I saw the movie on Tuesday, and I was so numb to everything going on onscreen that I didn’t even notice the dog was missing a leg until you mentioned it here.
Usually animated features keep me invested with their creative design and vibrant world even if not the best story, but I was really bored by this and couldn't wait for it to end. The characters don't feel interesting and were very bland, except with a strong focus on political message (with diversity and lgbt in the forefront) more than anything.. with 3 legged dog that I didn't notice either, they really got all the boxes checked
I can only go by what I'm seeing here but that's now how a dog with a missing leg would move. It looks like they animated it as if the dog had four legs then a few weeks before the movie came out someone decided the dog should have a disability so removed the leg without changing anything else. Obviously it doesn't factor into the movie if you didn't even notice?
@@sebastiantrias1529 The Global elites are paying Disney to take a Dive. It's so we'll ALL be too poor to buy ourselves out of WEF's bs in 10 years. Get ready!
@@sebastiantrias1529 Encanto was released in theaters, but a combination of Covid concerns and Disney openly stating that it'd be on Disney+ by Christmas led to people waiting until then to see Encanto.
I don't think the writers of this movie knew what the word subtle means. They really beat the viewer over the head with what they were trying to say, not only with the similarities with the father and sons mistakes but man, that line in the beginning where the newscaster says something along the line of "Sure would be a shame if these plants started losing power.." made me shake my head
This has been a consistent problem with this writing team and director. Don Hall and Qui Nguyen were the two main people behind Raya and the Last Dragon, and that movie beat its message to death (and fumbled it badly) too. Hall was also the director of Big Hero 6, which was Disney's weakest film from 2010 (Tangled) to 2016 (Moana). It's also yet another generational trauma movie. Disney has a really bad habit of overusing a story trait that initially lands well (another example being twist villains). The generational trauma plot-line worked quite well in smaller-scale, tightly knit stories like Encanto and Turning Red, but it's very out of place here in a film that's more about exploration than introspection. Furthermore, Jaeger Clade is much harder to forgive than Alma Madrigal or Ming Lee because he outright abandons his son Searcher and the rest of his family for a quarter-century. So many elements of this movie's plot and themes were botched, and the great animation isn't remotely enough to save it.
And exactly how old are you ? Do you think this movie was made for you age bracket? It took George Lucas 6 movies to hammer that message down (and then another 3 superfluous sequels to put the lid on the coffin......) and those movies were meant for teenagers (and all other eternal teenagers..). And the metaphor of a "world" being a living being, which might not feed it's inhabitants for free forever is one that can' be stressed enough in these days. For sure, cause we're all gonna be paying through the nose for this in the decades ahead. Ahum, because WE were so smart when we were young or as adults? Like we made the perfect world (for our kids?). There's a dozen schoolshooting in America alone each year that say differently. Humility is another one we haven't mastered.
@@TravelsWithSophia LOL, and pray exactly what is the propaganda? You shouldn't make a mess of the place you live in ? Guess your parents didn't teach you enough propaganda.
You touched on it briefly, but I feel like Disney's problem is the one they created. Disney+. When you put a bunch of theatre quality movies straight to Disney+ and then take all of your movie theatre movies and put them on your service 45 days after it hits theatres, you lose the urgency to go see it in theatres. I have a couple of friends who didn't like the theatre experience in the first place so they just wait for it to go on Disney+.
The only ads I’ve seen for Strange World were some posters at my nearby mall and most of the people in my friend circle didn’t even know this movie is coming out at all. I definitely agree that Turning Red deserved to be released in theaters too.
One thing that I appreciate about Dan Murrells set up is that his razzamatazz in the background are easter eggs of his interests, not just pop culture fluff
Although I love Disney animation something about Strange World just made it look really generic, after seeing all of the incredibly vague marketing I feel like if I tried to pitch this movie to someone all I could come up with is “Well….it’s a movie about characters going to this strange place and they’re……on a quest to……find something” Maybe if the trailers filled us in on *WHY* they’re going to this place it would’ve made the movie look like it had more substance, but the fact they didn’t made the movie just look like nothing but visual noise
I agree. I hadn't heard ANYTHING about this movie until recently (maybe my targeted adds are too good at their job)? I'm beginning to hate the Disney CGI animation style. It's like they just made minor edits, and hit copy/paste in their character designs since 2016. Compared to the animation from the 1990's and 2000's, it really starts to look like soulless garbage. The first time I saw any reference to this movie, I thought Illumination animated it.
Color grade and lighting is looking much better. Thanks for all you do Dan! I always trust your takes, as we have similar taste. You save a new dad lots of precious time!
I appreciate this review. The family will save money by not going to the theater, and instead stay home and watch disenchanted this Holiday weekend. Thanks Dan!
@@petermahal5981 I was honestly pretty disappointed. I thought so many things were gonna happen narratively that just didn’t happen, like the first half seemed to set up stuff that never came to be and ultimately the writing just felt lazy to me. It’s especially apparent in the songs imo they were all not good, the only passable one was Love Power simply for Idina Menzel’s vocals, her voice is like liquid gold
*MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD* There was something so contrived about the “bad father” trope set up in the beginning. We’re supposed to believe Jaeger is deplorable because of 1 fight? And AFTER saving his son’s life??? And choosing to stick to the mission he created and led? And all of his crew in the blink of an eye decided to go with Searcher? There was nothing set up to make me believe these dynamics. There should have been a montage of Jaeger not listening to Searcher or the team for that to have worked. Also, where was the search and rescue team for Jaeger? Then Searcher spoon feeds his son: “he’s a bad father.” That’s horrible writing. He should’ve told Ethan his grandfather’s actions and allowed him and the audience to draw their own conclusions. People don’t speak like that in real life. There was no subtlety or nuances with the thematic elements. The relationship between Ethan and his crush was there solely for tokenism. How did Diazo know Ethan was an explorer rather than a farmer? That relationship should have been established more thoughtfully in a way that uses Diazo as a plot device to help Ethan discover himself. Why not world-build by showing them at school, reading a book about Jaeger together, hearing how his fellow students talk about his legendary grandfather, and having Diazo encourage Ethan to learn more about exploring? That would make it a more meaningful relationship. Why did they animate a whole crew to go to the strange world only to use 2 of them? The others didn’t need to be there frankly. The dialogue was a mess. The self awareness did not work (splat being called merchandise/Ethan using the phrase toxic relationship). Jaeger’s wife “moving on” was the weirdest joke that I wouldn’t even know how to explain to kids lol. That stuff just pulled me right out of the immersion. There’s so much wasted potential here. It’s a shame. Hollywood needs to give a little more TLC to their stories again, rather than spectacle. Also can we drop the cynicism? I miss the magic.
