Strange World

The new Disney adventure, Strange World, gave me vibes of those animated adventure films from the early 2000s that nobody remembers like Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Treasure Planet or Titan A.E.  It has a strong visual look with some intentionally retro Sci-Fi designs, but the story itself is a chore to follow due to how overly complicated it is, and the characters simply aren't enough to carry us through.  Despite its title, and the almost abstract looking aliens that fill many of its scenes, this is a depressingly ordinary family film about fathers and sons.

Specifically, we get two sets of sons and fathers.  First, we have famed explorer and adventurer Jaeger Clade (voice by Dennis Quaid) and his son Searcher (Jake Gyllenhaal).  While on an expedition to find a path through some mountains, Jaeger goes missing.  Searcher becomes a local hero to his town of Avalonia when he discovers a strange plant life that can power the entire town, and turn it into a tech utopia.  25 years later, Searcher runs a farm that harvests the mysterious plants, and lives happily with his ace pilot wife Meridian (Gabrielle Union), teenage son Ethan (Jaboukie Young-White), and a three-legged dog.  This is the first mixed-race family we've seen in a Disney animated feature, and while this is great, it seems like a tossed-in element here, as does the fact that young Ethan happens to be gay, which is casually brought up early on, then never really elaborated on.  I don't know if the three-legged dog is supposed to be another effort to include equality in the script, but I'm sure any dogs who pay to watch this will appreciate the representation.

The plot kicks off when the President of Avalonia (Lucy Liu) shows up at his farm in a massive airship, and tells him that the plant he discovered is slowly dying, thereby throwing their way of life into jeopardy.  They must journey to the far reaches of the world to discover why the plant life is dying, which leads to unexplored worlds filled with creatures that range from abstract designs, glow in the dark pteranodons, and a little blue slime creature named Splat, who is supposed to be the character the kids fall in love with, and ask for toys for Christmas. (When one character lays eyes on it, he flat out says, "I want to merchandise it...") This should be a fun, old fashioned adventure story, but it lacks emotional impact, the characters at the middle of it all never stand out like they should, and the answer to the mystery is more mystifying than satisfying.

Strange World has a vibrant look that borrows deliberately from the history of Science Fiction, with references that would probably take forever to list them all.  Still, the mixing of different elements and ideas was enough to hold my attention for a while until I realized I didn't care what was happening in the story itself.  None of the Clade Family members stood out as anyone memorable, and the President and her crew are forgotten about for long periods of time to the point that they could be written out of the movie with little consequence.  The movie also has an odd habit of never wanting to put its characters in dangerous situations.  Whether they're being chased by strange blobs or trapped in a closet by a briefly traitorous crew member, the problem is solved in under a minute, so we never get that sense of suspense that a cliff hanger like this needs.

Another thing I noticed as the film went on is that it's afraid to truly draw us into it.  Every time we get a scene that is supposed to be wondrous, it's ruined by an unfunny joke or sight gag, and every time the movie starts to get emotional, it does the same thing.  It's almost as if the filmmakers are afraid to let us feel anything watching this movie.  The best animated films in recent years have thrived on emotion, so I don't know what they were thinking here.  The movie also feels very rushed, as if it's afraid to slow down and truly admire the details.  We get tantalizing glimpses at its fantasy worlds, but the movie keeps on drawing the curtain on us, and forcing us to focus on the lame writing.  

All of this makes Strange World a sadly forgettable film that will likely join the ones I listed at the opening as movies that no one really talks about beyond their opening weekend.  The title and the retro style of the technology brings for memories of grand pulp adventures, but the screenplay is strictly grounded in mediocrity. 

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