Disney introduces a new family of explorers to the list that includes Christopher Columbus, Marco Polo, Ferdinand Magellan, and James Cook in the animated adventure Strange World.
The 2022 animated film begins by introducing Jaeger Clade (voiced by Dennis Quaid), a big, brawny explorer from the small country Avalonia whose destiny – he believes – is to travel across the huge mountains that surround his country. Jaeger is determined to finally see what’s on the other side and, hopefully, become famous enough to deserve his own statue in the town square.
While on his latest expedition, his young son Searcher (voiced by Jake Gyllenhaal), who is terrified of almost everything, a klutz, and has to be saved by his father at least once during every adventure, discovers a plant that surges with electrical energy called Pando. He believes the plant could power all of Avalonia, but his father insists that they must continue on and cross over the mountains.
Searcher argues they don’t need to and should bring the plant back home, but Jaeger won’t listen and continues with his expedition. Angry that his father won’t listen, Searcher deserts his dad and heads back home with the plant.
25 years later, Avalonia is thriving and has become a leader in technology – all fueled by Pando. Unfortunately, Searcher and his wife, Meridian (Gabrielle Union), soon discover there’s something wrong with the Pando crop. The Avalonian leader, Callisto (voiced by Lucy Liu), brings to their attention that the crops are starting to lose their electrical energy and die quickly. She convinces Searcher, who’s become the country’s hero due to his discovery (there’s even has a statue of him next to one of his missing father in the town square), to travel with her and a search team to where he first found the plant. Callisto hopes they’ll be able to figure out what’s causing the plants to die.
So off Searcher, Meridian, Callisto, her crew, and two stowaways – Searcher’s son Ethan (voiced by Jaboukie Young-White) and the family dog Legend – head on what might be the most exciting and dangerous adventure of their lives. However, the expedition exposes a new problem for Searcher. While he’s a farmer who despises exploring, his son appears to be extremely excited to be along on this expedition and has more in common with his missing grandfather than his dad.
Bright and colorful, Strange World strives to capture the spirit of classic, exciting, adventure films such as Journey to the Center of the Earth and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea but fails miserably due to unlikeable and unoriginal characters and a clunky script. It’s heavy-handed themes come across preachy, obnoxious, and obvious, and the fantastical world the characters discover isn’t that amazing.
The voice talent do solid jobs of bringing the characters to life, but the problem is almost all of the characters are either annoying or forgettable.
Dennis Quaid is well cast as Jaeger, the burly, tough adventurer who laughs at danger and is determined to conquer the mountains at any cost, but it’s a one-dimensional role until near the end. Jake Gyllenhaal does a good job as the voice of Searcher, the whining and complaining ex-explorer who still resents his missing and presumed-dead father for choosing the mountains over his discovery and never seems to remember he would be dead a hundred times over if not for Jaeger saving him. The character becomes even more annoying as the film examines his relationship with his son who he fears might become an explorer like Jaeger. Searcher is a character that’s impossible to like.
Jaboukie Young-White is solid as the voice of Ethan, Searcher’s son who has the adventurous spirit of his grandfather but none of the survival instinct. Unfortunately, Ethan’s another annoying character who almost always does exactly what he shouldn’t and gets himself into one dangerous situation after another. He’s more of a problem than a personality.
The animation is vibrant and lively, but the strange world being explored is not that fantastical and is a real letdown, given all the build-up. With characters who are difficult to care about, forgettable action scenes, and a cumbersome script, Strange World is a real disappointment and not worth exploring.
GRADE: D
MPAA Rating: PG for some thematic elements, action, and peril
Running Time: 1 hour 42 minutes
Release Date: November 23, 2022
Directed By: Don Hall and Qui Nguyen
