BACKGROUND
The 2020s have, so far, been a difficult time for Disney Animation.
With the COVID-19 pandemic and the launch of streaming services making the viewing of new content easier and more convenient, it’s been hard trying to get audiences back into movie theatres. Film studios are ever hopeful that their movie will be the one to coax people out of their homes, but so far, only a handful of movies have done this.
At the Disney Studios, this issue is continuing to cause problems, with neither Encanto (2021) nor Wish (2023), both being “safer” musical movies, having succeeded in this endeavour, although Encanto did succeed in becoming a major success after its release to Disney+. We’re still talking about Bruno.
So, it’s not really a huge surprise that with Disney Animation “turning left” in making Strange World, i.e., choosing to go to Adventureland and not Fantasyland, with an action-packed, non-musical movie, that the viewers just did not come.
When Disney Animation made a string of non-musical movies in the 2000s, during their “Post-Renaissance Era”, many of these did not do well. Think of Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) or Treasure Planet (2002); those movies are now considered “cult classics”, but they underperformed at the box-office and ultimately led to the downfall of traditional 2D animated Disney movies. Strange World is similar in both its genre and its aftermath.
I was not excited to watch Strange World. After seeing the trailer, I didn’t think it looked particularly interesting, and it reminded me of DreamWorks’ film The Croods (2013), which I was never bothered by and have never seen.
But because its Disney, I knew I had to watch Strange World – just not in the cinema. Luckily, in December 2022, a month after its release in theatres, it came on to Disney+ and I decided watching it at home, over the festive period, would be the best option.
Strange World certainly is not terrible, as some reviews have unfairly claimed, but it is different. Unfortunately for Disney, their adventure-type films have not been seen as the best throughout their history. In actual fact, Strange World isn’t bad. It’s not exactly what you might expect to see from Disney Animation, and it’s not a film I want to rush back and see, but I quite liked it in places. I went into Strange World expecting an adventure film, and that’s exactly what I got.
PLOT
The plot of Strange World follows the Clades, a famous explorer father-son duo. Their community of Avalonia is completely encircled by mountains. Many have tried and failed to get through the mountains, to seek out Avalonia’s future, but one man, Jaeger Clade, is determined to do so. Alongside him is his son, Searcher, an unwilling participant in these journeys. Whilst out on the latest expedition to go beyond the mountains that enclose Avalonia, Searcher Clade discovers a strange, electric plant, which him and the rest of the crew decide must be the legacy to bring back to Avalonia. Jaeger Clade disagrees, wanting to push forward to explore past the mountains as planned. Disappointed nobody wants to join him, Jaeger Clade continues the mission on his own – and is not seen again.
The movie then jumps twenty-five years later where this plant, now named Pando, is the main power source for all of Avalonia, and a whole new way of living was founded off the back of its discovery. Searcher is now a farmer, farming the Pando plant for the city, and is married to Meridian, a pilot. Together, they have a sixteen-year-old son, Ethan, who is soon to be trained in farming, as Searcher wants his son to take over the business someday.
Then, a huge airship, the Venture, lands in Searcher’s fields, and it turns out to be Callisto Mal, the president of Avalonia and one of Searcher’s crewmates on their expedition twenty-five years earlier. She needs Searcher’s help in discovering why the Pando plant is dying and how it can be reversed. Ethan wants to go on this journey, but Searcher refuses to allow him to go along. Searcher, Callisto, and the rest of the crew start their mission by following the Pando roots, which run deep underground. However, Meridian soon flies down to them to say that Ethan, along with the family’s three-legged dog, Legend, has stowed away on the airship. As this happens, all of them are attacked by pink pterodactyl-type creatures, with the pilot of the airship being killed in the process. Meridian takes control and they crash land on a subterranean, strange “world”, with Searcher and Legend being thrown overboard and separated from the crew. Ethan wants to look for his father, but is told that he needs to wait until the Venture airship is repaired, since they know nothing about this place.
Meanwhile, Searcher runs into a blue blob that steals his handkerchief. The blue blob then proceeds to show this handkerchief to some tentacled creatures that attack Searcher. He is saved in the nick of time by a huge, hairy man with a flamethrower. It turns out this man is actually Jaeger, Searcher’s long-lost father! It takes a while to convince Jaeger that he has been reunited with his son; it’s kind of an awkward moment. Jaeger then runs toward the Venture as he needs the airship to get to the other side of the mountains, as per his original mission, which he still has not completed after being stuck in this place for years.