It's super evidently presented that searcher never felt comfortable with his dad. Don't know what to tell you there. It wasn't just one fight,but rather, the one expedition that broke the camel's back. They even make it as obvious as to show you a sequence of pictures they took throughout many years, and in all of them searcher looks frustrated and just smiling for the camera, while you see his father just enjoying the cameras and pushing his son blindly. It doesn't matter that he saved searcher in that cave. Ge forced him for years into situations like that, very clearly baskibg in the glory of being a great "adventurer/hero/explorer". Of course searcher isn't gonna be too moved, you are shown and it's implied this has happened hundreds of times, despite searcher's desires and goals, since he is being ignored and dragged along.
Saw an early screening for this. While overall it was fine, it felt very first draft. Lots of cool concepts that suddenly get introduced without much foreshadowing.
I mean this is what happens when Don Hall and Qui Nguyen were task to direct right after Ray and the last dragon. Maybe it should have come out next year which would have made the film stronger.
@@danielgudinojuarez6729 It seems like Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios are focusing more and more on world building than on the actual story of a movie. The reviews of _Raya and the Last Dragon_ were almost unanimous: the concept would have worked better as an open world game. I hope _Elemtal_ won't have that problem, too
The design of the world felt very suessian or Pandora like with its environment and I didn't pick up that they were inside an organism until halfway through. I just wasn't engaged with the characters or writing and felt it really needed a rewrite.
I think even the title strange world is generic. If they revealed the twist earlier and used it more in the marketing, I think they could have dane a better title.
Watched this on Tuesday with some friends and yeah we all came out just being that was an okay movie. While watching the movie I did not catch on the big twist because the focus was more on the two conflicting Clade's resolving their differences. I came out thinking the same that I wish the focus was more on the world because it's so cool and weird and the revel puts that into context as well.
same, didnt catch on to the twist from the trailers but a few of the designs from the world reminded me of biology, specifically the blood cells. So it was still a bit of a surprise for me. glad I'm not the only one lol!
One thing I've seen discussed online about the marketing is since the main character is gay, Disney purposefully did not push it much. The thinking that they can use this movie as an example to say having gay characters does not do well at the box office, when that is not the contributing factor to why the movie didn't do well. That being said, I saw the movie and did enjoy it. I agree with your points, and it was pretty generic hitting all the same beats, but I think the visuals and the conflict between the characters (even though it was predictable) was still enough to keep me engaged.
Just watched the movie and I thought it's actually gonna be bad as I thought others say, It's actually pretty enjoyable. It had a cool old and 'strange world' vibes to it with weird creatures with a very strange bright color palette. spoilers below: I find it interesting and unique that the "strange world" they're actually in is actually the inside of an organism (aka a Turtle) this entire time, makes a pretty shocking kinda twist. I like how things worked out with the grandfather, the father and the son at the end of the movie it's so sweet and happy. Sorta sad Disney didn't promote this much... all cause of how people react to one of the mc being homosexual even tho that isn't even a major part of the story-
It seems like Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios are focusing more and more on world building than on the actual story of a movie. The reviews of _Raya and the Last Dragon_ were almost unanimous: the concept would have worked better as an open world game. I hope _Elemtal_ won't have that problem, too
In my opinion, this movie did one thing and ONLY one thing very very well (aside from the animation) - it got me emotionally invested and made me feel sad/empathetic for the giant turtle that is Abalonia. Even though you don't find out that it's a turtle until the very VERY end when they zoom out and show a giant turtle as the only land mass on the planet, which in itself left me confused and raised tons of questions, they executed this PERFECTLY. Unfortunately, they executed this so perfectly that it actually killed its rewatch value because knowing what I know now after having watched the movie the first time, characters who were just bland/mildly annoying are now insufferable assholes.
Dan: I'm going into spolier zone now. You're warned. Here's your last chance to click away. Random Commenter: ...🤷🏻... The details of the surprise plot twist are...
Yet another beautifully made film... with a weak screenplay; the true Achilles Heel of modern media. The script is only a tiny fraction of a film's budget, but such a crucial element of nearly any production.
Dan is 100% right, the marketing for Strange World lacked a robust concept or hook. If you asked me what Moana was about from the trailers alone, I could tell you. If someone asked me what Strange World was actually about, I couldn't tell you. It seems that the trailers were riding exclusively on the visuals, and that's not effective for word of mouth
Did anyone else notice that, when the characters were playing cards, Jaeger said something to the effect of, "How can you not have a villain? That's just bad writing." I'm pretty sure that was Disney lampshading the fact that they don't have villains in their movies anymore. As for the review itself, Dan, I completely agree with everything you said. I wanted to like this movie so badly, but after the first 25-30 minutes, I zoned out. Interesting that you mentioned it was directed/written by the same people who did Raya & the Last Dragon, because I didn't like that one either. I've never seen a movie botch is own moral so badly than Raya (saying we should trust people when trust is how everything bad happened in that movie to begin with).
I never considered the world being a REDACTED at all, I feel kind of dumb for that. I was sold on the adventure thing, that was a big selling point for me, the old school homage and all that. The REDACTED thing works as a reveal but it's pretty standard, I've seen this reveal a few times. After the box office failures of Atlantis and Treasure Planet, I'm glad they tried again with an adventure but like those, I liked this but it is deeply flawed. I think they haven't cracked the code fully yet so if this flops, don't expect them to try again for a while.
