Strange World

Mixing pulpy science fiction adventure stories you expect to find in 1950s comic books and the out there writings of highly imaginative authors like Terry Pratchett, Strange World is one of Disney's most bold works. Set in a land, called Avalonia, that's surrounded on all sides by mountain walls, the people there use a green plant with enough energy to power their technology. When the power to the plants starts to turn off, Searcher, an adventurer who found the plants voiced by Jake Gyllenhaal, believes that the power is being interfered and sets out with a team, and his son, to figure out what to do. Using the vines, they are lead into the mountains, into parts no one has ever been, dealing with strange creatures and running into Searcher's long lost father, the famous adventurer Jaeger played by Dennis Quaid. Being Disney, the animation is absolutely beautiful, but the design for the creatures the cast find are very unique but also owe a lot to various alien creatures created by the likes of Douglas Adams, Pratchett, and other similar sci-fi authors. The writing is pretty typical for the genre, and especially dealing with the family centric relationship of the Jaeger family, though it's still well done and makes the characters very dimensional and relatable. Though having Searcher's son, Ethan voiced by Jaboukie Young-White, being gay is good, it's not touched upon as much and feels like it could easily be written out. But the writing's biggest strength comes from the twist about what the characters find when they go past the mountains, very unexpected and so good. Vocal performances in Disney productions always give the best from its cast, and this movie's is no exception. From the Jaeger family, Gyllenhaal, Young-White, and Quaid are all convincing in portraying three generations of adventurers. The rest of the cast, including Gabrielle Union, Alan Tudyk, and Lucy Liu, do just as great of a job as the other three. Despite bombing at the box office, I'm sure that Strange World will follow in the footsteps of past Disney animations that will become future classics like Atlantis or Treasure Planet. Over all: 100%

2022 top list so far:

1. Top Gun: Maverick

2. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

3. Strange World

4. The Black Phone

5. Nope

6. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

7. The Northman

8. The Batman

9. Pearl

10. Lightyear

11. Dog

12. Everything Everywhere All at Once

13. X 2022

14. Scream 2022

15. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

16. Bullet Train

17. Halloween Ends

18. Thor: Love and Thunder

19. Jurassic World: Dominion

20. Black Adam

21. Sonic the Hedgehog 2

22. Uncharted