Strange World
2022, Walt Disney Animation Studios
I had to know: was it as bad as it was made out to be? Nope. In fact, it was actually worse. I was dumbfounded. I sat staring at the screen with my jaw in my lap. How could Disney have possibly greenlit such a colossal wet fart as this?
It's hard to know where to begin, but I will say it has less to do with the whole "woke" nonsense than the noise online would have you believe. That said, it was pretty in-your-face about a whole bunch of stuff that I do not believe is appropriate for the wee ones: serious topics such as race and sexuality ought to wait until they can wrap their little heads around such things. In the meantime, stick to stereotypes!
But when I arrived at the extras, I suddenly felt quite ignorant: I hadn't gotten the whole "we're living on the back of a giant turtle" thing, and that the "Strange World" is actually a Journey to the Center of the Earth meets Fantastic Voyage technicolor trip through the turtle's biology. Kudos to the writers and animators for doing their homework on microbiology; too bad it was all wasted on one of the biggest disasters Disney has had to endure of late, losing them well north of $150 million. Ouch.
The instant I learned where the the film was set, I was immediately reminded of "It's turtles, all the way down." Not the mental association I'd expect they'd have wanted! And having had it all go right over my head, I'm (mildly) curious just how many kids really got what the film was about. Wait, what was it about? Conservationism. Yep, that was the stated theme in the extras. Seriously? I'm not saying this is necessarily bad; I just think it had to have been lost on most if not all of the audience. I mean, I thought it was a cautionary tale against growing radioactive Brussels sprouts. No lie.
Regardless, it gave the woke crowd plenty of material to harp about, since Disney didn't miss one inclusive point: a mixed-race couple with a gay son (about which there was considerable ballyhooing from both sides of the fence), characters of every imaginable color/orientation/intelligence, and even a three-legged dog! Not to mention that it's stylistically reminiscent of 30s and 40s cliffhanger serials, and please tell me how many younger viewers will appreciate that? Insert facepalm emoticon here.
Yes, the animation was excellent, as one would expect. But... when it's in the service of a thoroughly flaccid story populated by thoroughly flaccid characters, one almost has to feel sorry for all of those animators who poured their hearts and souls into such an enormous brown bomb.
DKS 3/10/23
GRUMPY OLD FART-O-METER® Rating:
