Jaeger Clade (Dennis Quaid) is a “man’s man.” A big, strong, tough guy, a fearless explorer. Jaeger lives in the mountain-locked Avalonia. He dedicates his entire life to exploring those mountains, with the ultimate goal to some day get to the other side. What’s to be found? Nobody knows; that’s the allure. The Avalonians don’t know anything about the surrounding world, and Jaeger and his crew, which includes son Searcher (Jake Gyllenhaal), feel a duty to their people to find out. If there’s something, anything beyond the mountains that can help their people, they’re going to find it.
But when Searcher discovers an energy-giving plant on one of their expeditions, he votes to turn back and take the plant, which he names Pando, back home. Jaeger protests, but the rest of the team sides with Searcher, and they return home. But without Jaeger. He continues the journey on his own. He’s not seen again for 25 years.
In those 25 years, Searcher has studies Pando and discovered how to harvest its power to significantly technologically advance Avalonia. It runs and powers everything in the country. His work has led the country to view him as a modern hero. Avalonia is thriving. But all that success and progress comes under serious threat. Avalonia’s president, Callisto (Lucy Liu), visits Searcher’s Pando farm with terrible news. Pando is losing its power, it appears to be infected. Her research team discovered a huge sinkhole housing Pando roots. They believe the heart of Pando is located there so she is gathering a team to travel there to hopefully find the cause of the Pando infection.
Searcher’s teenage son Ethan feels drawn to exploration and adventure, must to the chagrin of his father. All Searcher can think of is his father, who put discovery and adventure above all else, even his family. Searcher harbors serious resentment towards Jaeger, and by extension, to exploration in general. Ethan is eager to go along the trip, yearning for adventure while also being a part of the effort to save Avalonia. Searcher is adamantly against it, not willing to put his son’s life at risk the same way his own father did. But Ethan sneaks aboard the ship anyway.
The search goes awry, however, when the ship crash lands in a *ahem* strange world located beneath the sink hole. They now not only have to deal with the Pando, but getting the ship back in working order so they can even get to Pando roots. The entire situation becomes even further complicated when Searcher discovers his father, alive and well, having been stuck there for the past 25 years.
There’s a lot going on in Strange World. And it all gets a little muddy with the movie trying to have it all. With Jaeger & Searcher and Searcher & Ethan, there could have been good moments touching on father-son relationships. There are messages on environmentalism, teamwork, following your heart, expanding your worldview, being “in the now” versus looking to the future. Like I said, a lot going on.
In the few moments where the plot slows down and chooses to focus on one of its many themes, it’s actually quite effective. But those moments come and go like that. Just when you think the story is finding its rhythm, it switches gears and shifts its focus elsewhere. And with how much it’s trying to say, it can be hard to keep track of everything. If Strange World was trying to say something new, or at least in a unique and creative way, it might have worked. But it’s all so cookie-cutter, stuff we’ve seen countless times before, with nothing new of any substance to offer.
But there is still good to be found in Strange World. While it doesn’t go in depth on the topics it broaches, it could still serve as an entryway for some important parent-child discussions. It’s beautifully animated and the titular strange world especially looks fantastic. The characters are fun, though the jokes are a bit too hit-or-miss. But that’s salvaged somewhat by the adventure aspect. It gives the story a natural excitement and momentum.
There’s enough to like in Strange World to keep it fun and engaging for the kids in the audience. But it never quite clicks on its more adult-oriented aspects. Because of that it will make for a fine family viewing (though maybe wait for it to come to streaming), but it likely won’t resonate too strongly with adults.
Score: 67/100
