here is all so pink and fluffy. It reminded me of the candy-cane land in “Wreck it Ralph”, but again I thought that creation felt more assured and fun.
- As clever as the ‘reveal’ might be, it delivers such a U-turn to the “plot motive” that I can’t see many young kids following it. (That being said I asked Ellis if he understood the end of the film and he retold me the plot perfectly!)
- I’m all for ‘woke’ films, but this is honestly like playing a game of woke bingo. Gay relationship?: check; Multi-racial couple?: check; Several racial groups represented?: check; disabled representation?: check (via a distant view of someone in a wheelchair. But it took the illustrious Mrs Movie Man to point out to me that the dog only has three legs, as seen on the poster)! All of this is obviously fine by me, and to be welcomed. But it feels like it’s all been shoehorned into the movie as a checkbox exercise.
Summary Thoughts on “Strange World”
While Disney films often appeal to adults, it’s the kids who should be the judges of this. Ellis (aged 8) quite enjoyed it. Harry (5) hated it, being frightened by some of the agressive ‘creatures’ that attack the travellers (pretty relentlessly).
As an adult, there wasn’t enough clever dialogue (e.g. ‘over the kid’s heads’ double entendres) to really entertain me.
So, I’m afraid this was a bit of a “miss” for me.
Trailer for “Strange World”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKh2G73gCCs .
