Strange World

 Attention, moviegoers! Disney has for you an exciting and strange new tale to tell. It's Strange World, an adventure story unlike anything you've ever seen. But it's still like any tale you've ever heard. How can this be? Find out in this exciting review!

Epic narrator tone off.

Jaegar Clade (Dennis Quaid) is the greatest adventurer from the land of Avalonia. His son Searcher (Jake Gyllenhaal) isn't. On one expedition, Searcher finds an electrical plant called Pando. Jaegar doesn't care, and he goes off into the mountains, never to return. 25-years later, Searcher's discovery is now the land's power supply. But the Pando plants are getting weaker and weaker. One of Jaegar's former expedition members, Callisto Mal (Lucy Liu), now the President of Avalonia, grabs Searcher for a journey to the center of the Earth. They hope to find whatever's killing the Pando crops. His family - wife Meridian (Gabrielle Union) and son Ethan (Jaboukie Young-White) and tripawed dog Legend - tag along.

The Strange World they find is full of, well, strange creatures. They also find Jaegar alive and crazy. Ethan, meanwhile, meets a blue blob called Splat, who becomes their tag-a-long mascot. Meanwhile, Jaegar and Clade have different ideas on Ethan's future. But Avalonia won't have a future if they don't hurry. It's especially so once they find out the true nature of their world and the Pando.

Let's get a few things out of the way. The Strange World and its creatures are as alluring as they are deadly. We have magenta pterosaurs, rock mollusks, walking cliffs and whatever species Splat is (there's also a red one that's there for like, one scene). The story is a checklist of familiar family film tropes. It's especially so with Ethan's story, who wants to answer the call of adventure, while Searcher wants him not to. Jaegar wants him to be an explorer, while Searcher wants him to be a farmer. The only thing they agree on is that they approve of his boyfriend, Diazo (Jonathan Melo), which is legitimately nice. The revelation of Pando and Avalonia's true nature gives the plot a much-needed jolt.

We get some good supporting characters amidst some average leads. Legend is the top star by virtue of being a tripawed. Call me biased, but I fostered one ((Hopalong) Cassidy) for a few months. His antics are as amusing as they are impressive. Splat is fun and quite sympathetic; it and Ethan get a nice bonding moment when he bandages its arm after it gets zapped by Pando. Amongst the crew, we have Caspian (Karan Soni), an amusing nerdy-type and the aptly named Ronnie Redshirt. Back to the mains, Callisto makes for a good anti-villain. Did I spoil it?

Strange World probably won't leave a cinematic footprint as large as, say, Encanto did last year. But it should provide a good family matinee for this holiday season. The story is average, but its visuals and supporting cast are superb. Anyone balking at Avatar: The Way of Water's 190 minutes will rest easily knowing that it runs just 102. But hurry up and see Strange World before that movie takes over the cineplexes. Stay tuned this weekend for a surprise.