Ethan has managed to sneak away from the crew, and, using a skiff, races around the area looking for Searcher. He soon comes across the same blue blob from earlier, which he names Splat. Splat has Searcher’s handkerchief still, and Ethan asks Splat to lead him to his father. As this is going on, Searcher catches Jaeger up on what he’s missed over the last twenty-five years of his life! Jaeger is disappointed to hear that Searcher is “just a farmer”, dismissing all of Searcher’s achievement. But this argument is soon stopped as Jaeger spots one of Ethan’s playing cards on the ground. He tells Searcher that Ethan is in a lot of trouble, about to be lured to his death. They race to find him.
Ethan has indeed been lured to the Reapers, those tentacled creatures, but Jaeger comes along to burn them with his flamethrower just in time. Except there are too many of them, and Jaeger makes all three of them jump onto what seems to be a river of fish. The Reapers continue to chase the trio, and when all looks lost, Callisto and Meridian arrive to drive them away on their skiffs. They get away from the Reapers by using Pando bulbs Ethan collected earlier which electrocute the creatures.
Now safely back on the Venture, the crew can investigate what’s causing the Pando to die by using a sample of its root. But family tensions continue to boil over, as Searcher becomes jealous of Ethan and Jaeger bonding, believing that Ethan will want to be more like Jaeger instead of like him. In attempting to get father and son to communicate better, Ethan suggests they all play a game called Primal Outpost, which is an environmental based game. All this does is cause further argument and, frustrated, Ethan walks away. See, the Clades are just like every other family when the board games or card games come out!
The crew arrive at the Burning Sea, which seems to be a lake of acid. With Splat the blue blob now on side to help, it communicates with these little green things to drive the airship through the area, to avoid the acid sprays. More Reapers come for the crew, and the team use their Pando bulbs to keep them away. Continuing to follow the Pando roots, they see that the roots are getting stronger the deeper down they go. As they get nearer to the heart of Pando, the crew believe they are about to be attacked by more Reapers and those pink pterodactyls – but they go straight past them, on to the heart of Pando. Searcher believes that those creatures are pests, with Pando diverting its energy to fighting them off instead of keeping its crops alive on the surface. Crushing some Pando bulbs and putting the dust into Jaeger’s flamethrower, he sprays these pests, killing them. They believe this must be how they are meant to save their Pando plant.
As the crew set about making their pesticides, Ethan starts to feel that this isn’t right, that they shouldn’t be killing these creatures. Searcher reminds Ethan that this is what farmers do, to which Ethan responds that he doesn’t even want to be a farmer, wanting to explore new lands instead. Searcher thinks this is all Jaeger’s fault, filling Ethan’s mind with these ideas, but Ethan says he’s just trying to lead his own life, and jumps off the airship, onto the river of fish. Searcher follows him in a skiff to apologise, saying that he never wanted to be like his father, trying to force Searcher into following his exploring legacy, but in fact, he is forcing his own legacy onto Ethan. As this conversation has been going on, their skiff has gone across to the other side of mountains. Searcher and Ethan discover that Avalonia is just surrounded by water. But then they notice the mound behind them is moving, and turn around to see an eye looking back at them! Avalonia was built on top of a living creature, so the “world” they’ve been going through is actually this creature’s insides. Eww…
Searcher and Ethan quickly realise that the Pando plant is an infection, attacking this creature’s heart, and that the strange creatures they are planning on poisoning and killing are actually the immune system, trying to keep the being alive. Realising their mistake, they set out to destroy the Pando instead and save the creature. As Searcher and Ethan explain their discovery to the others, Jaeger gets annoyed, and just wants to finally finish his mission of getting to the other side of the mountain, and sensing he’s not wanted, goes alone. Callisto locks all the Clades in a cupboard, so that they will not stop the original plan; Avalonia needs Pando and this is the only way to keep it alive. Luckily, by using Legend the dog, and Splat, they get Legend to open the door and free them. Searcher and Ethan then get on the back of one of the pterodactyls and ride to the heart, whilst Meridian takes control of the Venture once more.
