Strange World: Movie Review

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Gabrielle Union, Dennis Quad, Lucy Liu, Jaboukie Young-White

Director: Don Hall

Reminiscent of The Land Before Time, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Fantastic Voyage, Jules Verne and any number of moments from any Irwin Allen TV series, Disney's Strange World is yet another take on a father-son relationship.

Gyllenhaal voices Searcher Clade, the son of legendary explorer Jaeger Clade, who loses his dad after he chooses a life of exploration rather than staying home to bring him up in the land of Avalonia.

25 years later, Searcher has his own family and has made his name from out under his father's shadow, and farms a power source that's changed Avalonia. But when he's told the power source is potentially dying, he must embrace his explorer past to try and save the day. 

However, things get more complicated when his family get involved in the rescue mission, and he runs into his father again...

Strange World had potential to be something different and inspiring for the Disney stable.

Drawing on pulp magazines of the past, sci-fi yarns and from derring-do adventures archives, there's much in this story that feels familiar and yet ripe for a makeover.

Yet, despite the sound and bluster of the smart opening, Strange World settles too much into the feeling of the familiar and the homage somewhat falters as the story goes on. 

With a world that's wondrously realised via starkly different palettes and creatures made of gelatinous form-free blobs, there's stuff to like about Strange World - but not quite enough to make it into the pantheon of timeless classics. It has heart, and earnestness, but there's not a high bar that the film reaches for or achieves here, sadly.

In some ways, it feels like a thin story stretched a little too far in parts and a separation of characters that in truth feels arbitrary rather than narratively enticing and enriching. It is also disappointing to see that the LGBTQ elements of the story, so strongly introduced early on, are reduced to the sidelines and become perfunctory rather than leading parts of the narrative, as the age-old daddy issues come to the fore.

Gyllenhaal and Quaid though make for good foils for each other, with Quaid's roughness rubbing up nicely against Gyllenhaal's more optimistic tone. The more comedic elements will appeal solely to the young and the young-at-heart, but there aren't enough standout moments in the movie to render it a classic.

It won't surprise anyone to note there's an eco-message in this film, but it's handled in a somewhat muddled fashion and not entirely surprising at all. There are elements that gel in Strange World, but it feels clunky, and like the creative vision wasn't quite coherent enough to compel its transition from the page to the big screen.