A father-son story at the heart of Disney’s ‘strangest’ animated world

A multi-generational tale about a grandfather, father and son, and their loving yet complicated relationships, are at the heart of Disney’s “most exotic” animated world (so far!).

In the new film Strange World, audiences are introduced to the Clades, a legendary family of explorers who find themselves navigating an uncharted, subterranean world, teeming with surreal creatures, danger and the unknown.

The Clade family is made up of Searcher Clade (voiced by Jake Gyllenhaal), a family man, successful farmer and home town hero in Avalonia. When he was a teenager, he went on a survival expedition with his father — the great explorer Jaeger (Dennis Quaid) — and discovered a plant-based, renewable energy source called Pando, which transformed Avalonia from a mountain-locked, backward community into a utopia with flying machines and other marvels of technology.

But the seeming price to pay for his discovery was that Searcher got separated from his father, who has been missing for 25 years since then.

Meanwhile, Searcher’s 16-year-old son Ethan (Jaboukie Young-White) is a happy teen with a “decent work ethic” as he helps out in the farming operation. He isn’t sure though if he wants to follow in his father’s footsteps and be a farmer forever.

On the surface, these three generations of Clades are so different from each other. But when the miracle plant Pando is found to be dying, consequently threatening Avalonia’s way of living, soon, the Clades will come together and discover how similar they are to each other, even more than they’re willing to acknowledge.

Family story

The STAR recently learned more about the journey of Strange World to the screens during a virtual chat with its filmmakers. Director Don Hall (whose previous credits include Raya and the Last Dragon, Moana, Big Hero Six) began, “You know, starting off the movie, I really wanted to get sort of a nice contrast in these three generations. We started with Jaeger, a kind of bigger than life explorer. Sort of the Michael Jordan of exploration. Famous, intrepid, brave, bold. Somebody who’s unrooted in terms of their wanderlust.

“And think about that character’s son, who might not share those attributes. That’s what led to Searcher and this idea of what is the legacy that you’re leaving behind? That is a very much, the vague father-son idea. So, (we wanted) to get that contrast with Searcher being a character who is more rooted. He’s rooted in the earth, he’s a farmer, not an explorer, that wasn’t his path. Somebody that stays at home and really values the idea of raising a family.

“And then, we added our character, Ethan, who is sort of caught in between. At 16, he’s ready to move into that next phase of his life. Is he going to stay on the farm? But he has these feelings of wanderlust that connect more to his grandpa. So, it just felt like that was a rich combination of characteristics with which to kind of build our generational story with,” Don added.

In Strange World, Don collaborated anew with co-director and writer Qui Nguyen. They previously worked on Raya and The Last Dragon, the first Southeast Asian Disney film.

Qui shared, also during the media event, that personal experiences, being sons and fathers themselves, served as inspiration for the film. “We got to imbue a lot of our own kind of personal stories and relationships into these characters. ‘Cause, obviously, a good story is full of conflict. And as a child and as a parent, there are obviously a lot of conflicts to pull from to make these characters, you know, come to life,” he explained.

In the press notes, Don recalled his own relationship with his father who worked on a farm in Iowa. “My dad and I have a great relationship. He is a farmer and I grew up helping out. But when I was 14 years old, it all changed. Suddenly, I was planting and doing more high-level stuff that I just didn’t want to do. It wasn’t me,” he said.

“It all turned out fine, but I always remembered that and thought it would be interesting to explore father/son relationships and the kind of expectations we put on our kids — intentionally or unintentionally.”

Real, reel inspirations

The filmmakers explored these father-son relationships in a breathtakingly strange setting born from the imagination of the animators behind such fantastical worlds as Zootopia, San Fransokyo, Arendelle to Kumandra. Or make that “settings,” as there are two worlds introduced in this film — Avalonia and Strange World.

The former is surrounded by mountains on all sides and farms, while the latter is the world below, psychedelic and populated with faceless and armless creatures, including Splat, a blue blobby creature with no facial features but overflowing with personality.

Qui said that filmmakers just wanted to ensure their “strange world” stood apart from familiar sci-fi fare. “The challenge was how do we make these characters truly unique — not just weird creatures that could exist in any movie. What makes them Disney creatures?” he said in the press notes.

“We decided that these characters would have no eyeballs, no noses, no mouths — no Disney eyes or Disney smiles — all that goes away… We went back to the brooms from Fantasia and the magic carpet in Aladdin. How do you personify something with no face?

“And wow! Our (animation) team just ran with it.”

Don recalled that when they first pitched this movie, it was  indeed tricky. “There’s been a lot of things. From splat to Strange World to, you know, just by every metric, I feel like we have had a high degree of difficulty with this film. Adding to that is essentially, two worlds. Our lens of the story is through this world of Avalonia. It’s not our world. It’s our own created world and then we go to another world — Strange World.” (More on the French comics and post-War Disney films inspired animation in our interview with the animators).

The director further shared that classic adventure stories and films also inspired this all-new original story and world. “We went to (author) Jules Verne, which was sort of that turn of the century. You know, (the) little earlier than turn of the century adventure novels, starting with Mysterious Island and Journey to the Center of the Earth,” he said, adding he was also inspired by King Kong, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars and Disney films like Peter Pan.

As for Qui, when he learned about Don’s inspirations, he said, “Immediately, I knew what that adventure was going to be and I knew where the humor was going to come from. And that’s the kind of thing that immediately makes you want to go make it. It was like, the clarity of his vision was so easy to just, you know, you want to be involved with.”

Big themes

The fun, colorful aspects aside, the film explored such big themes as personal legacy, environment and climate change.

Qui said, “The great thing about the film is, it’s kind of like a multiple, coming-of-age story for a lot of these characters.

“There’s a level of Searcher coming of age as an adult and a coming of age for Ethan as a young man into, like, figuring out what his path is going to be. There’s a coming of age even for the grandfather in this film because he has to take responsibilities for things, choices he made in the past. It’s just one of those things that it’s like you see this wonderful story and realize what is the value? What is the value in your legacy? What are the choices you’re making to make a better world, to make a better tomorrow for everyone?” the writer further reflected.

Qui also pointed out the film’s message about how personal growth doesn’t stop at a certain age. “That it isn’t just there at 16 or at 40 or 60, which are the ages of all three of our main characters throughout the film. It is an ongoing thing.  How do we evolve and make a better world for not just for us to live on, but for each other to live with? How do we make each other’s families better and make each other better people?”

As for the film’s statement about humanity’s relationship with the planet, Don said, “That’s really where this all started. It’s very top of mind as a parent. When I started this in 2018, you know, the kids were a little younger. Now, I have one in college and one in high school. But those questions are very-relevant-today questions: What kind of world did I inherit from my father, and what kind of world is being passed on to my kids.”

“Even though it’s a very big adventure film full of comedy and heart, that is the underlying question: How do we live?” he concluded.

(Strange World is now screening in Philippine cinemas nationwide.)