Every so often, Disney Animation veers from the path.
Veteran Disney producer Don Hahn said he called it “turning left at the castle.” His analogy was built on theme park geography: instead of heading through the castle to Fantasyland, you would veer left, into Adventureland – an area full of hidden danger, wild creatures and very few songs. (This was the philosophy when Hahn was working on “Atlantis: The Lost Empire,” 2001’s underseen animated gem.)
This week, Walt Disney Animation Studios turns left again with their 61st feature “Strange World,” a story set in a mythological realm that follows three generations – manly adventurer Jaeger Clade (Dennis Quaid), his more intellectual son Searcher Clade (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Searcher’s teen son Ethan (Jaboukie Young-White) – as they explore a world beneath our own full of bizarre, deadly creatures and equally odd geography.