Strange World (2022)

Directed by Don Hall. Starring (voices) Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Jaboukie Young-White, Gabrielle Union, Lucy Liu, Karan Soni, Alan Tudyk. [PG]

Searcher Clade, the son of a macho, stubborn explorer who ventured off into the wilderness 25 years ago, never to return, sets off on an expedition aboard the airship, Venture, to save his homeland from a mysterious loss of planetary power. He and the Venture end up in a subterranean world full of strange sights and stranger creatures—any chance Searcher’s pops will still be alive down there, and any chance their shaky reunion will be funhouse-mirrored in Searcher’s relationship with his own independent-minded son who’s also along for the ride? An acceptable animated fantasy instead of a spectacular one, it appears at a glance to be inspired by classic pulp adventures, outlandish comic books, and sci-fi stories (Jules Verne’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth”, most obviously), but it keeps getting distracted by its leaden approach to personal crises instead of marveling at the mysteries of the underworld (I counted only two brief scenes of characters being in awe of their surroundings). Since we’re privy to very little information about any non-Clade member of the Venture crew, it all comes down to drama among three generations of fathers and sons, and the messaging about parenting and choosing your own path is laid on so thick and so often, the exploration and peril/action scenes start to feel like commercial breaks in a family-oriented soap opera—“Cat’s in the Cradle” moment…check! An expressive little blob creature dubbed “Splat” seems designed to sell merchandise, but its cutesy hijinks were actually a relief for this forty-ish reviewer. So, sure, it’s heart is certainly in the right place—and its celebration of diversity worth cherishing—but there’s far more colorful style in the animation than there is detail in the world-building or originality in the storytelling. As far as threatened-planet melodramas with Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal in father-son roles go, however, it still beats The Day After Tomorrow by a mile.

53/100