At the heart, Searcher tries to dig a hole into the Pando root, so that the immune system creatures can get direct access to heal the creature’s heart. Ethan is told to round up as many Reapers as he can. Searcher is electrocuted whilst attempting to dig this hole and his shovel breaks. Jaeger then comes back to help, saying that his legacy was never about his mission, but is actually Searcher. They both work together using an axe to get to the core. A hole opens up and Reapers fill the area, destroying all of the Pando root. But it wasn’t enough; the heart is not healed. When all looks lost, a flurry of little orange creatures rush over the surface of the heart. They are there to restore the heart back to health. After some time, the heart is revived again, and starts beating. The plan worked! The team then head back up to the surface – after making a quick pit stop to the other side of the mountains, so that Jaeger can finally complete his mission.
One year on, Ethan has become an environmentalist, studying and collecting resources from the Strange World alongside his partner, Diazo, and Avalonia has moved on to using wind energy as its primary energy source. Jaeger and Searcher are now closer, and Searcher continues to run his farm alongside Meridian, growing normal crops this time. A final shot shows the camera zooming away from Avalonia and showing the turtle-like creature that Avalonia was built upon swimming over an ocean-covered planet.
CHARACTERS & CAST
Searcher Clade is the middle generation character. It’s clear from the start of the movie that he is very different to his explorer father and that the path he is going on at that point is not for him, and that he needs to find his own purpose. He seems to really thrive in the farming industry, with the Pando plant discovery being credited to him by the people of Avalonia. He tries to push his son Ethan into following in his footsteps, but soon realises he is doing exactly what his father did to him and knows for Ethan to be happy, Searcher has to let that dream go. Searcher is a good father, albeit quite a protective one, who is also embarrassing at times, as we see when Ethan is trying to talk to his crush, Diazo, and Searcher butts in, introducing himself and generally being weird.
Searcher was voiced by Jake Gyllenhaal, who said the personal story behind the film appealed to him the most as it was clear it had come from a true place. He also was able to bring in his own family experiences to the character. Gyllenhaal has had roles in movies such as The Day After Tomorrow (2004), Brokeback Mountain (2005), and Disney’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010). More recently, Gyllenhaal portrayed the villain Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019); and Dalton in Road House (2024).
Jaeger Clade is the eldest Clade, and though he is a great explorer, very determined and brave, Jaeger also knows it, so he finds it difficult to check his ego at times and just be a father and grandfather without that determination getting in the way. He is completely fixated on his own mission, to get to the other side of the Avalonia mountains, that he doesn’t initially want to help Searcher and the others with their mission to save the Pando plant because he’s spent a large part of his life on this one expedition, foregoing his responsibilities as a father and a husband, and is still upset that Searcher did not want to be an explorer like him. In the end, though, he realises that he needs to be with his family and that he can’t always think of himself, and he repairs his bond with Searcher.
Jaeger was voiced by Dennis Quaid, who was incredibly enthusiastic about the role. Quaid said the Clades felt like a real family, with real issues and that some of the conversations and conflicts they have are reminiscent of any family at the Thanksgiving dinner table. He liked that Disney were being very open with these discussions, but also making them funny. Quaid also starred in The Day After Tomorrow (2004), as the father of Gyllenhaal’s character. He has starred in numerous movies throughout his career, including Innerspace (1987), alongside Meg Ryan and Martin Short; The Rookie (2002); and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009). In 2024, Quaid will portray Ronald Reagan in the movie Reagan. And, for all the 90s kids out there, you’ll know Quaid from The Parent Trap (1998), where he played Nick Parker, the father of the twins.
Ethan is the youngest family member at sixteen-years-old, and is Searcher’s son and Jaeger’s grandson. Ethan is at a point in his life where he’s trying to figure out who he wants to be and what he wants to do with his life. He knows that he doesn’t want to be a farmer, and that he wants to experience what else is out there, beyond Avalonia. His father struggles with this idea, and thinks that, whilst out on this mission, that Jaeger has spent time trying to convince Ethan to be an explorer, not listening to Ethan and what he wants. Ethan perseveres though, and doesn’t give in, explaining to his father that it’s his life and he should do what he wants with it. Ethan is also the peacekeeper and the environmentally-conscious one in the family. He finds happiness in the end, researching and resourcing from the strange world. Ethan is the first openly gay character to feature in any Disney work. Ethan’s family are wholly accepting of his sexuality, so this isn’t even a story about him having to seek approval from his parents as you might expect.
