Strange World (2022)

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.

To describe Strange World, it’s quite a tale to focus on strong family ties and bonds. I viewed this film on a Disney Cruise Lines and from what I saw the Clade family is quite an unusual bunch. Actor Jake Gyllenhaal plays Searcher, including Gabrielle Union as his onscreen wife Meridian, and Dennis Quaid playing his father Jaeger Clade (marking the reunion of Quaid and Gyllenhaal as father and son respectively since 2004’s sci-fi/disaster film The Day After Tomorrow). While the entire movie pays homage to 1950s pulp science fiction-adventure films, it also feels like a blend of the family dynamics of Indiana Jones, the emotional tone of Up, and the exploration concept of Treasure Planet in terms of venturing into other worlds beyond our own. The steampunk-like feel also gives the setting and characters a nice touch.

The film tells the story of a farmer named Searcher Clade, who comes from a long line of explorers in his family. One day, his father Jaeger Clade goes missing after a bitter disagreement with his family years prior. Having not been found for years, the entire Clade family must go out and search for him in this vast unknown terrain that the human mind can’t even comprehend.

While this movie is certainly nowhere close to the levels of successful hits like Frozen, Zootopia, or even Moana and Encanto. It’s a movie that reaches more at the levels of modest adventure hits Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Treasure Planet. I can already see a pattern that’s seemingly repeating itself since the 2000s’ post-Renaissance Era in this current decade too. Strange World is not a musical, but it’s become a fine example of disagreements amongst family that feels too similar to Encanto’s predicament along with representation to boot. To me, there can be all kinds of representation included into an animated film, but I consider this a movie with a plot too simple and could likely become yet another black sheep of the Disney family to say 1990’s The Rescuers Down Under. Like it’s a kid-friendly version of James Cameron’s Avatar that feels misguided to what it wants to be. The misunderstandings and conflict amongst family is also what takes the place from the norm of having a Disney villain as well. Not quite a “Wow!” factor, but nevertheless it’s a change of pace from what Disney animated films are best known for.