Strange World, Disney’s latest animated adventure, takes viewers through a meaningful, enjoyable adventure through one of their most creative, visually unique, and fascinating worlds in recent history.
It’s no surprise to see a Disney animated film boast an incredibly vibrant and eye-catching world, but Strange World’s is instantly unique compared to more recent offerings. It’s great that Disney has tried to put a stronger spotlight on underrepresented cultures and perspectives in recent films, yet there is something refreshing about Disney taking audiences into a classic sci-fi/fantasy adventure akin to their own cult classics like Treasure Planet and Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Strange World’s stylistic choices, like the aforementioned films, make it easily stand out from other Disney animated fare as it pays homage to pulp magazine sci-fi stories in both its aesthetic and storytelling. The visuals immediately invests you into its experience through its characters and sheer atmosphere.
The film is initially set in Avalonia, a simple valley village that’s turned into a thriving utopia after Searcher Clade (voiced by Jake Gyllenhaal), the son of legendary explorer Jaeger Clade (voiced by Dennis Quaid), brings back a plant species that can be used as an energy source during his final expedition into the surrounding mountains with his father. The opening moments in Avalonia do an excellent job not only setting up the adventure that follows, but also establish Searcher and his family perfectly. There’s such a simple wholesomeness to his family and their farming life. You feel this great warmth around the characters that makes you instantly attached to them. There’s really nothing that’ll make you smile more than Searcher in total dad mode, especially since Gyllenhaal’s voice acting is full of adorable charm and dorkiness. It’s a joy watching the Clade family have such fun and filled with relatable chemistry.
That relatability is probably one of Strange World’s greatest strengths since it allows for many of the arcs and themes to have such a strong impact. The film finds great ways to make its characters’ human qualities come out and create connections with viewers that matter. All the conflicts and relationships established immediately carry emotion and care — ultimately tugging at your heart and keeping you invested throughout the film. Even the way the film spotlights uniquely diverse storylines and characters makes them have an organic and important place in the experience. It all comes together greatly as the film shifts out of Avalonia and into its titular strange world.
Back to the plot. As the energy source Searcher discovered starts to die out for an unknown reason, he is forced to go on another expedition, reluctantly bringing his son Ethan (voiced by Jaboukie Young-White) and wife Meridian (voiced by Gabrielle Union) along with him. On their journey, Searcher and the crew of explorers find themselves sucked into a mysterious and seemingly dangerous world below them that eventually reunites Searcher with his father. Now, with Searcher and Jaeger reunited, they explore this strange new world and make some discoveries that alter their perspectives on their world.
Strange World’s titular world is stunningly animated and takes some incredibly creative routes in exploring it. Some of the best moments of the film are simply seeing this world in action and watching these characters interact with new creatures and discovering their purpose and intentions within this world. The shifting color palettes and design within each section are awesome to see play out and it’s awesome how there’s a hidden part to them that’s uncovered later in the film. The underground world of Strange World is undoubtedly one of Disney’s most ambitious and constantly fascinating worlds in recent time and the story threads that play throughout exploring it are surprisingly emotional and thematic.
Strange World does a great job displaying and exploring generational clashing with three generations of Clades men interacting together for the first time. Each one has their own perception of the world and each other that makes for some relatable family conflicts and even better arcs that are complex yet real. From the feud between Jaeger and Searcher about the conflict that drove them to lead different lives, to how they talk to Ethan about it, there are great story threads that make these three connected thematically in an organic way, but also still stand apart to make different generations of viewers able to connect with all the clashing. It’s incredibly heartwarming to see these three have very relatable and realistic conversations about their perspectives and even Ethan’s crush, Diazo (voiced by Jonathan Melo), making Strange World have arcs that are easily to connect with and have a real human impact on viewers.
The exploration that the Clades and fellow explorers go on has some big discoveries that are legitimately mind-blowing at times bringing out some strong environmental themes. Admittedly, the film can be a little too on the nose with its execution and explanation of things, but there’s a lot that viewers of all ages can gain from a story like Strange World’s. It’s a film about opening your eyes and mind about the world around you. Some of the discoveries made by the Clades about the impact of their actions can easily relate to our own world. The big final act twists are totally game-changing in the moment and the ripple effect they have on the character arcs and ending decisions make for some of the best writing for a Disney film recently. By the end, you feel your heart swelled by the genuine warmth of the realizations had by the characters and that desire for wonder and amazement fulfilled.
Strange World can certainly boast a strong sense of adventure, action, comedy, sci-fi, and thrills that make it a fun and exciting genre-blending experience, but it’s these great themes and discoveries about the world and characters that make it an instant classic when it comes to Disney’s animated adventures.
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