Nov 24, 2022

-Weird World Review Roundup: Critics Praise Disney's Modern Blended Family

While the House of Mouse is in a flurry of activity, Disney will release its newest animated feature, "Strange World," this week just in time for the holiday season.

Critics have widely praised the film for its depiction of a modern blended family, its focus on fatherhood and different types of masculinity, and for not tokenizing Ethan, Disney's first openly gay teenage character. Most critics agree that while the film's animation is not groundbreaking, it is well done and the art design is rich, creating a new world that fans will want to revisit for years to come.

As of this writing, "Strange Worlds" sits at 74% on Rotten Tomatoes. This coincidentally is the exact same score as when Lightyear ended. Disney must be hoping that their new sci-fi adventure will gross more than that summer release.

Here is what the critics had to say.

Peter DeBruge of Variety is one of many critics who praise "Strange World's" modern interpretation of the blended family story:

Disney wakes up to the fact that the families, friend groups, and larger society around them are not homogeneous, And I am beginning to feel that the studio has realized that it has not been in touch with confining them into separate cultural bubbles. This is not a dismissal of "Mulan," "Moana," and "Encanto" - each of which made pioneering strides in expanding Disney's horizons - but an enthusiastic endorsement of presenting a world where diverse identities mix rather than clash.

David Jenkins of Little White Lies says Disney is breaking new ground with the Clade family:

Revolutionary is ...... the introduction of Ethan, Disney Animation's first mixed-race gay character, and the way his sexuality is expressed and developed in a way that is completely superficial and not just a resultant nod (hello, MCU.) Another important theme of Strange Worlds is that of a loved one's acceptance and understanding of their choices. Whether the father is about to abandon his family in a fanatical thirst for adventure, or the son not only doesn't want to take over the family business, but is willing to accept an entirely different way of being a family member. This is the first time such a Disney family title has really put its money where its mouth is in terms of portraying a bold, modern, progressive family.

Tracy Brown of the Los Angeles Times explains how Clade's story parallels the film's theme of environmentalism:

One of the most ambitious swings of "Strange World" is that the family theme is the film's environmental How it parallels the film's environmentalist message. While the relationship between nature and humanity in mainstream Westerns tends toward conquest, as symbolized by the Jaeger (explorer), or domination, as symbolized by the Searcher (farmer), "Strange World" offers the option of coexistence, as represented by Ethan. And how Ethan approaches and experiences the subterranean world is key.

Carlos Aguilar of The Wrap, while appreciating what the filmmakers are trying to do, admits that a little more subtlety could have been used:

Near the end of this exploration, as if the film were not already full of familiar canned phrases about family relationships As if it were not already, the makers of "Strange World" have taken the self-discovery that the three clade men undergo to better navigate their estranged or evolving bond with a hopeful environmental note of acceptance of change, even if there is discomfort in the process and trying to connect with the world. But for all the wonderfully strange beings and worldviews--the adorable Spratt is a standout--the filmmakers fail to blend the fantastical tone with the overbearing lessons they try to convey.

The Hollywood Reporter's Rovia Gyalkey explains that one of the best things about the film is that it does not treat Ethan as a token character. The source of Ethan's tension is his relationship with his father, who wants him to become a farmer. With an insatiable curiosity about the natural world and an intuitive sense of his surroundings, Ethan, like his grandfather, prefers to explore territories outside of Avalonia. Ethan, like his grandfather, prefers to explore territories outside of Avalonia.