Back at 2022, I saw some trailers for this movie almost a year after seeing Encanto and thought it looked kind of unique in it's own direction. Later on, it turned out that Disney itself added little to no marketing to the film which was the only reason why it flopped at the box office, but in spite of that, I managed to buy a ticket and went to the movie. After that, it turned out to be a decent enough flick. Is it one of the strongest? Not quite, but at the very least it's better than Ralph Breaks The Internet and Raya and the Last Dragon (the former of which was mediocre and the latter of which was just fine).
There are some problems I do have. I understand that it tried to do a representation of an LBGTQ+ character (which is Ethan Clade) and it's handled well, but it added nothing to the overall concept of the story which is inspired by pulp magazines and other sci-fi adventure movies. Even the execution of the story is somewhat predictable. Also, while the character designs aren't completely terrible, they could've been a whole lot better (although the designs of the creatures in Strange World have some creativity especially Splat and Legend the dog does look cute) and the background characters that aren't the main leads are underdeveloped.
That being said, there are some things I liked about the movie. The voice work is superb with Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Jaboukie Young-White, Gabrielle Union, Lucy Liu, and Alan Tudyk bring some energy and charisma to their respective roles. The main leads, especially Jaeger Clade, Searcher Clade, and Ethan Clade, aren't exactly the best protagonists, but they do have some likeability and have decent character arcs. The visuals, especially Avalonia, and the strange world itself which is Pando, are so gorgeous and colorful. Not to mention the action sequences are very intense. And last, but not least the music score from Henry Jackman which enhances action and atmosphere of the movie very well with a catchy song "We're The Clades".
Overall, Strange World isn't exactly a groundbreaking movie, but it's fun adventure movie that tried to do something with it's ideas when compared to Wish (an 100th anniversary movie that also had good ideas but fell short in execution).
There are some problems I do have. I understand that it tried to do a representation of an LBGTQ+ character (which is Ethan Clade) and it's handled well, but it added nothing to the overall concept of the story which is inspired by pulp magazines and other sci-fi adventure movies. Even the execution of the story is somewhat predictable. Also, while the character designs aren't completely terrible, they could've been a whole lot better (although the designs of the creatures in Strange World have some creativity especially Splat and Legend the dog does look cute) and the background characters that aren't the main leads are underdeveloped.
That being said, there are some things I liked about the movie. The voice work is superb with Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Jaboukie Young-White, Gabrielle Union, Lucy Liu, and Alan Tudyk bring some energy and charisma to their respective roles. The main leads, especially Jaeger Clade, Searcher Clade, and Ethan Clade, aren't exactly the best protagonists, but they do have some likeability and have decent character arcs. The visuals, especially Avalonia, and the strange world itself which is Pando, are so gorgeous and colorful. Not to mention the action sequences are very intense. And last, but not least the music score from Henry Jackman which enhances action and atmosphere of the movie very well with a catchy song "We're The Clades".
Overall, Strange World isn't exactly a groundbreaking movie, but it's fun adventure movie that tried to do something with it's ideas when compared to Wish (an 100th anniversary movie that also had good ideas but fell short in execution).