Strange World: A Unique World With A Shallow Story

At this point, the box office numbers for Strange World are out and are indicating that this will be a massive bomb for Disney. In the case of Strange World, there is blame to go around, however part of the problem almost certainly has something to do with the fact that the story is bland and uninspired and it does not do enough with the medium of animation to make the world as unique as it could be.

Strange World follows Searcher Clade (Jake Gyllenhaal), son of a legendary adventurer who went missing trying to find a future for his people through a dangerous mountain range after he has a disagreement with Searcher over the direction the future should take. His father Jaeger (Dennis Quaid) thinks they have to look past their immediate environment and expand while Searcher wants to use these electric plants to create energy and power the world. After 25 years, Searcher’s plants are being used for everything and life is good until the president and former member of Searcher and Jaeger’s expedition party Callisto (Lucy Liu) shows up and tells Searcher that there is something wrong with the plants and they have to go on an adventure to fix the problem.

The biggest issue with the film is that the plot with Searcher and Jaeger is entirely predictable, especially when the plot is expanded to include the relationship between Searcher and his son Ethan (Jaboukie Young-White). Considering how much of the movie this takes up, it can drag the plot to a screeching halt as it moves from scene to scene. On the topic of predictability, the “twist” is incredibly obvious and also drags the story because the viewer of any age will almost certainly figure out what is going on before the people in the movie who are still trying to figure out the answer to the question.

This paragraph does contain spoilers for the end of the movie and the resolution of major character arcs so readers should proceed with caution. Jaeger’s resolution is never really earned within the context of the movie, making the ending of his arc feel like it happens because the viewer expects it to rather than because the narrative has organically gone there. Obviously he was going to reconcile with Searcher by the end of the movie, just as Searcher was obviously going to reconcile with Ethan, however when they reach the heart of the world and Jaeger storms off to see what’s past the mountains without Searcher, despite it being his dream to reach that point with him, for Jaeger to come back before arriving does not feel like something the character as the movie has portrayed would do. Yes, he looks at Searcher’s compass which has the picture of Jaeger, Searcher, and Searcher’s mother but with Jaeger ripped out, however that should have come after Jaeger gets to the point where he can see what is past the mountains for a “he wept for there were no worlds left to conquer” ending. He should have gotten to the end, saw that Searcher wasn’t lying about what the world truly is so the relationship can mirror Ethan and Searcher’s resolution, and then have him come back. It wouldn’t have entirely fixed the problem, but it would have done a little to make the problem less glaring.

Strange World isn’t terrible, however the biggest sin is the fact that it does not use the animated medium to its fullest. Had it at least done that and made the world more interesting, it would have made the narrative shortcomings and inconsistencies a little more bearable because there is something to keep interest outside the story. That said, it is fine, albeit forgettable and will be interesting to rewatch when it gets punted to Disney+ as quickly as possible.

Final Rating: 6/10