Comedian, actor and writer Jaboukie Young-White voiced the role of Ethan. Young-White has written for shows such as Big Mouth (2018-present) and American Vandal (2017-18), and appeared as a correspondent on Trevor Noah’s The Daily Show from 2018 to 2021. Young-White also released his debut music album in August 2023.
Meridian is Searcher’s wife and Ethan’s mother, but is also a pilot, and ends up playing a pivotal role in the expedition as the original crew pilot is killed by a creature whilst the airship is crash-landing. She was only there to try and retrieve Ethan who she knew had snuck aboard the ship. She is a very caring mother, and a very experienced and brave pilot, having to get them through multiple scrapes and navigate difficult terrain. She knows that Ethan is loving exploring this new area, and that he seems to have found what’s right for him; Meridian is the voice of reason and understanding. Originally, Meridian was going to have a backstory, which involved her being a stunt pilot. She loved to fly, but after a crash which she was lucky to walk away from, she had been scared to fly again, having to fly a plane once more to save her family. This backstory ultimately was not used[1].
Meridian was voiced by Gabrielle Union, who was drawn to Meridian’s strength and parenting approach, feeling that it was similar to her own self. She has done voice work for Disney previously, as Nala in The Lion Guard (2016-19), but she said to be able to do a full Disney animated feature was a “dream come true”. She liked how she could contribute to the character, with many of her adlibs kept in the final cut, and she was pleased that Meridian looked like her, with authentic hair and Afrocentric features[2]. Union first appeared in “teen movies” such as She’s All That (1999), 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), and Bring It On (2000), moving on to other roles such as Special Agent Burnett in Bad Boys II (2003); Mary Jane Paul in the series Being Mary Jane (2013-19); Zoey Baker in the remake of Cheaper by the Dozen (2022); and Jenna in the Netflix film The Perfect Find (2023).
There is also Callisto Mal, the president of Avalonia and leader of the exploration. She is a strong leader, but very set in her ways and the aims of the mission. Once the Clades realise the Pando plant is killing the creature that Avalonia sits atop, Callisto does not stop trying to kill the creatures (now shown to be an immune system) and even locks the Clades in a cupboard on the airship as they try to get the other crew members to stop what they are doing. Eventually, though, Callisto sees sense when the Clades show her exactly what the plant is doing to this creature and she helps makes things right again. At one point, the writers were unsure how many of the crew on the expedition should survive, and whether they should all be killed by monsters, except Callisto, who would be the sole survivor in order to “break her” and give her some emotional depth[3]. This idea was not realised.
Lucy Liu voiced Callisto. Liu rose to fame as one of the three Charlie’s Angels, alongside Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore in the 2000 film and its 2003 sequel. She also played the role of O-Ren Ishii in Kill Bill (2003) and its 2004 sequel. More recently, Liu appeared in the Netflix film Set It Up (2018) as difficult boss Kirsten, and as Kalypso in Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023). For Disney, Liu has also voiced characters such as Mei for Mulan II (2004) and Silvermist in the Tinker Bell series of films.
A couple of other actors to mention are Karan Soni and Alan Tudyk. Soni voices the very funny, but kind of minor, character of crew member Caspian. He has some great lines, delivered with perfect comedic timing. It’s a shame Caspian wasn’t used too much in the overall story. Soni rose to fame in the role of Dopinder in Deadpool (2016), going on to reprise this role in its sequels. He also appeared in the movies Ghostbusters (2016); Detective Pikachu (2019); and Not Okay (2022), as well as having a voice role in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse as Pavitr Prabhakar. On television, Soni had a role in each of the four series of anthology comedy series Miracle Workers (2019-23).
