Strange World review: Disney’s epic sci-fi looks amazing but feels odd

Disney musicals have traditionally referred to audience success as slam dunks, but animation studios’ other Movies — buddy comedies, action adventures, sci-fi epics — are big risks with mixed returns. zootopia When Wreck-it Ralph It was certainly loved, but there’s also a whole range of misfires from the early 2000s that became popular years after its release.

strange world is Disney’s latest big gamble. It’s a weird movie inspired by pulp magazines and retro science fiction. It will be directed by Don Hall and Quy Nguyen, who have worked together before. Raya and the Last Dragon, this new Disney movie is an absolutely gorgeous genre extravaganza that gets bogged down in clichéd family drama. It’s his sci-fi epic, which is surprisingly cool, and the story of a family that boils down to “This Dream Isn’t.” myDad — it’s your”

[Ed. note: This review contains some slight setup spoilers for Strange World.]

strange world The game is set in Avalonia, a fantasy land surrounded by impenetrable mountains. Twenty-five years ago, fearless explorer Jaeger Claid (Dennis Quaid) led an expedition to conquer these mountains, but his son Searcher (Jake Gyllenhaal) discovered a strange energy-producing plant. The expedition was called off because of the discovery of

Jaeger stubbornly continued to push forward, but Searcher and the rest of the team returned to Avalonia, eventually turning a plant called pando into a power source. Even if they want to stay on the farm, they must embark on a mission to find out what is affecting Pando. It’s his teenage son Ethan (Jabkey Youngwhite) who is dreaming. The Searcher, Ethan, and a team of explorers find themselves in a strange world (ha) under the mountains and soon find Jaeger again. Tensions rise between two different father-son pairs as they attempt to conserve the land’s primary source of energy.

Image: Disney

Visually, this movie is absolutely stunning. strange world why some movies should do it Animate — With its warm colors and ever-moving organic shapes, this gorgeous, strange world couldn’t look better in live action. And it’s not just the quirky world under the mountains. Avalonia itself is a fun solarpunk/steampunk world where people have coffee machines and personal airships, but no cell phones or video games. Their techniques are familiar enough to underlie the film, yet unique enough to be compelling. However, the heart of the film comes from the real world of strangeness, and all of it is fun.

The main problem is that the emotional threads between the Crade family feel tucked into an adventure story. If it focused on , it would be a solid sci-fi film with an environmental message at its core. , is a stumbling block that becomes what they were trying to avoid.

Image: Disney

That might be an interesting dynamic to explore in another movie, but strange world There are cooler stories with higher, more pressing stakes going on and limited running time to do it. Indeed, there are some touching scenes between the father-son pair. One of his best things is that Ethan involves his father and grandfather in his favorite card game. It’s a sort of strategy game inspired by the settlers of Catan, very similar to the current Expedition.With more nuance and novelty, these relationships could become something new, but the trope “I’m sad because my dad stopped exploring” is already overused in science fiction movies like I am interstellar, Ad AstraWhen Armageddon. and, strange worldthe storyline is resolved in the most obvious way.

The exploration arc is not very predictable and has one of the funniest twists in a Disney movie. One of the coolest twists in sci-fi.When the emotional center of the film focuses on this group of ragtag explorers desperate to save the world as they know it, it’s an epic and exciting adventure, with beautiful scenery and illusions at every turn. It shines when the film focuses on the broader spectrum, but loses what shines when it is pulled back into a relationship that has gone too far. Looks like they’re supposed to be anchored in reality, but all they do is drag strange world It fell when it could have surged.

strange world It hits theaters on November 23rd.