Strange World (2022)
6.489 /10
920 Reviews
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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.
Videos & Photos
cast
... Searcher Clade (voice)
... Jaeger Clade (voice)
... Ethan Clade (voice)
... Meridian Clade (voice)
... Callisto Mal (voice)
User reviews
The last fifteen minutes or so do redeem this to a certain extent, but otherwise it is a curiously disjointed story that seems drawn from "Island at the Top of the World" (1974) with bits of "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" (1959) and "The Lost World" (1960) thrown in for good measure. We start with the legendary explorer "Jaeger Clade" who is determined to find a way past the enclosing mountain peaks of their community. Like many a father, he drags along his unwilling son and when things come to an head, he proceeds alone leaving the younger man "Searcher" with his newly discovered crop of radioactive Brussels sprouts. Twenty-five years pass, and he has now grown up and successfully developed a farm of these particularly useful vegetables. He even has his own statue! Suddenly, though, the plants start to die and it falls to him and his own young son "Ethan" to embark on a perilous mission to the heart of the plant's root system and save it before it dies. These escapades are nicely and creatively animated with some fun to be had along the way, but there is simply too much sentiment, familial discord and cheesy dialogue to sustain this - as well as a dog that really annoys after a while. The characterisations are really undercooked and just about every box you can imagine is ticked as the story ultimately concludes with a bit of a nod to Oriental mythology. It is certainly watchable, but there is no need to shell out on a cinema ticket for it. Disney+ will do fine in due course when you can safely leave the kids to watch.
Director:
Writer:
Burny Mattinson (Head of Story)
Qui Nguyen (Screenplay)
Amy Henkels (Story Artist)
Hannah Leung (Story Artist)
Carrie Liao (Story Artist)
Teny Issakhanian (Story Artist)
Genres:
Release Date:
2022-11-23
Run Time:
102 min
MMPA Rating:
PG
Reviews of
Strange World
The last fifteen minutes or so do redeem this to a certain extent, but otherwise it is a curiously disjointed story that seems drawn from "Island at the Top of the World" (1974) with bits of "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" (1959) and "The Lost World" (1960) thrown in for good measure. We start with the legendary explorer "Jaeger Clade" who is determined to find a way past the enclosing mountain peaks of their community. Like many a father, he drags along his unwilling son and when things come to an head, he proceeds alone leaving the younger man "Searcher" with his newly discovered crop of radioactive Brussels sprouts. Twenty-five years pass, and he has now grown up and successfully developed a farm of these particularly useful vegetables. He even has his own statue! Suddenly, though, the plants start to die and it falls to him and his own young son "Ethan" to embark on a perilous mission to the heart of the plant's root system and save it before it dies. These escapades are nicely and creatively animated with some fun to be had along the way, but there is simply too much sentiment, familial discord and cheesy dialogue to sustain this - as well as a dog that really annoys after a while. The characterisations are really undercooked and just about every box you can imagine is ticked as the story ultimately concludes with a bit of a nod to Oriental mythology. It is certainly watchable, but there is no need to shell out on a cinema ticket for it. Disney+ will do fine in due course when you can safely leave the kids to watch.
Visually wondrous but spectacularly dull, unbelievably unfunny, and lackluster from the inside out in every other aspect, _Strange World_ is a superficially stimulating with the entertainment value of a wet yet adventurous sponge.
**Full review:** https://boundingintocomics.com/2022/12/02/strange-world-review-a-mundane-narrative-nurtured-by-invigorating-visuals/
Strange World had the potential to be another Disney classic, but unfortunately, some problems limited my total enjoyment.
From the get-go, I need to mention that the animation is breathtaking, and is probably the best Disney has done so far. The animators got to flex their muscles with the fantastic worlds and interesting creatures. It is so flush with color and energy; it was extremely pleasant on the eyes from start to finish.
The overarching story was fun, and I enjoyed the premise of discovering a technology that is simultaneously progressing your civilization while also destroying it. It has a great message of preserving the world, even though it is extremely heavy-handed at times. The action was great, the exploration was mesmerizing, and the diversity of the world was superb. At a macro level, this movie worked for me in almost every way.
The main issues I had with this film were the characters. Individually they are all interesting and unique, even though some of them are major caricatures. But the connections between them are all over the place. A lot of the motivations the characters have are inorganic and feel forced to push the narrative of parent vs child throughout generations. This left me having very little emotions when the characters clashed in high-tension arguments which limited a lot of the impact of the film.
Although, the blue creature was cute, funny, and perfect! I loved him.
