Contrary to its title, "Strange World" is too mundane to give its audience any sense of wonder. The script by co-director Qui Nguyen ("Raya and the Last Dragon") features a conclusion that's about as abrupt as last weekend's gathering of Disney shareholders who fired CEO Bob Chapek and hurriedly replaced him with his predecessor Bob Iger.
I have a feeling some children might find the battle for Mouse House succession more interesting than the company's latest cartoon. They could bond with their parents in giggling at the departed Chapek's assertion that adults don't watch cartoons.
As it stands, "Strange World" does feature some quirky-looking characters and lots of bright eye candy, but great animated films also make us care about the characters wandering through those imaginary landscapes. For some reason, the Clade family loses the audience early in the film.
Avalonia is a land where the residents have horse and buggy technology, and no one has ventured beyond the mountains that surround it. Jaeger Clade (Dennis Quaid) has become something of a legend for simply trying to get past his surroundings. In the process, he neglects his wife and drags his son Searcher (Jake Gyllenhaal) along for his expeditions, even if they don't lead past the peaks.
Quaid and Gyllenhaal had similar roles in the mostly forgotten "The Day After Tomorrow," and the script gives them only a minimum to work with here. The two men end up splitting permanently when Searcher discovers a new plant that can generate electricity, making it potentially more useful than any of Jaeger's journeys. The older man leaves his son in disgust, while Searcher ends up farming the plant and being a husband to Meridian (Gabrielle Union) and father to Ethan (Jaboukie Young-White).
As much as he loves farming, Searcher can't help but notice that Ethan has clearly inherited his grandfather's wanderlust and that the vegetation that has turned Avalonia into a technological powerhouse is becoming mysteriously blighted. The situation becomes so urgent that President Callisto Mal (Lucy Liu) recruits Searcher to find out how to save the next harvest.
Intergenerational disputes have been the subject of great cinema and even cartoons. Just about any parent can identify their own struggles watching "Inside Out" or "Finding Nemo," but the rigidity in "Strange World" rarely allows the characters to grow or change.
In addition, the supporting cast is even thinner. There's a three-legged dog named Legend and a subterranean creature named Splat. It's somewhat refreshing that neither is anthropomorphized, but they simply aren't that engaging.
They just seem to exist.
"Strange World" is clearly intended as an eco fable, but its eagerness to make viewers care about the world outside of the theater doesn't excuse it from neglecting basic storytelling.
You don't have to be an environmentalist to appreciate the majesty of Hayao Miyazaki's "Princess Mononoke," and for all of its flaws, "FernGully: The Last Rainforest" featured endearing characters that made the sermonizing seem less obvious.
Curiously, "Strange World" was co-directed by Don Hall, who gave us the consistently delightful "Big Hero 6," which was overflowing with imagination and memorable protagonists. The new film plays as if Hall and Nguyen filmed a rough draft of the script, and that a better, more developed story is out there.
It's too bad the Clades probably couldn't find it.
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None77 Cast: animated, with voices of Jake Gyllenhaal, Jaboukie Young-White, Gabrielle Union, Dennis Quaid, Lucy Liu, Alan Tudyk
Directors: Don Hall, Qui Nguyen
Rating: PG
Running time: 1 hour, 42 minutes
Playing theatrically