The same for me, when I first saw the trailer I hoped that they were exploring a world that had very different biology, fantastic otherworldly vista and bizarre denizens. I guess I expected too much from them.
You're right Dan. Until I went to movie Tuesday evening, I had never heard of this. And like a lot of people here, I'm a movie geek. I think it will be pretty easy to stay unspoiled and I'll wait for the Disney+ streaming in January. BTW, the movie I saw was She Said which was superb. See it in a theatre while you can.
When I saw the trailer, the one thing that caught my attention was the character designs. Felt odd and I thought they 'hurt' the movie. It didn't seem any different from the 'recycled' look we're accustomed to. (Well, duh. What did you expect? Maybe something Laika à la 'Kubo and the Two Strings'?) A more stylized look could've made up for the movie's shortcomings as it would've broken the generic mould. I was more enthusiastic about 'Turning Red' because it looked and felt fairly different.
There seems to be a real lack of great writers recently. A lot of movies with big potential are just not working because the writing is not good enough. Hollywood really needs to start finding some good writers.
Having seen this movie on Tuesday, I can safely say it stunk. I don't know who they were trying to attract. The resolution and life lesson that went with it was too preachy for children, and it talked down to adults. Wall-E handled it much better.
I had to agree on this one. I caught a morning screening of Strange World and it is one of the biggest disappointments of 2022 (alongside a very obscure Chinese animated movie, Goodbye Monster). The fact that Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness, an Indiana Jones- style adventure animated movie from Belgium, does most things Strange World has but even better sums up my disappointment towards Strange World...
Read/watch movie news sites and youtube channels regularly and this is the first time I've heard of this movie. Maybe I saw the title or some minor blurb about a while ago but I certainly don't recall it.
I really loved this story i guess i think to much because i feel like we are using up all of our energry for selfish reasons!! Not saying i dont and how it has harden our hearts over time!! That it takes just a few to change!! In big ways!!
5:40 Dan warns about spoilers and the big twist, only for the video to get interrupted by a perfectly timed Avatar 2 ad. There's a joke in here somewhere.
I felt this way about The Bad Guys, I really liked how different and fluid the animation was, but the story felt really tired with obvious twists and character moments. I know these are kids movies but most hold Disney/Pixar/DreamWorks in high regard with past movies that didn't have such simple, non challenging or memorable stories.
One thing i've noticed is that people criticize it for both opposites at the same time: being too predictable, or the opposite, being surprised by the last 30 minutes and calling it disconected. The organic paralels seem to phase through not just little kids, but a chunk of adults too. I believe the creators weren't sure as to how obvious to make it
Disney are running out of ideas now that they’re not remaking old fairy tales/myths/stories. If you want to write your own stories you really have to prioritise the writers over everything else
I really didn't like Raya and the last dragon.. so hearing it is from the same team I was out. Disney really needs to focus on finding writers that has that magic touch and not some writers that chasing trends.
When it’s not Star Wars or MCU, Disney has a terrible track record for original sci-fi films, both animated and live action. John Carter, Mars Needs Moms, Tomorrowland, Lightyear, and even Atlantis and Treasure Planet were all box office disappointments.
It is not a big marketing type of movie, yeah a little direct but so what. The visuals and music made up for it. I agree, i never really remembered the dog had 3 legs till you reminded me about the merchandising side. Id play with a splat.
People are sick of Disney's crap, and that's why the movie BOMBED. I'll say it. This was their worst B.O. (double meaning intended) since The Black Cauldron in 1982, and everyone knows why. As long as decent parents exist, modern Disney is doomed and rightly so, regardless of Disney+.
I remember catching the trailer on TH-cam less than a week before it released. I thought “the world looks kinda neat…but what’s the movie actually about??” ‘A family explores a strange world,’ is not an interesting enough pitch to make me go see the movie, which is not good if I’m apparently one of the few that even know about it. I thought that it might be cool if it were sorta like a documentary where we learn about the characters’ personalities and experiences through how they react the to strange world. I seems to me that the very foundation of this movie was too vague to become anything more than, well, vague memory for those who viewed it.
They executed the crush so poorly though. Representation is good but then completely fumbled it in this story. It served no purpose except tokenism. Disney has no idea how to make characters and relationships meaningful anymore.
@@Jules2439.5 Well the focus of the movie wasn’t the relationship. And it also wasn’t anything forceful either so idk why so many people have a problem with it.
I thought about taking my two daughters (7 &1) but I will probably wait until streaming now especially with the slower parts you mentioned and the restless kids in the theater - not sure it’ll hold my 1 year olds attention (not like when I took my 7 year old to see Moana when she was 1 she couldn’t take her eyes off that screen)
was never about the script, the story didnt really matter, it was about the fact they had gay teenager, and pushing Gay relationship, and acceptance, thats it, they thought that was enough to carry the movie, and it isnt. looks great, but the gay hook is boring, does anyone care these days, i certainly dont. Story is always king
They should’ve integrated into the story if it was a selling point! Diazo served literally 0 purpose to the plot. It was so obvious it was just to say they’re being inclusive rather than being thoughtful about it.
Dizzyney is more obsessed with political correctness than telling a good story. It is like a long infomercial rather than a movie. Years ago Monte Python did similar in part of it's Holy Grail.
(Spoiler Alert) Got it, skip this, watch Futurama’s Parasites Lost instead, gotcha. Totally agree with the point that revealing the not-so-secret secret from the start would have greatly helped the marketing for this. I have to wonder what Disney is going to do on the animation front as putting Soul and Turning Red on D+ and also just getting families used to watching new movies at home without the ticket and concession prices and not being able to pause have just conditioned the audience to think about animation differently.
