Strange World
A journey deep into an uncharted and treacherous land, where fantastical creatures await the legendary Clades—a family of explorers whose differences threaten to topple their latest, and by far most crucial, mission.
- Released:
- Runtime: 102 minutes
- Genre: Animation, Family
- Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Alan Tudyk, Dennis Quaid, Gabrielle Union, Jaboukie Young-White, Lucy Liu, Alan Tudyk
- Director: Qui Nguyen
Comments
- carissav-96812 - 11 January 2023
Simple feel good movie with fun animation!
I've seen a TON of bad reviews or this movie, and though it is a bit generic, it's honestly undeserving of the low ratings. With realistic characters and a cute story, it really went above my expectations! Not my absolute favorite but I certainly enjoyed this a lot more than Disney's recent films. Lots of people have complained about a lack of connection or excitement surrounding the characters. To this I'd compare older movies like Aristocats, Robin Hood, or Sword in the Stone. Not too much "happens" but it's pleasing to look at and a nice "winding down" feel good kind of film. Despite odd pacing with the plot, the dialogue felt realistic and the film had a pretty concrete path it followed. Overall, I'd give it a solid 7/10, for its nostalgic look and homely feel. Wasn't the best but was overall a sweet film! - ensilumikarppi - 6 January 2023
Beautiful
Beautiful like a picture book with engaging characters and (for Disney) some unique family dynamics. I mean, when did the parents ever before take part in their kid's adventures in a Disney movie? Weren't parents (or lack thereof) supposed to be just a part of the framework or the initiating incident that forces the teenagers to be the heroes in the world of useless (or evil) adults?
Here Disney has boldly decided that they don't necessarily always have to teach kids that the only way to have adventures and build independent thoughts and skills is apart from their family. Parents can actually be a part of that journey; parents usually are supposed to be a part of that. What a revelation. Applause for that, Disney.
On the other hand, as beautiful and as refreshing as Strange Worlds was, it also suffered from the very things that made it so fresh. The security of the main family lacked a moving force for the plot, it didn't have much to build towards. The movie also didn't demonstrate well any outside force strong enough to move the well balanced family to action that would grip a moviegoer more than as a curious excitement. I wonder if the writers depended too much on the novelty of this new kind of main ensemble that they forgot to put equal effort to the plot.
Everything was solved too smoothly. The support of parents and a grandparent and adult family friends and a convenient blue blob meant that even the potentially more threatening parts of the "strange world" didn't feel that threatening. It was only a slightly thrilling joyride of an adventure, not a "real" overcoming-of-world-ending-evil-or-at-least-lasting-emotional-damage adventure.
But isn't that kind of what a safe childhood is supposed to feel like, a thrilling joyride with some dangers that are actually proportionally possible for a kid to overcome and where parents and other adults are there to help when it gets too much for their skills. I'm not saying that the slow dying of a world supporting gigantic living organism is a proportionally appropriate challenge for a teenager to solve. The movie just made it feel like, with the support of family, it very well could be. I think that is a beautiful message for a family movie.
All in all, I think Strange World succeeded in being a beautiful picture book of a utopian fantasy movie, and (hopefully) one of the many coming Disney films that dare to challenge (not demolish) the expected format of a moving picture storytelling.
