Poor Marketing Ruins The Chances of a Great Disney Film (Disney's Strange World)

Yet another Disney feature was banned from Malaysia because of homophobia but Strange World was left high and dry for a few other reasons as well. After Lightyear and Thor Love and Thunder, Strange World is the third film presented by Disney (a film from the original empire, rather from acquisited ones) suffered from alleged box office loss due to an inclusion of a gay character when in actuality, Disney made an half-ass effort in marketing that didn't manage to convince audiences to want to at least try the film out. 

Strange World takes place in the fictional city of Avalonia and centers around the men of the Clade family. Jaeger Clade is a famous explorer who vowed to impart his legacy to his only son, Searcher but rejects it to have a life outside his father's well-known expeditions. After his father is assumed and pronounced dead, Searcher is a hero to the people of Avalonia for discovering a rare resource called Pando that he managed to mass produce to become the sole power source of his home city, creating his own legacy to pass on to his son, Ethan. When an unlikely event occurs that threatens the resource which covinces Searcher to go on an expedition after 25 years, leads him and his family to a hidden world that will change their perspective of their environment in unexpected ways. 

Strange World is not what everybody said it was. Sure, there were some minor plotholes but this animated film lost its appeal unfairly. This may not be Disney animation's best film but it deserved being appreciated on the big screen, especially for it's trippy visual ideas. In fairness, the film's focus on the father-son dynamic may have been overbearing but I think it is an arc worth forgiving considering that this is also a Disney movie to entertain kids. Apart from that, it is exciting, intelligent and is yet another underrated Disney film that had divisive reception. Features like Atlantis and Treasure Planet had their reactions coming but Strange World was completely blindsided. 

The most important aspect about Strange World that is hard to believe everyone seemed to ignore is ironically its jab on human's ignorance towards nature and the ecosystem. From the beginning of it's lackluster campaign, it was expected to possibly compare the storylines between this and the highly anticipated Avatar The Way of Water. Unlike Strange World, Avatar is being received globally in many ways due to its political and econimism themes in a sequel to a behemoth of a film. Why Strange World was overshadowed - despite having similar themes - other than the fact that Disney just was too lazy to make it a big deal is as mysterious as the ecosystem that is introduced in this film. 

Even with it's LGBTQ+ representation, Disney has probably brought something new with the character of Ethan by not only making his sexuality be the character. Through the arc of the father-son cliches, Ethan alongside his father and grandfather gives alot of empathy and agency to the men of this story. Many may not be happy with this due to the lack of depth the female characters are given, but its refreshing to see yet another Disney film this year takes a jab on the modern societal expectations of men, this time around witnessing how it affects three different generations of a single family. 

On another note, the strange world itself lives up to it's titular reputation. The imagination that entailed to bring this crazy new adventure to life is a something worth dwelling on and it can be dwelled on further when the story reaches its climax. I can't say more for that would be spoiling a large surprise that I did not see coming. Which bring us back to why the marketing for this film might have been so half-baked because the real appeal mostly relies on the film itself rather than the idea of what is presented in the trailers.  

Now that Strange World is finally able to stream on Disney Plus, people who didn't get the chance to watch it, finally can. And hopefully, whoever that reads this that hadn't heard or wasn't interested in catching this film for the remaining days of the holiday season, think again and give it a chance.