Strange World
Disney invents a bold, brave new world for its 61st animated feature, a multi-conceptual, perhaps overly ambitious phantasmagoria.
Avatar meets Fantastic Voyage
It’s a strange world, indeed. And a realm that may even reflect our own, depending on one’s perspective. Strange World may best be viewed under the influence of acid, and might even gain a cult following in years to come (once its myriad of metaphorical strands have been disentangled). On one level, Disney’s 61st animated feature is all about fathers and sons and our legacy on earth, and on another about making the most of the strange world that we already call home. The eponymous domain in question is Avalonia, an isolated civilisation trapped in the heart of a massive mountain range. The fearless (and humongous) Jaeger Clade (voiced by Dennis Quaid) believes there is more to the world than the provincial pleasures provided by Avalonia, and so he sets off on an epic trek with his misnamed son Searcher (Jake Gyllenhaal) in tow. But Searcher is more interested in the strange plant life that they encounter en route, rather than what lies beyond the snowy peaks in their path. He is the kind of soul who believes that you can make a better life by nurturing what you already have, rather than ploughing precious resources into a potentially treacherous exploration of the unknown (Elon Musk, take note). Jaeger is not impressed and stomps off in a huff never to be seen again.
Twenty-five years later, Searcher has replaced his father in the affections of his community, having introduced a magical crop to the valley that generates a vital green energy. He now has a wife, the black crop-duster Meridian (Gabrielle Union), and a sixteen-year-old son, Ethan (Jaboukie Young-White), who is battling with his first same-sex crush. And they have a three-legged dog, Legend. So, quite a few boxes have been ticked there, in keeping with Disney’s new all-inclusive agenda. Then a plague descends on the land, and Searcher is forced to live up to his name, to find another world that may provide an answer to the ruinous blight.
In spite of all the film’s strangeness, there are explicit influences, with both Jules Verne and James Cameron looming large, with nods to everything from Fantastic Voyage to Hergé’s stories of Tintin. And the film doesn’t stop there, reaching out into wondrous realms that reflect alternate kingdoms both subterranean and biological. This, of course, gives the animators free range to explore fantastical states, populated by creatures that stir the imagination. A mischievous, friendly entity dubbed ‘Splat’, being a translucent, multi-tentacled blue blob, is already available in every good Disney store.
Strange World is nothing if not ambitious, a calculated adventure aimed to boost Disney’s merchandising revenue stream and to pacify the woke brigade. But one cannot deny the movie’s visual finesse or its boundless ingenuity, something that will no doubt reward repeated viewings, even if much of it will hover over the heads of younger viewers. Many, though, will find it all a bit much, as if confronting a giant, illustrated crash course in quantum physics.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Voices of Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Jaboukie Young-White, Gabrielle Union, Lucy Liu, Karan Soni, Alan Tudyk, Adelina Anthony, Abraham Benrubi, Jonathan Melo.
Dir Don Hall, Pro Roy Conli, Screenplay Qui Nguyen, Pro Des Mehrdad Isvandi, Ed Sarah K. Reimers, Music Henry Jackman, Sound Shannon Mills and Samson Neslund.
Walt Disney Pictures/Walt Disney Animation Studios-Walt Disney.
102 mins. USA. 2022. UK and US Rel: 23 November 2022. Cert. PG.