IDK, saw the movie yesterday. Really wasn't that bad. Awesome visuals, Quaid was great as the Dad, and the diverse cast was okay. Lots of Lovecraftian, Fantastic voyage, and Mesozoic vibes. Cool to see all the Jellies and Halluciagencia. Dog reminds me of Sprocket from Fraggle Rock. Innerspace was a great movie as well. And yeah, Disney just got it horribly wrong with the marketing. Most ppl I've talked to are wondering when it's going to come out.?
We just watched it with our three year old and most things about it was predictable: oh, they're in/on a body, father/son "i don't wanna be like you" dynamic. They DID surprise me with their "green energy" ending up being harmful, BUT let me down because in a society, you don't have to go back to horse and buggy. The pando existed just fine in moderation, and the issue was it spread too deep. It's like planting mint in your garden, it will take over unless contained. Grow it in raised beds and you're golden.
I knew this moving was coming out, I just didn't know it was coming out this week. I still haven't seen a trailer for it, so I'll agree the marketing wasn't probably to great on this project. The very Idea they had Dennis Quaid in the film and wouldn't take advantage of him also being in Innerspace is a tragically wasted opportunity.
The previews for Strange World are 50% of Encanto, and only a shocking 9% of the previews for Frozen 2, The budget is apparently as high as $180m. This is going to be one of the biggest box office flops in history.
The movie was good but I wish the ending was a bit different. It's kinda a downer that they went home and there was no power. I wish they discovered a more eco friendly power source like hydrologic power , solar energy, or a green power source inside the island. I know it's a cartoon but imagine if in real life all the power just shut off.
I saw it as a Journey to the Centre of the Earth adventure & mostly got that. So I enjoyed. Also I actually liked the family dynamic of the movie. Was it archetypical - yeah of course it was but the performances were solid and I enjoyed them
Maybe it's because he also does a Box Office Report show, but it often feels like Dan is more interested in reviewing the box office potential of a movie than the actual movie itself. He spends a long time going over the bad marketing and how Disenchanted (ugh) should have been swapped with Strange World.
As long as Disney keeps inserting politics into their movies, parents will skip it. My kids are small and only my husband and I decide the time and place to have a conversation with our kids about sexuality. It’s not for Disney to open that conversation for us. You can try to explain away their box office failures with every excuse in the book - the REAL issue is that a huge portion of the world is not progressive.
I’d never heard of this movie until last week… I get the impression Disney knew they had an ‘average’ film on their hands so didn’t bother promoting it 🤷♂️
Since you said people form Raya and the last dragon was involved, I understood why it was so bad. Besides I think there are good ways to do inclusion and open to new ideas and cultures to kids for examples: Moana, coco, Encanto... Even buzzlight year and the kiss scene were okay! But... But... this is kinda weird.
It would be far more interested if this film featured cancer. If they showcased what cancer is capable of in a child's film. Thanks for providing the twist, I didn't have a strong interest in this film but knowing it made me have more ideas with what they could do with that concept.
I only saw one trailer for Strange World and it preceded a showing of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. From the trailer I immediately picked up on the premise. Although my source material goes back further than your 1980s film. My trigger source was a 1966 movie starring Donald Pleasence and Raquel Welch. I do appreciate that the plot was expanded to hint at the understanding of expected threats to our world's trajectory. I'm fairly certain that aspect went over the heads of children. I thought the visuals were dazzling from design to colors. Perhaps adults are too jaded / experienced to be surprised by the third act reveal. I would be interested in hearing what an elementary school student has to say about the reveal. Not an awful film, but I definitely foresee some audience members feeling like they are on the outside and locked into their past. Perhaps the title "Strange World" also fits thematically with people who might freak out about change and struggle to adapt to a world that now feels very alien and bizarre to them?
I just saw the movie in cinemas with a friend and our daughters (9 - 11 year olds). We loved it! I'm super happy I didn't watch the spoiler part of this video (thanks for the warning!) .... For us the central theme of the movie was RENEWABLE ENERGY, cooperation, CHANGING PARADIGMS and perspectives, understanding on a personal and environmental level. SPOILER: The green plant for me is a metaphor for petroleum and our current use of it is killing our living planet. As humans we need change our perspective and put well thought out measures into action on a government and personal level.
Spoiler>>>>>>>>>>> Dan I get that it was obvious to that they were inside a body. I just thought they were in a Strang World. And ALL of the mystery of this film is centered around discovery that they are inside this being. If that is known from the start and used to market the film you would need to substantially change the story. Maybe there will be more folks like me that hated biology and they won't figure the twist out so fast. Generally I hate fun with the film and like the message about looking at the world a system not just labeling things as good or bad. I'm going to be shocked if we don't get that card game out by Christmas. (p.s. If it's a system the energy plants had a purpose? )
I saw the movie on Tuesday, and I was so numb to everything going on onscreen that I didn’t even notice the dog was missing a leg until you mentioned it here.
Usually animated features keep me invested with their creative design and vibrant world even if not the best story, but I was really bored by this and couldn't wait for it to end. The characters don't feel interesting and were very bland, except with a strong focus on political message (with diversity and lgbt in the forefront) more than anything.. with 3 legged dog that I didn't notice either, they really got all the boxes checked
😂😂😂😂
I can only go by what I'm seeing here but that's now how a dog with a missing leg would move. It looks like they animated it as if the dog had four legs then a few weeks before the movie came out someone decided the dog should have a disability so removed the leg without changing anything else. Obviously it doesn't factor into the movie if you didn't even notice?
Me neither. I think it was because he was scruffy so it's easy to miss.
@@uosdwiSrdewoH Exactly. The dog moved very fast. Usually they make a limping motion if they only have three legs.
There is no question that Disenchanted would have murdered this movie at the box office.
Why didn’t they do that, it’s like if they had released Encanto in theaters, they would have biggest success Disney had in years.
@@sebastiantrias1529 Encanto was released in theaters.
@@sebastiantrias1529 The Global elites are paying Disney to take a Dive. It's so we'll ALL be too poor to buy ourselves out of WEF's bs in 10 years. Get ready!
Anything would murder it. "Man getting hit by football" would have murdered it.