Alan Tudyk has had a role in every Disney animated movie since 2012. For Strange World, he voiced the very brief role of the pilot on the Venture who dies right at the start of the mission, as well as the narrator at the start of the film. Tudyk’s other Disney voice roles include: King Candy in Wreck-It Ralph (2012), Duke of Weselton in Frozen (2013), Alistair Krei in Big Hero 6 (2014), KnowsMore in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), and Valentino in Wish (2023). Outside of voice acting, Tudyk was the voice and motion capture for Sonny the robot in I, Robot (2004), and also appeared in the films Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004), as Steve the Pirate, and Trumbo (2015), as Ian McLellan Hunter. He also portrays the title character of “Harry” in the series Resident Alien (2021-present).
PRODUCTION
After Moana was released in 2016, Don Hall started working on a new project to direct. Strange World was just one of a few ideas that he had been working on and had pitched to Disney. The idea for the movie came from the question: what kind of world did we inherit from others, and what world will the new generation inherit from us? It was to be a generational story of how the world has been developed, or harmed, at various points in time, although the very first pitch was about what would you do if you found out you were living on a living thing. Clearly, both of these ideas made it into Strange World in some form.
The story was originally being developed with Chris Williams, who had co-directed Big Hero 6 (2014) with Hall, however, Williams left Disney to work on The Sea Beast (2022) for Netflix. Roy Conli came on board as the producer for Strange World in 2018, and had previously collaborated with Hall on Big Hero 6. He liked the father-son angle of the story. To get writer and co-director Qui Nguyen to join the project, Hall called the movie Indiana Jones meets National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983).
Strange World was inspired by multiple movies from completely different decades of film-making. For example, Hall stated that he was inspired by movies of the 1970s and 1980s, like Star Wars, as well as Disney animated films, like Peter Pan (1953) that were all about adventure. They were also inspired by the “pulp fiction” era of the 1900s to the 1950s, where magazines were printed onto cheap wood pulp paper – hence the name – as well as movies like King Kong. These choices gave a nostalgic feeling to the adventure film[4].
Work on the film was going well, however, in 2019, Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) was announced at the D23 Expo as the next Disney animated film release, so Strange World was put aside so that Don Hall and Qui Nguyen could come onto the project as director and screenwriter, respectively, for Raya and the Last Dragon instead. They both felt they knew the story of Strange World well enough to leave it for a while and focus on Raya[5].
Creating the world of Strange World, or sub-Avalonia as it is also called, was a complex challenge, since the area had to look like the most bizarre landscape ever, and yet also refer to the plot-twist of the movie by showing that everything within this landscape is alive. The team working on Strange World consulted with biologists and scientists, and researched ecosystems, organ functions, and cell structures so that everything that exists within Strange World would be grounded in real science, although it was never meant to exactly replicate the anatomy or internal workings of any creature or a turtle specifically, despite this being the creature Avalonia resides on.
They chose a jungle-like landscape for sub-Avalonia but did not use the colour green. The pinks, blues, and purples of the scenery is in stark contrast to what would be expected. Strange World includes some of the largest environments created at Disney Animation and they had to include everything: from the smallest blade of grass, to the biggest structures. Disney also had to make this place feel alive, in both the backgrounds and the characters.
Everything had to feel like it was a part of the overall environment, since this place is constantly in motion, so the ground can suddenly give way, as Ethan finds out when he thinks he’s landed on solid ground but he is actually on top of an organism that flies away, and the trees even breathe; the trees were made to represent bronchial tubes as the first organ that the crew falls into is the lungs. This means that the Burning Sea with its oceans of acids is actually the stomach, and the creatures that seem to attack the crew are parts of the immune system. The flying fish that the Clades travel across whilst trying to avoid the Reapers are actually the bloodstream, with a red channel and a blue channel to mimic oxygenated and deoxygenated blood.
Some of the creatures that exist within Strange World include the Filterlope, which is a six-legged deer which filters and purifies everything that it comes into contact with; the Nub McNubbins, which are the little orange things that ride around on the six-legged dinosaurs, looking for damage tissues that they can repair, so they represent stem cells; the Reapers with their long tentacles are part of the immune system, looking to swallow any foreign objects to keep away harm; and the T cells, the pink pterodactyls, are another part of the immune system, seeking to destroy harmful particles, working similarly to white blood cells[6].
