Lessons from Strange World written by the Ent. This post contains affiliate links, you can find out more on our policies page or in the disclaimer at the bottom of the blog.
Know Before You Watch the Strange World Movie
Movie: Strange World
Rating: PG
Genre: Animated, Adventure, Fantasy
Length: 1 hr. 42 mins.
Age suggested: 6 an up
Release Date: November 25th, 2022
Warnings: Lots of mild peril (one actual jump scare) including fighting monsters and creatures, family trauma (abandonment) and drama, and medical trauma warning. There is not any foul language. Check out our “Is Strange World Appropriate?” section below for more details.
Strange World Summary
The father-son duo of Jaeger and Searcher Clade are explorers. But when Searcher stands up to his father and tells him he no longer wants to be explorer, a huge rift is formed. We jump to the future where Searcher is now a father trying to make sure his son stay in the new family business he has worked so hard to build. But will their new society survive? Or do they have to adapt again?
Strange World Review
(May Contain Spoilers)
–Why Watch Strange World-
Strange World provides such a fun fantasy world with some emotional pull. Searcher’s abandonment leads to the audience immediately seeing him as a sympathetic character. Which is good because if he was just introduced as brilliant leader without the context, he may have not been liked as much. This also leads to automatic tension when he finds his father during a mission to save pando, Searcher’s revolutionary discovery and electricity source for the city.
There were so many great characters that lend so much to the story. We actually have two comic reliefs in Splat and Legendary the dog, who are both fantastic. (I want a little Splat!) The clashing personalities throughout the movie add so much. For example when Jaeger, Searcher, and Ethan are playing a game to try to connect. The game looks very similar to Catan by the way, which we loved.
Overall it’s a fun and well made movie with great lessons.(Check out our lessons from Strange World section) It’s as close to G as you can get now in theaters. And you could easily watch and enjoy with multiple generations.
Continue reading for our Lessons from Strange World.
-Is Strange World Appropriate?-
Strange World overall is a pretty innocent movie, in fact it is one of the mildest Disney movies in a long time. But there are some things to consider, especially for little ones. There is one illusion to the word @$$, but is cut off before the word is actually said. There is also a LOT of longer dialogue scenes in this movie.
Probably most important, are there are a lot of strange creatures. Many of them are very cute or neutral, but there are a few that will attack the main characters on sight and can look a bit scary for littles. Specifically one that looks like a crawling octopus spider. With this, our main characters do attack these creatures with a flame thrower and knives (although no blood is shown).
One of the main subplots of the film is the relationship between Searcher and his dad. Searcher, even 25 years later, is still dealing with trauma of being abandoned as a kid. This gets compounded when he is reunited with his father in the new strange world. He is forced to deal with his abandonment and is confronted with the fact that he is pushing his son away in the same way.
5 Reasons Why the Strange World
Movie Reviews are Wrong
- First of all, whenever we see a movie get bombarded by negative reviews the week before it comes out, that usually indicates that a lot of the reviews are trolls and bots that haven’t viewed the movie. So that’s the first reason to ignore them.
- This is a movie that is visually stunning. The cinematography artwork is fantastic. And Strange World is really meant to be seen on the big screen. It’s absolutely worth seeing in theaters.
- A lot of the negativity is directed towards 2 things. The first is that there is an LGBTQ+ relationship represented. Hate towards a relationship being appropriately represented onscreen is literally teaching our children to be bigots. And as someone who has a non-typical family make up and who has many friends and family who are a part of that community, I appreciate the representation and conversation opportunity.
- The second thing that has popped up in a lot of the audience reviews is that the storyline beats you over the head with “we need to save the earth/global warming” storyline. And to that I say, um we DO need to work together to protect the earth. So there should be stories about that. And I disagree that it was too heavy handed. I would say it was a lot more subtle than The Lorax or Happy Feet. The main lesson that popped out at me was working together. Which we also need to act on.
- The last reason I would say that the audience reviews are wrong is that this is one of the more mild and multigenerational movies to come out in a long time. It appeals to a wide audience, the visuals are beautiful, and the story is fun.
Lessons from Strange World
We shouldn’t let our personal goals ruin the rest of our lives
Throughout most of the film, Jaeger is entriely focused on “Getting to the other side of the mountain.” He is so focused on this, that he throws away his entire personal life in order to accomplish it. This not only effectively ruins his own life, but also affected the lives of his loved ones. This is also seen through Searcher, who repeats his dad’s failings as well. In the end, they all reunite, but it isn’t without lots of hard work and healing to get there.
We’ve got to deal with our own trauma in order to not repeat it
A lot of Searcher’s personality exists in direct opposition to the way his father treated him. Despite this, because he refused to deal with the hurt of abandonment with anyone, he inevitably started making the same demands of his son. If it wasn’t for Ethan’s push back and Searcher’s willingness to listen, there is a chance that the generational trauma would have simply continued.
In order to truly save the planet, sacrifices need to be made
This has been touted as such a negative for this movie, but no matter your political beliefs, it is important to care for the planet we are living on responsibly. In Strange World, the actual source for their energy was killing the planet. In the end, the difficult decision to push away pride and greed won over staying with the status quo. This directly affected the lives of the entire community, but they adapted and stayed united through it all.
Favorite Strange World Quotes
“Our entire world is in grave danger. I want you to come with me on an expedition.”
“What is that? It’s so cute! I want to merchandise it!”
“I don’t know what you said, but I’m pretty sure it was inappropriate.”
“I spent my whole life wondering about this moment.”
“The best legacy we can leave is making a present worth opening tomorrow.”
Strange World Quotes
Strange World Discussion Questions
Themes to Discuss: Exploring, Family relations, Limited resources, and LGBTQ+ relations
- Which appeals to you more: being an explorer or farmer?
- Who was your favorite character and why?
- If you could have told Searcher and Jaeger one thing to help their relationship sooner, what would you have told them?
- What did Searcher learn about the power source at the end of the film? How does this relate to the real world?
- How can you see the Strange World as a working body? Which do each of the creatures represent?
- How did society change after the destruction of pando?
Thanks for reading out Lessons from Strange World. Before you go, check out these other posts:
-Is Turning Red Appropriate?
-Lessons from Soul
-5 Reasons we Loved Onward
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