It Has All The Visual Elements Of A Disney Film But None Of The Substance

Xtreme Vogue London Desk: Judith Benjamin

Strange World Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jaboukie Young-White, Gabrielle Union, Lucy Liu & ensemble.

Director: Don Hall & Qui Nguyen.

( Photo Credit – A Still From Strange World )

What’s Good: There is a visual sorcery at play and the world is alive metaphorically and literally. Everything looks different and beautiful when the ideas land correctly.

What’s Bad: The movie touches on subjects and doesn’t attempt to dig deeper. It is all convenient on the surface.

Loo Break: It’s a cute little film, you don’t need one.

Watch or Not?: For the visual brilliance you must, but with minimal expectations.

Language: English (with subtitles).

Available On: In Theatres Near You!

Runtime: 102 Minutes.

User Rating:

The Clade family known to be explorers is given a new direction when the son discovers a magical crop and turns a farmer. Years pass and the young man is himself a father to a boy. Now the same crop he discovered and changed the course with is at risk of dying. How will he save it and also make peace with his situation is the film?

Strange World Movie Review: Script Analysis

Disney over the past years has set the standards too high for their animation movies. Their constant critically acclaimed streak of movies and Oscar visits are proof enough. Amid the same when they come up with another visually stunning idea that has all the elements to set a new standard and are satisfied with surface-level content, it hurts more than it would normally. The same happens with Strange World which is a novel idea treated with too much convenience.

Written by Qui Nguyen, the movie is everything that Disney stands for and also the change that the studio is apparently trying to embrace. It is about a family that has strained relationships, parents with a modern approach to parenting, and a son who is gay and no one is bothered by it but support him in crushing on his dapper friend. The gateway to this world is heartwarming and the dive into the conflict is enthralling in terms of visual beauty. You almost surrender because the problems are not generic and neither is this family.

But when the makers decide to progress and continue to stay on the surface without really digging in deeper, the investment that the audience made is not paid off as it should be. Disney is known for explaining things to the core, sometimes even spoon-feeding. So when a new crop is discovered that is almost like vibranium from Marvel’s Black Panther universe, and you don’t emphasise on how it was used and what went into converting it into core fuel, how are we supposed to worry about its absence. The importance needs to be explained to understand the repercussions and this is when the ship begins to sink.

In the course of its almost 2-hour runtime, Strange World talks about a lot of things and much of which is emotional. A son has been thinking his father is dead for 25 years, and then reuniting is just a blink-and-miss scene without any detailed attention to it. Or when the grandson comes out to his grandfather, it just ends up being one of the many ‘by the way’ scenes without much emotions invested by the audience. The movie even tries to get the representation right and even achieves it but that too is never used properly.

Strange World Movie Review: Star Performance

Strange World manages to bring together some of the most prolific names to voice these popular animated characters. Jake Gyllenhaal and his charming voice do the magic they are expected to. Gabrielle Union takes home the trophy for the best voice. She fits the part in a way you cannot imagine anybody else.

Strange World Movie Review: Direction, Music

Co-directors Don Hall and Qui Nguyen are more into creating a visually charged movie than one that is cathartic and emotional. The visual strength of this movie is amazing when it comes to imagining the creatures and their big reveal moment. It all starts making sense when the revelation happens. But just the visuals aren’t enough to make it a full-proof movie.

The music is a staple and not something that grabs your attention.

Strange World Movie Review: The Last Word

Strange World has all the elements to be a moving film, but it settles for surface-level content and that is not what one expects.

Strange World Trailer

Strange World releases on 25 November, 2022.

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