@@sebastiantrias1529 Encanto was released in theaters, but a combination of Covid concerns and Disney openly stating that it'd be on Disney+ by Christmas led to people waiting until then to see Encanto.
I don't think the writers of this movie knew what the word subtle means. They really beat the viewer over the head with what they were trying to say, not only with the similarities with the father and sons mistakes but man, that line in the beginning where the newscaster says something along the line of "Sure would be a shame if these plants started losing power.." made me shake my head
Yeah the whole father/son thing got real predictable
This has been a consistent problem with this writing team and director. Don Hall and Qui Nguyen were the two main people behind Raya and the Last Dragon, and that movie beat its message to death (and fumbled it badly) too. Hall was also the director of Big Hero 6, which was Disney's weakest film from 2010 (Tangled) to 2016 (Moana).
It's also yet another generational trauma movie. Disney has a really bad habit of overusing a story trait that initially lands well (another example being twist villains). The generational trauma plot-line worked quite well in smaller-scale, tightly knit stories like Encanto and Turning Red, but it's very out of place here in a film that's more about exploration than introspection. Furthermore, Jaeger Clade is much harder to forgive than Alma Madrigal or Ming Lee because he outright abandons his son Searcher and the rest of his family for a quarter-century. So many elements of this movie's plot and themes were botched, and the great animation isn't remotely enough to save it.
It's propaganda
And exactly how old are you ? Do you think this movie was made for you age bracket?
It took George Lucas 6 movies to hammer that message down (and then another 3 superfluous sequels to put the lid on the coffin......) and those movies were meant for teenagers (and all other eternal teenagers..).
And the metaphor of a "world" being a living being, which might not feed it's inhabitants for free forever is one that can' be stressed enough in these days. For sure, cause we're all gonna be paying through the nose for this in the decades ahead. Ahum, because WE were so smart when we were young or as adults? Like we made the perfect world (for our kids?). There's a dozen schoolshooting in America alone each year that say differently.
Humility is another one we haven't mastered.
@@TravelsWithSophia LOL, and pray exactly what is the propaganda? You shouldn't make a mess of the place you live in ? Guess your parents didn't teach you enough propaganda.
You touched on it briefly, but I feel like Disney's problem is the one they created. Disney+. When you put a bunch of theatre quality movies straight to Disney+ and then take all of your movie theatre movies and put them on your service 45 days after it hits theatres, you lose the urgency to go see it in theatres. I have a couple of friends who didn't like the theatre experience in the first place so they just wait for it to go on Disney+.
The only ads I’ve seen for Strange World were some posters at my nearby mall and most of the people in my friend circle didn’t even know this movie is coming out at all. I definitely agree that Turning Red deserved to be released in theaters too.
Yeah I had no idea till a few days ago this even existed. Terrible marketing
One thing that I appreciate about Dan Murrells set up is that his razzamatazz in the background are easter eggs of his interests, not just pop culture fluff
Love that too! I always check and see what's behind him.
Although I love Disney animation something about Strange World just made it look really generic, after seeing all of the incredibly vague marketing I feel like if I tried to pitch this movie to someone all I could come up with is “Well….it’s a movie about characters going to this strange place and they’re……on a quest to……find something” Maybe if the trailers filled us in on *WHY* they’re going to this place it would’ve made the movie look like it had more substance, but the fact they didn’t made the movie just look like nothing but visual noise
I agree. I hadn't heard ANYTHING about this movie until recently (maybe my targeted adds are too good at their job)? I'm beginning to hate the Disney CGI animation style. It's like they just made minor edits, and hit copy/paste in their character designs since 2016. Compared to the animation from the 1990's and 2000's, it really starts to look like soulless garbage. The first time I saw any reference to this movie, I thought Illumination animated it.
@@notreallymyname3736yeah the characters design really generic
Color grade and lighting is looking much better. Thanks for all you do Dan! I always trust your takes, as we have similar taste. You save a new dad lots of precious time!
I appreciate this review. The family will save money by not going to the theater, and instead stay home and watch disenchanted this Holiday weekend. Thanks Dan!
Hope you guys have fun!
I thought disenchanted was a poor film
Good luck with that too 😂 I've seldom seen a movie with less sense of direction
@@petermahal5981 I was honestly pretty disappointed. I thought so many things were gonna happen narratively that just didn’t happen, like the first half seemed to set up stuff that never came to be and ultimately the writing just felt lazy to me. It’s especially apparent in the songs imo they were all not good, the only passable one was Love Power simply for Idina Menzel’s vocals, her voice is like liquid gold
Both enchanted fills were bad
*MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD*
There was something so contrived about the “bad father” trope set up in the beginning. We’re supposed to believe Jaeger is deplorable because of 1 fight? And AFTER saving his son’s life??? And choosing to stick to the mission he created and led? And all of his crew in the blink of an eye decided to go with Searcher? There was nothing set up to make me believe these dynamics. There should have been a montage of Jaeger not listening to Searcher or the team for that to have worked. Also, where was the search and rescue team for Jaeger? Then Searcher spoon feeds his son: “he’s a bad father.” That’s horrible writing. He should’ve told Ethan his grandfather’s actions and allowed him and the audience to draw their own conclusions. People don’t speak like that in real life. There was no subtlety or nuances with the thematic elements.
The relationship between Ethan and his crush was there solely for tokenism. How did Diazo know Ethan was an explorer rather than a farmer? That relationship should have been established more thoughtfully in a way that uses Diazo as a plot device to help Ethan discover himself. Why not world-build by showing them at school, reading a book about Jaeger together, hearing how his fellow students talk about his legendary grandfather, and having Diazo encourage Ethan to learn more about exploring? That would make it a more meaningful relationship.
Why did they animate a whole crew to go to the strange world only to use 2 of them? The others didn’t need to be there frankly.
The dialogue was a mess. The self awareness did not work (splat being called merchandise/Ethan using the phrase toxic relationship). Jaeger’s wife “moving on” was the weirdest joke that I wouldn’t even know how to explain to kids lol. That stuff just pulled me right out of the immersion.
