This story about “Strange World” first appeared in the Awards Preview issue of TheWrap awards magazine.
“Strange World” is an atypical movie for Walt Disney Animation Studios. There aren’t any princesses or enchantments, and the one song is very brief and more of a gag than anything else. It follows the Clade family, a group of explorers always pushing up against what is possible. After Jaeger Clade (Dennis Quaid) goes missing, his son Searcher (Jake Gyllenhaal) winds up with an even bigger discovery: Pando, a farmable energy source that turns their sequestered kingdom into a technological powerhouse. But when the energy source starts to falter, Searcher must embark on a journey to uncover the mystery and save his world. To save the world he must journey within it.
Their descent into the strange world of the film’s title is one of the most gripping in the movie. Their airship, the Venture (designed by Disney superstar Cory Loftis), is attacked on the first leg of their arduous journey. During this sequence, we also learn that Searcher’s son Ethan (Jaboukie Young-White) and pilot wife Meridian (Gabrielle Union) have joined the adventure, along with their charming three-legged dog Legend.
“That’s the scene where it becomes, like, ‘OK, this is going to be one of those movies where a group of explorers find a hidden world full of creatures and they get attacked,’” director Don Hall said. “It had to all come together.” The sequence, which holds so much thematic and narrative weight, didn’t come together until toward the end of production. “When we were putting that scene together, we weren’t even sure exactly where things were until relatively late in the game,” Hall said. “That made things slightly difficult but it helped that it was a dark scene. It was meant to feel claustrophobic — you don’t have a lot of depth of field at all. It’s contained.” This is in direct contrast to when they finally get to the strange world, which opens up into a colorful, creature-filled cornucopia full of bright colors and odd shapes. “That was all very intentional,” Hall said.
The sequence also allows beauty and danger to coexist. The pilot of the ship, Duffle (voiced by Disney good luck charm Alan Tudyk) is eaten by one of the creatures, a shocking moment that energizes the film. “His death did two things,” Hall explained. “It created an opening for Meridian to have an act of heroism (she ultimately pilots the airship) but it also set the stakes — like death, (which) could be around any corner.”
But the descent into the planet also allowed viewers to appreciate the gorgeousness of this new world. “I felt strongly that I wanted to have a moment to acknowledge the beauty of Pando, because there is that moment where they’re seeing the roots,” Hall said. “Searcher would just be in awe, because nobody’s ever seen Pando from this vantage point before.”
Read more from the Awards Preview issue here.
