Disney has the bad habit of repeating itself constantly. In the past years we have been witnesses of the many live-action remakes of its classics, most of them irrelevant, having nothing to add to the original ones. Nostalgia is the feeling the studio has been aiming for: it attracts viewers of all ages and it is a safe investment. That is why, whenever the studio works in a (truly) new film I feel excited and expect to feel surprised as a kid again. One of these new films is Strange World.
Strange World is Disney’s new animation feature. It is directed by Don Hall (Big Hero 6) and co-directed by Qui Nguyen (She Kills Monsters) who also wrote the script. I personally have been following Nguyen’s work and was intrigued to watch the film, however I felt disappointed, because one of the weaker aspects of the films is actually the script. The story follows a classic “Save the world” plot, centering in a family of explorers, The Clades. Searcher Clade is the son of a legendary explorer who disappeared. He lives a calm life as a farmer, growing a plant that he discovered himself when younger. This plant produces a type of strong energy similar to electricity. The plant becomes menaced by a plague and Searcher needs to join a crew of explorers to find the cause and save the world they live in. His family joins the adventure.
The whole film follows the logic of an adventure story but tries to make it more complex by exploring family relationships at the same time, this mixture makes it loose direction and avoids the themes to be established successfully.
At the beginning the film felt in a rush, there was little time to understand the sci-fi type of world proposed and little time to start caring about the characters. Adventure comes early in the story which makes us more concerned with the action sequences. Being the plot based in the idea of “saving the world”, engaging with the characters and their mission becomes crucial, we need to understand the urgency, however because of the set-up not being established enough it becomes hard to care about the Clades and their mission. Don’t take me wrong, the characters are likable enough and the adventure they engage in is something that made me interested, however it lacked of depth and I truly wished to be more involved since the beggining. I was entertained through the whole story, but I started to feel involved emotionally only from the middle of it. The whole plot works but it lacks focus on specific themes. On one hand it tries to explore intergenerational conflicts, on the other ecological concerns while being visually involved in action scenes. Disney has been very concerned with family relations in its last features, take Encanto and Turning Red as examples. The intergenerational conflict serves the plot in a functional way but also distracts from what should be important. With this I felt that Disney was repeating itself again, trying to over exploit a theme that is “trending” in movies right now
To me the ecological aspect felt way more compelling and urgent. While trying to explore family conflicts, that theme gets lost, missing a huge opportunity. The ecological concern is clear close to the end of the film, it is engaging and truly needed in these times of climate change crisis. I felt that the whole film should have been focused mainly on ecology, because it is what makes Strange World special. During most of the story we explore a land full of fantastic and weird creatures. It is a place where everything seems to be alive. The best characters in the story in my opinion are these strange creatures, they are lively and full of uniqueness. Even though they are unknown, their design is so well done that we can engage with them immediately which doesn’t happen as much with the humans. The visual journey through their universe is dazzling and made me engage deeply. l felt as an explorer myself: That aspect of the film gave me the amusement I used to feel watching a movie as a kid. Animation has broad possibilities and it is enjoyable when that is taken advantage of to transport us to new worlds. That is why when the environmental message comes a little late in the story I felt involved. The mission changed from saving the plant to saving the amazing new world they found. As a spectator I perceived how truly unique that worlds was and of course I felt the need to save it along with the characters!(again this comes a little too late) Shouldn’t that theme be more in the center of the plot in a film that is entitled Strange World?
Again, it is a big value to put ecological concerns in the center and because of that I think this film deserves to be seen. It is not perfect but it is beautiful in its own unique way. Climate change anxiety is real and we need ways to cope with it, talk about it and re-imagine new future worlds where we all can live in harmony with nature. The film serves as a good starting point for important reflections. Art should always make us start a conversation.
Strange World is also concerned with LGBTQ+ themes but in a different way to what we are used to. One of the protagonists, Ethan Clade, is openly queer and that aspect of him is not treated as “special” as we see many times. The normalcy around how he and his family navigate his queerness is close to how many real people do in real life and that is beautiful to see. I feel that Strange World represents a step forward in how to portray representation in a contemporary way. In many ways the film portray well how human relations are to different generations and the whole film has a more contemporary approach to affective bonds. It is one of those films where there is not a completely bad guy or completely good one. Searcher Clade tells his Son Ethan – “You do you”- and that is how it feels all characters deal with life in this film. That is another reason to take some time to watch it. Sadly for Disney, I think Strange World might be more appealing for teens and adults than kids. I sincerely hope it finds its audience after a rough weekend. It deserves to be seen.
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