This movie had a lot going on, and it suffers for it. As a kid movie, the plot and themes were all over the place, and it was sometimes confusing for me. Despite that, it is a visual spectacle filled with many laughs and fun adventures.
Score: 67% |
Verdict: Good |
Theater Verdict: See It
For being a Disney movie made today (2022) this is a fairly decent one. Sure, they have crammed in some of the usual woke nonsense but at least there is not really any of the blatant preaching the more extreme of Disney’s woke mob have managed to cram into things the last couple of years.
It of course helps that it is a all new story and new characters so they didn’t wokeify and ruin some of the old classics.
If one ignores the nonsense the story is pretty decent and so are the characters. Nothing to write home about but adequate. The coolest character is of course Jaeger. I quite liked him even though he sometimes was a bit dimwitted in his single mindedness. Searcher and his son Ethan are more bland and boring with one just wanting to be a farmer and the other one being the obligatory woke element in this movie.
What really makes the movie rise slightly above being bland is the absolutely magnificent scenery. It is a strange world indeed. It is strange, weird, scary and beautiful all at the same time. This creature, Splat, that Ethan eventually befriends was a nice comical element.
It is a shame though that they couldn’t create a better ending. I mean given what this strange world actually is surely there would be plenty of other options for harvesting energy instead of just more or less giving up. If the writers wanted to deliver some rubbish green message they failed miserably.
Anyway, a decent enough movie. I did enjoy watching it.
Cast & Crew of
Strange World
Cast
... Searcher Clade (voice)
... Jaeger Clade (voice)
... Ethan Clade (voice)
... Meridian Clade (voice)
... Callisto Mal (voice)
... Narrator / Radio Host 1 / Duffle (voice)
... Diazo (voice)
... Lonnie Redshirt (voice)
... Caspian (voice)
... Pulk (voice)
... Kardez (voice)
... Azimuth (voice)
... Ro (voice)
... Rory (voice)
... Radio Host 2 (voice)
... Client #2 (voice)
... Client #3 (voice)
... Client #4 (voice)
Crew
... Sound Designer
... Animation Technical Director
... Producer
... Art Direction
... Head of Story
... Sound Supervisor
... Director
... Music
... Animation
... Storyboard Artist
... Executive Producer
... Executive Music Producer
... Sound Re-Recording Mixer
... Art Direction
... Animation
... Animation
... Animation
... Animation
... Animation Supervisor
... Storyboard Artist
... Modeling
... Animation
... Character Technical Supervisor
... Character Technical Supervisor
... Animation
... Lighting Supervisor
... Animation
... Animation
... Production Supervisor
... Lighting Artist
... Orchestrator
... Production Supervisor
... Animation
... Screenplay
... Co-Director
... Animation
... Animation
... Story Artist
... Lighting Artist
... Effects Supervisor
... First Assistant Editor
... Animation
... Lighting Artist
... Animation
... Animation Supervisor
... Animation Supervisor
... Head of Animation
... Animation Supervisor
... Animation
... First Assistant Editor
... Lighting Supervisor
... Visual Effects Technical Director
... Production Supervisor
... Associate Editor
... Visual Effects
... Lighting Artist
... Lighting Artist
... Production Design
... Animation
... Animation Supervisor
... Visual Effects
... Animation Supervisor
... Animation
... Visual Effects Technical Director
... Visual Effects
... Animation
... Animation
... Animation
... Animation
... Lighting Artist
... Animation
... Animation
... Animation
... Modeling
... Animation
... Lighting Artist
... Animation
... Effects Supervisor
... Animation
... Lighting Artist
... Head of Animation
... Storyboard Artist
... Animation
... Production Supervisor
... Story Artist
... Story Artist
... Lighting Artist
... Animation
... Lighting Artist
... Animation
... Animation
... Animation
... Animation
... Production Supervisor
... Production Supervisor
... Production Supervisor
... Storyboard Artist
... Storyboard Artist
... Story Artist
... Visual Development
... Production Coordinator
... Character Modelling Supervisor
... Casting Associate
... Music Programmer
... Script Coordinator
... Animation
... Animation
... Animation
... Animation
... Animation
... Animation
... Animation
... Animation
... Character Technical Supervisor
... Modeling
... Animation
... Animation
... Animation
... Animation
... Animation
... Modeling
... Visual Effects
... Visual Effects Technical Director
... Visual Effects
... Lighting Artist
... Lighting Artist
... Lighting Artist
... Lighting Artist
... Visual Effects Technical Director
... Lighting Artist
... Lighting Artist
Videos & Photos of
Strange World
Videos (3)
Photos 30
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