Renee Cooper

If you love animation as a medium and wish that Atlantis, Treasure Planet, and Titan AE were more appreciated during their time, take the 2-hour journey for Strange World. Out of the gate, this movie was never going to do well in theaters because of the hate toward Black and gay main characters, PLUS the history of poorly performing adventure movies (see paragraph one) in theaters. If decision-makers at Disney actually WANTED this to do well, they would have done what they did with Turning Red and sent it to streaming, where the audience was ready for "less conventional" characters. Instead, we got this post-pandemic Thanksgiving theater opening with an unreasonably high expectation for an enlightening animated adventure. Now that that's out of the way--this is a story about not wanting to become your parent, and saving the world by way of understanding it better. The world-building does not take a lot of time to understand because it's both vast and contained at the same time. It's easy to understand the conflicts between father and son and man and environment. They give you enough time to enjoy the uncharted scenery and build your own idea about what the expedition team is up actually against. Some of the "monsters" are actually a bit unnerving, especially if you find faceless, tentacled sea creatures unnerving. Others are quite cute! The overall reveal is breathtaking and I hope that as many people who want to experience it will, before it's spoiled. In conclusion, Strange World is a fun ecological and mythological story. A few moments are legitimately fun and exciting, but I doubt many young children will enjoy the movie if they can't sit still. Teens might like it, especially if they're fans of shows like The Owl House and Duck Tales. Adults who legitimately loved any of Don Hall's past works, POC girls who love badass representation, and all ages of LGBTQ+ kids and adults who want to be "seen" on a big screen...this is for you!