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But first, let’s get the obvious out of the picture real quick. As you would expect form a Disney movie, it looks and sounds almost impeccable. The only points to take from this aspects are the characters looking very similar to the ones in Encanto and the music being not as good as the sound effects or the voice acting. Other than that the dressing is very good, particularly the motions and sounds of the non-human creatures.
Now for the actual meat, this movie was first accused of being not original as a criticism, even though execution is what matters. I mean sure, this movie has stuff that you can expect from every Disney product these days. Brown skin main characters, a gay protagonist, pro ecology messages, generational trauma and family issues being the source of internal conflict among the group, strong women. And yet it is never preachy or in some face about any of these things, so why the hell are conservatives calling the film super woke and telling other people to not let their children watch this is? I just cannot understand.
-The characters are not a wrong ethnic representation based on north American stereotypes of what people from other places look like, because the setting is not our world.
-One of the three protagonists being gay hardly matters in the plot, it’s just mentioned thrice in the film, and shown a fourth time, every occasion during relaxation moments, so it doesn’t hurt the tone nor pacing one bit. It is also not preachy since everyone is supportive of the guy.
-The pro ecology themes are the plot in a premise where the whole world is at stakes, so the setup is exciting, and the way to show these are through the rules and consequences of a card game, where we get to see how each of the three main characters would handle a specific situation, and the consequences each decision could have, very good exposition. Plus, despite the film ultimately leaning to the later generation being right, it does not negates that the other ways of doing things are effective in their own right, as there are instances when both the grandfather and the father save everyone doing things their way, and even get to the understand and get close to each other because of that.
-A point can be made that family issues and generational trauma take away screentime from the world ending natural disaster and thus from the actual plot, yet it doesn’t because the characters need to cooperate to survive what’s coming for them and for that they need to understand each other. Plus, it’s not like there isn’t any of the action adventure the movie promises along with it. Plus it makes sense how family members apart from each other for so much time and with so different way of handling things would have such discussions, it even leads to the father to understand that, despite wanting to be different than his father his whole life, he ended up doing the same thing with his son, only in a different way. Which is a total thing in real life and so many generation X never come to accept, as well as many millennial don’t realize they do it themselves, not even when seeing it in a film like this or Everything Everywhere All At once. So good job to the movie for having the balls to include something here for the adults that might see it, even if they might ignore it.
-The movie is not preachy about strong women either, no character belittles what they do and praise them for what they know how to do, it doesn’t demonize any male character.
And do you know what this movie doesn’t have that other Disney movies do?
-A preachy Mary Sue female protagonist that’s always right and has magical powers that don’t fit the setting to solve every possible conflict and be plot armored as well.
-Musical numbers to disguise lazy exposition and slow down the plot. None of that shit here. Every bit is either full of action or important to the plot, themes, messages, or characters.
-A lame villain that comes out of nowhere through a very bad ass pulled reveal. The conflict is entirely internal and even when someone goes against the rest of the group at some point, she gets corrected by the plot when she comes to understand the circumstances, and to top it all she realizes it not by being told, but by seeing what’s happening. Thus she is SHOWN, NOT TOLD, that she’s wrong. Again good exposition.
Also what’s this about this movie being derivative and not original for Disney standards as I read? Just because it is sci-fi as some others? Disney has produced very little sci-fi compared to all the fantasy they made. Also, what’s so original about childish retellings about centuries old tales? Nothing, even more so when almost every movie had a previous adaptation before. The early ‘00s was the most original time period for Disney exactly because they tried sci-fi, admittedly with mixed results, before going back to play it safe with revisited and more childish retelling of tales in the ‘10s. And even then, no title had a setting and plot as original as this. I dare say this is easily the most original Disney film in decades, so how come it’s criticized for being not? And it’s even more than what it initially seemed thanks to the first plot twist of the movie which changes almost everything and yet without contradicting the initial premise or the themes or messages, nor taking away the stakes, good job once again.
With all that said, it’s not like I want to sell you an underrated masterpiece, no Disney film is a masterpiece, and certainly not this one. These are the issues with it:
-Despite being sci-fi, like all the rest of their films in this genre, the science is barely explained and it sure doesn’t make sense, it’s just a gimmick or part of a colorful setting. Also, physics be damned, this is an action adventure film made primarily for kids.
-Despite the whole world being at stake, it never feels like the characters are in actual danger, they can either sort any difficulty or survive anything with barely any damage and certainly no casualties whatsoever, and that undermines the whole thing a bit. I know this is a Disney film, but characters did die in their films in the past, so they could and should have killed someone here as well.
-The grandfather being so conservative towards his son having a different job than him yet having no issue with his grandson being gay is weird. Well I guess grandparents go easier on their grandchildren than their own kids, but still.
-Despite the pacing being overall good to the most part, the characters can face revelations that defy their whole life and worldview and accept them almost instantly. It counts as development and character arcs but it doesn’t feel organic that way, the movie definitely needed more breathing time for the characters to let that sink in, even if it meant slowing the pacing and increasing the runtime a bit. Hey, perhaps take some time from the end credits next time.
-The characters are a mixed bag, not only their developments and catharsis are not very believable, but also: the grandfather Jaeger has a strong presence and is definitely memorable, but he doesn’t have much personality, he is just an alpha male, the son has a strong personality and a big revelation, but he is not memorable because he doesn’t have a name, he is named Searcher, what the hell is he, a character class in a videogame? The talking animals and one trait nobles from their earlier decades might have been less flawed and simpler, but they were more charismatic and unforgettable. Finally Ethan the kid, he has both a strong personality and presence, so he balances both good aspects of his dad and grandpa, but since his whole worldview is not challenged like the other two, his character arc is the weakest.
And finally the most important two biggest issues of this film:
-A fucking time skip near the ending prevents the characters to deal with the consequences of what they did, they saved the underground but seemingly doomed the surface, but don’t worry, that solves itself inexplicably out of screen.
-And at the very end of the film, there is a second plot twist that ruins practically everything. The characters are an ethnic representation, just who knows which one, the whole world is not at stake, the setting is not very original and this world is not very strange, and whatever logic and sense was left in this film just died. What a stupid revelation, whose idea was to almost ruin the whole film!? Plus it serves as a sequel bait, but good luck with that with how bad the movie tanked in the box office.
So, although I do consider Strange World to be underrated and overhated, and the best Disney film since Wreck it Ralph a decade before it, poor time management in the last third and a horrible second plot twist that ruined practically the whole film, turned what was easily their best film ever into just another decent one of their catalogue, just like almost all the rest of them.
Now to excuse the score a bit better:
Visuals 9/10 (Impeccable except for the simple and generic character designs).
Sound 9/10 (Impeccable voice acting and sound effects, the music was just good).
Story 5/10 (Great premise and packed with themes and messages to deem it as complex for a movie for kids, but the pacing suffers near the end, and the finale ruined every possible sense that was in it).
Characters 5/10 (So-so presence, personality and background stories, their development and catharsis don’t feel organic).
Value 5/10 (Unforgettable experience but it’s easily the most ignored Disney film ever and the ending made it impossible to rewatch).
Enjoyment 5/10 (Eh, I half liked it, I was really pissed by the second plot twist).
Final score:
6/10