Splat, the blue blob, is a form of dendritic cell, which scouts out the area, finding antigens so that it can defend its organism. That is why when Splat first meets Searcher, he takes his handkerchief and tries to lead him to the Reapers so that they can destroy him[7]. Splat’s not being mean, that’s just what he’s been trained to do. In the end though, Splat sees Ethan as a friend, because Ethan heals Splat after he is terribly burnt by a Pando bulb – that scene actually made me really sad; I don’t like seeing things getting hurt, especially when they’re cute, like Splat. Splat’s character design looks simple but it was quite challenging, since it has so many limbs and all of them stretchy.
The difficulty in animating the worlds of Strange World was in keeping it relatable, grounded in reality, but also beautiful, just not so appealing that it detracted from the story. It couldn’t pull focus but needed to be imaginative. I think the animators did a great job in creating this bizarre world, and the science behind it and all the creatures was fascinating. In contrast to sub-Avalonia, we also see the city of Avalonia, which, despite being a technologically progressive place, contains quite an old style of architecture with many stone buildings, kind of reminiscent of towns in Spain or Italy, which I found to be an interesting twist on a futuristic world.
MUSIC
Composer Henry Jackman wrote the music for Strange World, having previously worked on Winnie the Pooh (2011), Wreck-It Ralph (2012), for which he won the Annie Award for Music in an Animated Feature Production in 2013, Big Hero 6 (2014), and Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) for Disney. Jackman has also composed music for non-animated action films including Kick-Ass (2010) and its 2013 sequel; Captain Phillips (2013); Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) and its 2017 sequel, and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and its 2019 sequel. Hall and Nguyen wanted Jackman to evoke the adventure mood of the film.
The score definitely evokes the feeling of adventure and peril. Some of my favourite instrumental pieces include “The Fate of Strange World” and “Resurrection”, which play as Pando is destroyed and the creature’s heart is revived. This is the big emotional scene in Strange World. Naturally, I pay more attention to the score in those quiet moments when you’re being made to think, and those are my favourite types of pieces. I also like “A New Perspective”, which plays during the final scene.
There is only one song in Strange World, and it’s a bit of a strange one. “They’re the Clades!” plays as we are given some backstory into the explorer family of the Clades, as a documentary-style film plays. The music was written by Jackman, with lyrics by Kevin Del Aguila. It does fit the comic-book style opening scene that the movie has, being quite loud and exuberant, and it throws you straight into what the Clades do. It’s kind of catchy, but it’s not going to go down in Disney history as one of their best songs! “They’re the Clades” has a reprise at the end of the movie as well, during the End Credits. These songs are performed by James Hayden.
RECEPTION
Strange World was released in theatres on 23rd November 2022 – in some countries. Disney decided not to theatrically release their movie in certain territories, such as the Middle East, China, Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Pakistan. This is due to the inclusion of LGBTQIA+ content, with the character of Ethan, which Disney did not want to have to edit out to make it fit the culture of these areas. Pixar’s movie Lightyear, released in June 2022, had been banned in a few countries, like the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Malaysia, and Indonesia, due to controversy over a brief scene of a same-sex couple kissing[8].
The inclusion of an openly gay character was not only seen as “problematic” in these areas, but also within the United States. A teacher in Florida was reported to the school board by a student’s mother in 2023 after showing the movie Strange World to her fifth-grade class. The parent reported the teacher for “indoctrination” and an official investigation was set in motion after this complaint, as it was in possible violation of the Parental Rights in Education Act, which banned the teaching of gender and sexual identity in schools in the state. The teacher had felt that Strange World was an appropriate movie for her class to watch as it related to their studies on Earth science and the ecosystem, and did not choose to show it to her students for any other reason, having also received permission slips from the parents to allow their children to see the PG-rated movie[9].
This just shows how divisive Strange World has become, although many critics did like the progression of including a gay character in a Disney movie. The environmental message was also praised by some, although others found it slightly too preachy. In general, audiences liked the bright, colourful animation, and the overall themes of the movie, around family dynamics, exploration, and understanding each other, but felt that the movie’s plot was “dull” and lacked drama.
Strange World was not nominated for Best Animated Feature in any of the major award ceremonies, and was only nominated for a couple of awards for storyboarding at the Annie Awards in 2023. It was also nominated at the Visual Effects Society Awards in 2023, but again, did not win.
