Movie Review: Strange World

That latest offering from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Strange World, proves to be an entertaining and remarkably endearing portrait of a slightly dysfunctional father and son relationship being mended and rebuilt through communication and mutual respect. It is a surprisingly solid family film that ultimately emerges as the wonderful story of an estranged father and son reconnecting after several years.

After a lengthy prelude that introduces the Clades – particularly Jaeger and his son Searcher – as they explore the land beyond the mountains of their village, the film jumps forward several years to show a grown Searcher (voiced by Jake Gyllenhaal) now considered a savior of the village after returning from the initial expedition with a miraculous plant that has since powered the village and allowed many significant technological advancements. Unfortunately, the plant now appears to be dying and it is decided that an expedition must be immediately mounted to locate the source of the plant’s illness and correct it before all is lost.

So, Searcher sets off to find the cause of the plant’s new-found frailty along with a new group of explorers and (unbeknownst to them) Searcher’s son Ethan (voiced by Jaboukie Young-White) who has stowed away aboard the expedition’s vessel. Once discovered, Ethan and Searcher follow a similar character path that Searcher and his father traversed, echoing the same frustrations from each participant as before.

Working from a script by Qui Nguyen, co-directors Nguyen and Don Hall weave a visually intoxicating kaleidoscope of images to portray the bizarre world the intrepid explorers find themselves lost in. Both last worked together on the wonderful and equally masterful Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) and haven’t lost any of the chemistry of their pairing.

Dennis Quaid (right) and Jake Gyllenhaal in “Strange World.”

However, it is from the characters that the film gathers most of its strength. As the grown Searcher, Gyllenhaal does a fine job of balancing the responsibilities of being a father himself, the person who saved the town from destruction, and the son of the greatest explorer the world has ever known (there are statues erected in the center of town to both Searcher and his father). Once they are well into the expedition to save the town, it becomes apparent that perhaps there is more to this strange world than meets the eye and that maybe, their ultimate salvation lies in something other than the miraculous plant that Searcher discovered.

On the surface, Strange World feels like it should be a bit sillier, and perhaps a little cheesier, than it ultimately ends up. But there is an earnestness to the adventure and the father/son relationship that makes the film resonate far more than the typical animated offering of this type.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com

An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

@miketyrkus

Mike Tyrkus

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