There’s so much wasted potential here. It’s a shame. Hollywood needs to give a little more TLC to their stories again, rather than spectacle. Also can we drop the cynicism? I miss the magic.
It's super evidently presented that searcher never felt comfortable with his dad. Don't know what to tell you there. It wasn't just one fight,but rather, the one expedition that broke the camel's back. They even make it as obvious as to show you a sequence of pictures they took throughout many years, and in all of them searcher looks frustrated and just smiling for the camera, while you see his father just enjoying the cameras and pushing his son blindly.
It doesn't matter that he saved searcher in that cave. Ge forced him for years into situations like that, very clearly baskibg in the glory of being a great "adventurer/hero/explorer". Of course searcher isn't gonna be too moved, you are shown and it's implied this has happened hundreds of times, despite searcher's desires and goals, since he is being ignored and dragged along.
Finally, a non politial review, it’s refreshing 😅🥺
There's Saberspark, but otherwise yeah a TON of homophobic reviewers.
Yes I appreciated that too. Hyperbolic hate reviews are amazing actually. I was just not convinced with the styles of the human characters.
Disenchanted would’ve gotten me in a cinema for sure, I was waiting for that movie bc I love the original. I’ll wait for this to be on Disney+.
Saw an early screening for this. While overall it was fine, it felt very first draft. Lots of cool concepts that suddenly get introduced without much foreshadowing.
I mean this is what happens when Don Hall and Qui Nguyen were task to direct right after Ray and the last dragon. Maybe it should have come out next year which would have made the film stronger.
@@danielgudinojuarez6729 It seems like Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios are focusing more and more on world building than on the actual story of a movie.
The reviews of _Raya and the Last Dragon_ were almost unanimous: the concept would have worked better as an open world game.
I hope _Elemtal_ won't have that problem, too
@@axelschweis4793 I think the guys at Pixar won't have that issue unless there facing story issues to delay the release.
The design of the world felt very suessian or Pandora like with its environment and I didn't pick up that they were inside an organism until halfway through. I just wasn't engaged with the characters or writing and felt it really needed a rewrite.
I think even the title strange world is generic. If they revealed the twist earlier and used it more in the marketing, I think they could have dane a better title.
Propaganda not entertainment
Watched this on Tuesday with some friends and yeah we all came out just being that was an okay movie. While watching the movie I did not catch on the big twist because the focus was more on the two conflicting Clade's resolving their differences. I came out thinking the same that I wish the focus was more on the world because it's so cool and weird and the revel puts that into context as well.
same, didnt catch on to the twist from the trailers but a few of the designs from the world reminded me of biology, specifically the blood cells. So it was still a bit of a surprise for me. glad I'm not the only one lol!
Disenchanted was like one of those straight to dvd sequels from back in the day.
Definitely but either way it would have made more money than strange world will
Summed up, correctly. I was disappointed.
Which are a lot better than cheap flash movies like that Night at the Museum thing.
Very surprised they releases this movie in theaters but not Red, Hocus Pocus and especially Disenchanted!
Pixar needs to be their own thing again. Disney has really screwed them these last 2-3 years
Pixar is screwing their movie lately too
Onwards,Soul,Luca, Turning Red and Lightyear all were crap imo
@@shahman8963 I heard that lightyear was awful but I also heard that the other movie's that you mentioned is good but I had never seen them 🤷♂️
Encanto is fine, right? But yeah pretty hit or miss
Soul was pretty good imo, the others weren’t good though. Light year was garbage
@@blushingralseiuwu2222 Encanto was a great movie in my opinion and really tackles Colombian culture and generational pressure and expectations
This movie should had been on Disney plus
One thing I've seen discussed online about the marketing is since the main character is gay, Disney purposefully did not push it much. The thinking that they can use this movie as an example to say having gay characters does not do well at the box office, when that is not the contributing factor to why the movie didn't do well.
That being said, I saw the movie and did enjoy it. I agree with your points, and it was pretty generic hitting all the same beats, but I think the visuals and the conflict between the characters (even though it was predictable) was still enough to keep me engaged.
This is what you get when diversity is your goal rather than a by product of good writing. It was certainly diverse, but it was not well written.
Just watched the movie and I thought it's actually gonna be bad as I thought others say, It's actually pretty enjoyable. It had a cool old and 'strange world' vibes to it with weird creatures with a very strange bright color palette.
spoilers below:
I find it interesting and unique that the "strange world" they're actually in is actually the inside of an organism (aka a Turtle) this entire time, makes a pretty shocking kinda twist. I like how things worked out with the grandfather, the father and the son at the end of the movie it's so sweet and happy.
Sorta sad Disney didn't promote this much... all cause of how people react to one of the mc being homosexual even tho that isn't even a major part of the story-
SEE ALSO: “Cells at Work”, now streaming on Crunchyroll. 😎
It seems like Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios are focusing more and more on world building than on the actual story of a movie.
The reviews of _Raya and the Last Dragon_ were almost unanimous: the concept would have worked better as an open world game.
I hope _Elemtal_ won't have that problem, too
Good to know I can skip this one I’m pretty done with Disney
In my opinion, this movie did one thing and ONLY one thing very very well (aside from the animation) - it got me emotionally invested and made me feel sad/empathetic for the giant turtle that is Abalonia. Even though you don't find out that it's a turtle until the very VERY end when they zoom out and show a giant turtle as the only land mass on the planet, which in itself left me confused and raised tons of questions, they executed this PERFECTLY. Unfortunately, they executed this so perfectly that it actually killed its rewatch value because knowing what I know now after having watched the movie the first time, characters who were just bland/mildly annoying are now insufferable assholes.
Dan: I'm going into spolier zone now. You're warned. Here's your last chance to click away.
Random Commenter: ...🤷🏻... The details of the surprise plot twist are...
Yet another beautifully made film... with a weak screenplay; the true Achilles Heel of modern media. The script is only a tiny fraction of a film's budget, but such a crucial element of nearly any production.