Potentially because of the controversy around the LGBTQIA+ content, and for the lack of desire by viewers to see movies in theatres, Strange World became a box-office bomb. Despite being released around Thanksgiving, generally considered a very good time to release new movies, especially family-friendly ones, Strange World only made $18.6 million in that five-day window[10]. Globally, the movie only grossed $73.4 million, and with an estimated budget of $180 million, plus its advertising costs, that was a big loss.
Strange World was then released just a month later on Disney+ on 23rd December 2022, just in time for the festive season, where it became one of the top 10 most streamed films on the platform in its first three weeks[11].
LEGACY
To promote the release of Strange World, the Disney Parks offered some limited time experiences from November 2022 to January 2023. These included a sneak peek of the movie at Walt Disney Presents in Disney’s Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort, as well as at Disneyland Paris.
At Disney California Adventure, guests could learn how to draw Splat and the Clades’ dog Legend at the Animation Academy, and photo opportunities were available at Disneyland’s Tomorrowland. These included “magic shots” of Splat appearing in Disney PhotoPass photos. There was also some merchandise available for Strange World, including play sets, books, and plush toys of Splat.
Since Strange World was not a successful movie for Disney in terms of box-office results, and to some extent reviews, very little else related to Strange World has been seen at the Disney Parks, although surprisingly, Ethan Clade as a meet-and-greet character made his debut at the runDisney 10-miler race in April 2024, standing in front of a sign for Clade Farms. This appears to be the first time that any character from Strange World has been spotted at the Disney Parks as a meet-and-greet opportunity. Whether or not that changes soon, and more characters from the movie will be seen more frequently or even just at Special Events remains to be seen.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It is a shame that Strange World was not received as well as hoped, or as well as previous “Revival Era” animated features, especially after having read some interviews with the cast and creators for this piece, as it’s clear just how much passion and emotional experience went into the making of the movie.
Disney have tried to be more progressive in their characters, and have been much more diverse in their casting choices and ethnic representations recently. Even a decade ago, this was not the case. It is disappointing to find that people haven’t warmed to this film as much as they did with 2021’s hit Encanto, possibly because Strange World is not a musical, and adventure films are not as widely popular with a large audience.
I do think Strange World needs to be seen a couple of times to fully appreciate the artistic talent that went into creating that world, and the emotional arcs that take place. There is a lot going on, and it is difficult to figure out where to focus initially, whether that’s on the family aspect, or the environmental theme.
If anyone is unsure about whether to watch Strange World or not, I say be brave like the Clades and give it a go.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scenes: Lightning Lynx”, from Strange World (2022), Disney+ (2023).
[2] Credit: Alison Stateman, ‘Behind the Scenes of Disney Animation’s Strange World’, D23.com, 17th November 2022.
[3] Credit: Drew Taylor, ‘Making ‘Strange World’: The Origin, Evolution and Progressive Representation of Disney Animation’s Sci-Fi Adventure’, TheWrap.com, 25th November 2022.
[4] Credit: Camille Jefferson, ‘Behind the Scenes With the Makers of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Latest Film, Strange World’, Disney News (online), 14th October 2022.
[5] Credit: Drew Taylor, ‘Making ‘Strange World’: The Origin, Evolution and Progressive Representation of Disney Animation’s Sci-Fi Adventure’, TheWrap.com, 25th November 2022.
[6] Credit: Disney, “Creature Feature”, from Strange World (2022), Disney+ (2023).
[7] Credit: Disney, “Strange Science”, from Strange World (2022), Disney+ (2023).
[8] Credit: Jamie Lang, ‘Disney’s ‘Strange World’ Skips Markets Where LGBTQIA+ Content Is Banned Or Censored’, CartoonBrew.com, 22nd November 2022.
[9] Credit: Ed Pilkington, ‘Florida teacher defends showing Disney movie: ‘I’m just being accepting’, The Guardian (online), 14th May 2023.
[10] Credit: Anthony D’Alessandro, ‘The Biggest Box Office Bombs of 2022: Deadline’s Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament’, Deadline.com, 14th April 2023.
[11] Credit: Amanda Lamadrid, ‘Strange World Ended An Incredible 30-Year Disney Movie Rating Streak’, ScreenRant.com, 14th April 2023.
The Disney Purist 