For his latest Disney animation, Moana director Don Hall has created a wonderfully surreal subterranean land that looks like something that might have been dreamed up by Jules Verne, all DayGlo-pink blobby bonkersness. It’s a strange world populated by weird creatures: shoals of fish flying through the air and an enormous critter that’s a cross between a dinosaur and a jellyfish. The human characters aren’t half bad either: a family of gung-ho explorers. Shame, then, about the environmentally themed plot, which is so tangled it would take the entire Royal Geographical Society a decade to map out.
Dennis Quaid voices paterfamilias Jaeger Clade, a legendary explorer with enormous hands (he’s like Sir Ranulph Fiennes beefed up for a Marvel role). Jaeger disappeared 25 years ago on an expedition, leaving his son Searcher (nicely played by Jake Gyllenhaal) dealing with daddy issues. Searcher, rebelling against his famous father who he feels never loved him, became a hippy farmer. Now he has a teenage son of his own, Ethan (Jaboukie Young-White), who in an early scene we watch flirting with another boy.
Ethan is Disney’s first openly gay teenager and, predictably, rightwing activists have called for a boycott. Though for others, the fact that Strange World is so triggering for the religious right might be its biggest treat. In addition to Ethan being gay, it has that environmental message and – oh, the wokeness – a scene in which avocado on toast is served.
As for that eco storyline, it revolves around a plant-based power source called pando, which Searcher discovered years ago. Pando powers the entire land, Avalonia. But like fossil fuels, it turns out to have dire environmental consequences – as the gang discovers in the strange subterranean world under Avalonia.
The clunky script feels like it’s been re-drafted and re-drafted to the point of incomprehension – blowing any chance of conveying a message. However well-meaning, it makes for a surprisingly dull watch. That said, my five-and-three-quarter-year-old (and clearly a few other younger people in the cinema) were a bit scared by some of the dicier moments of action-adventure peril.
• Strange World is released on 23 November in the US and UK, and on 24 November in Australia.