This movies the perfect example of a studio prioritising superficially over any substance
Dan is 100% right, the marketing for Strange World lacked a robust concept or hook. If you asked me what Moana was about from the trailers alone, I could tell you. If someone asked me what Strange World was actually about, I couldn't tell you. It seems that the trailers were riding exclusively on the visuals, and that's not effective for word of mouth
Did anyone else notice that, when the characters were playing cards, Jaeger said something to the effect of, "How can you not have a villain? That's just bad writing." I'm pretty sure that was Disney lampshading the fact that they don't have villains in their movies anymore.
As for the review itself, Dan, I completely agree with everything you said. I wanted to like this movie so badly, but after the first 25-30 minutes, I zoned out. Interesting that you mentioned it was directed/written by the same people who did Raya & the Last Dragon, because I didn't like that one either. I've never seen a movie botch is own moral so badly than Raya (saying we should trust people when trust is how everything bad happened in that movie to begin with).
I never considered the world being a REDACTED at all, I feel kind of dumb for that. I was sold on the adventure thing, that was a big selling point for me, the old school homage and all that. The REDACTED thing works as a reveal but it's pretty standard, I've seen this reveal a few times.
After the box office failures of Atlantis and Treasure Planet, I'm glad they tried again with an adventure but like those, I liked this but it is deeply flawed. I think they haven't cracked the code fully yet so if this flops, don't expect them to try again for a while.
The same for me, when I first saw the trailer I hoped that they were exploring a world that had very different biology, fantastic otherworldly vista and bizarre denizens. I guess I expected too much from them.
Don’t feel dumb, I didn’t realize it either
REDACTED: Amon-
Teenage Mutant Ninja REDACTEDs.
You're right Dan. Until I went to movie Tuesday evening, I had never heard of this. And like a lot of people here, I'm a movie geek. I think it will be pretty easy to stay unspoiled and I'll wait for the Disney+ streaming in January.
BTW, the movie I saw was She Said which was superb. See it in a theatre while you can.
The lighting looks great in the video Dan :)
Gonna admit that I did not see the twist coming at all, I'm impressed that you did
Lol same
When I saw the trailer, the one thing that caught my attention was the character designs. Felt odd and I thought they 'hurt' the movie. It didn't seem any different from the 'recycled' look we're accustomed to. (Well, duh. What did you expect? Maybe something Laika à la 'Kubo and the Two Strings'?) A more stylized look could've made up for the movie's shortcomings as it would've broken the generic mould. I was more enthusiastic about 'Turning Red' because it looked and felt fairly different.
There seems to be a real lack of great writers recently. A lot of movies with big potential are just not working because the writing is not good enough. Hollywood really needs to start finding some good writers.
This was as strange as Doctor Strange 2 was mad
Having seen this movie on Tuesday, I can safely say it stunk. I don't know who they were trying to attract. The resolution and life lesson that went with it was too preachy for children, and it talked down to adults. Wall-E handled it much better.
I had to agree on this one. I caught a morning screening of Strange World and it is one of the biggest disappointments of 2022 (alongside a very obscure Chinese animated movie, Goodbye Monster).
The fact that Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness, an Indiana Jones- style adventure animated movie from Belgium, does most things Strange World has but even better sums up my disappointment towards Strange World...
Read/watch movie news sites and youtube channels regularly and this is the first time I've heard of this movie. Maybe I saw the title or some minor blurb about a while ago but I certainly don't recall it.
I really loved this story i guess i think to much because i feel like we are using up all of our energry for selfish reasons!! Not saying i dont and how it has harden our hearts over time!! That it takes just a few to change!! In big ways!!
5:40
Dan warns about spoilers and the big twist, only for the video to get interrupted by a perfectly timed Avatar 2 ad.
There's a joke in here somewhere.
Your spoiler is definitely what I thought instantly when I watched the first trailer so yeah, your criticism resonates with me
looks like a direct to disney+ movie.
disenchanted shouldve been in theaters instead
I felt this way about The Bad Guys, I really liked how different and fluid the animation was, but the story felt really tired with obvious twists and character moments. I know these are kids movies but most hold Disney/Pixar/DreamWorks in high regard with past movies that didn't have such simple, non challenging or memorable stories.
It’s because the movie was an improvement over something like The Boss Baby or Trolls.
Bad guys is infinitely more fun to watch that this
One thing i've noticed is that people criticize it for both opposites at the same time: being too predictable, or the opposite, being surprised by the last 30 minutes and calling it disconected.
The organic paralels seem to phase through not just little kids, but a chunk of adults too. I believe the creators weren't sure as to how obvious to make it
Your review is the first I've ever heard, or seen anything of this movie. I don't remember even seeing a thumbnail for a trailer
Fantastic voyage- "Am i a joke to you!"
Disney are running out of ideas now that they’re not remaking old fairy tales/myths/stories. If you want to write your own stories you really have to prioritise the writers over everything else
I really didn't like Raya and the last dragon.. so hearing it is from the same team I was out.
Disney really needs to focus on finding writers that has that magic touch and not some writers that chasing trends.
Innerspace is the most famous journey through the body movie? Fantastic Voyage would like a word🤨
When it’s not Star Wars or MCU, Disney has a terrible track record for original sci-fi films, both animated and live action. John Carter, Mars Needs Moms, Tomorrowland, Lightyear, and even Atlantis and Treasure Planet were all box office disappointments.
As an avid film goer and renter, the ending was a surprise. Beautiful visuals, what we needed at this time.
It is not a big marketing type of movie, yeah a little direct but so what. The visuals and music made up for it. I agree, i never really remembered the dog had 3 legs till you reminded me about the merchandising side. Id play with a splat.
Going to see this today with my nephew
Greetings from Germany. Good review... Thanks
People are sick of Disney's crap, and that's why the movie BOMBED. I'll say it. This was their worst B.O. (double meaning intended) since The Black Cauldron in 1982, and everyone knows why. As long as decent parents exist, modern Disney is doomed and rightly so, regardless of Disney+.
