Strange World (2022)
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A legendary family of explorers must navigate a mysterious subterranean land to save their society's primary energy source.
The story
In the land of Avalonia, a family of explorers faces a crisis when their primary energy source, the miracle plant Pando, begins to lose its power. Searcher Clade, a farmer and explorer, joins an expedition into a massive sinkhole to find the source of the problem. During the journey, his son Ethan and his father Jaeger—a legendary explorer who has been living underground for years—become involved. The group travels into a subterranean world filled with surreal lifeforms and dangerous creatures. As they navigate this strange environment, the family must confront their differing perspectives on exploration and safety to save their home.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In the land of Avalonia, a family of explorers must journey into a mysterious subterranean world to save the miracle plant Pando, their source of energy. The expedition includes Searcher, his wife Meridian, their son Ethan, and the legendary explorer Jaeger, who has been living underground for 25 years. During the journey into a giant sinkhole, the group is attacked by 'Reapers' and other creatures. Ethan befriends a blue creature named Splat. As the group travels deeper, Searcher and Jaeger reconcile their differing philosophies on exploration. They eventually discover that Avalonia is actually situated on the back of a giant turtle-like creature, and the Reapers are its immune system. They realize Pando is an infection attacking the creature's heart. They ultimately destroy Pando to save the creature, and the land of Avalonia transitions to wind power. One year later, Ethan and his friend Diazo are in a relationship, and the family remains together.
- First release year
- 2022
- Runtime (minutes)
- 102
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Don Hall
- Writers
- Qui Nguyen · writer
- Cast and characters
- Jake Gyllenhaal · Searcher Clade; Dennis Quaid · Jaeger Clade; Jaboukie Young-White · Ethan Clade; Gabrielle Union · Meridian Clade; Lucy Liu · Callisto Mal
- Genres
- animated; adventure
- Themes
- family ties; being true to oneself; environmental issues
- Tone and mood
- vibrant; adventure
- Premise and plot tags
- exploration; fantasy; sci-fi
- Reception
- The film received generally positive reviews from critics but was a box-office bomb, and it was noted for its vibrant visuals and strong voice performances despite some criticism of its basic plot.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 65 · scale: 100 · review count: 35; CinemaScore · score: B · scale: A+ to F; PostTrak · score: 82% · scale: percentage
- Production trivia
- The film introduced Disney's first openly LGBTQ lead character.; The miracle plant Pando is named after a forest in Utah in America.; The land of Avalonia is named after the island of Avalon of Arthurian legend.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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