I remember catching the trailer on TH-cam less than a week before it released. I thought “the world looks kinda neat…but what’s the movie actually about??” ‘A family explores a strange world,’ is not an interesting enough pitch to make me go see the movie, which is not good if I’m apparently one of the few that even know about it. I thought that it might be cool if it were sorta like a documentary where we learn about the characters’ personalities and experiences through how they react the to strange world. I seems to me that the very foundation of this movie was too vague to become anything more than, well, vague memory for those who viewed it.
This movie's own logic makes as much sense as Amazon's re-written/changed Lord of the Rings lore.
My girlfriend and I were the only ones present in our theater, on premiere night.
All I’m hearing is “Oscar for best animated feature nomination”
This review is literally the first time I've heard of this film.
I was going to make a joke about Dennis Quaid also being in Inner Space right as Dan brought that up.
When you make a movie that caters to 4% of the population, Don't expect the other 96% to go to see it. Stupid movie, stupid story, bad writing = flop.
I appreciate how you kept it about the movie and didn’t get caught up in the son orientation. That’s all I’ve been hearing about this movie.
They executed the crush so poorly though. Representation is good but then completely fumbled it in this story. It served no purpose except tokenism. Disney has no idea how to make characters and relationships meaningful anymore.
@@Jules2439.5 Well the focus of the movie wasn’t the relationship. And it also wasn’t anything forceful either so idk why so many people have a problem with it.
I thought about taking my two daughters (7 &1) but I will probably wait until streaming now especially with the slower parts you mentioned and the restless kids in the theater - not sure it’ll hold my 1 year olds attention (not like when I took my 7 year old to see Moana when she was 1 she couldn’t take her eyes off that screen)
was never about the script, the story didnt really matter, it was about the fact they had gay teenager, and pushing Gay relationship, and acceptance, thats it, they thought that was enough to carry the movie, and it isnt. looks great, but the gay hook is boring, does anyone care these days, i certainly dont. Story is always king
They should’ve integrated into the story if it was a selling point! Diazo served literally 0 purpose to the plot. It was so obvious it was just to say they’re being inclusive rather than being thoughtful about it.
Dizzyney is more obsessed with political correctness than telling a good story. It is like a long infomercial rather than a movie. Years ago Monte Python did similar in part of it's Holy Grail.
(Spoiler Alert)
Got it, skip this, watch Futurama’s Parasites Lost instead, gotcha.
Totally agree with the point that revealing the not-so-secret secret from the start would have greatly helped the marketing for this. I have to wonder what Disney is going to do on the animation front as putting Soul and Turning Red on D+ and also just getting families used to watching new movies at home without the ticket and concession prices and not being able to pause have just conditioned the audience to think about animation differently.
I carnt wait for strange world 2 and even 3
By they Disney might be bankrupt
You gotta admit, it's *STRANGE* hearing lukewarm reviews from a Disney film, especially in this era.
😏😆
Sarcasm, yes?
Honestly, Disney is due for another “flop era” in animation, before another “Renaissance era”, perhaps.
@@Yakita60 it’s surprising since encanto did so well people were convinced it would start a new era
I’ve just seen the movie. It was ok, but Encanto was by far the better movie.
IDK, saw the movie yesterday. Really wasn't that bad. Awesome visuals, Quaid was great as the Dad, and the diverse cast was okay. Lots of Lovecraftian, Fantastic voyage, and Mesozoic vibes. Cool to see all the Jellies and Halluciagencia. Dog reminds me of Sprocket from Fraggle Rock. Innerspace was a great movie as well. And yeah, Disney just got it horribly wrong with the marketing. Most ppl I've talked to are wondering when it's going to come out.?
it's just off-putting to find out a movie of this size exists only a week before it releases. Terrible marketing
We just watched it with our three year old and most things about it was predictable: oh, they're in/on a body, father/son "i don't wanna be like you" dynamic. They DID surprise me with their "green energy" ending up being harmful, BUT let me down because in a society, you don't have to go back to horse and buggy. The pando existed just fine in moderation, and the issue was it spread too deep. It's like planting mint in your garden, it will take over unless contained. Grow it in raised beds and you're golden.
I knew this moving was coming out, I just didn't know it was coming out this week. I still haven't seen a trailer for it, so I'll agree the marketing wasn't probably to great on this project. The very Idea they had Dennis Quaid in the film and wouldn't take advantage of him also being in Innerspace is a tragically wasted opportunity.
The previews for Strange World are 50% of Encanto, and only a shocking 9% of the previews for Frozen 2, The budget is apparently as high as $180m. This is going to be one of the biggest box office flops in history.
plus the fact encanto was released during the pandemic-
I think Disney was scared to promote the gay after the buzz pushback.
The movie was good but I wish the ending was a bit different. It's kinda a downer that they went home and there was no power. I wish they discovered a more eco friendly power source like hydrologic power , solar energy, or a green power source inside the island. I know it's a cartoon but imagine if in real life all the power just shut off.
I saw it as a Journey to the Centre of the Earth adventure & mostly got that. So I enjoyed.
Also I actually liked the family dynamic of the movie. Was it archetypical - yeah of course it was but the performances were solid and I enjoyed them
I watched JTTCOTE in Geography and I remember it being bad lol. I might give it a rewatch if it’s on Netflix (which I doubt)
Haha, you just described Osmosis Jones, that weird Bill Murray animation one-off.
Maybe it's because he also does a Box Office Report show, but it often feels like Dan is more interested in reviewing the box office potential of a movie than the actual movie itself. He spends a long time going over the bad marketing and how Disenchanted (ugh) should have been swapped with Strange World.
As long as Disney keeps inserting politics into their movies, parents will skip it. My kids are small and only my husband and I decide the time and place to have a conversation with our kids about sexuality. It’s not for Disney to open that conversation for us. You can try to explain away their box office failures with every excuse in the book - the REAL issue is that a huge portion of the world is not progressive.
I’d never heard of this movie until last week… I get the impression Disney knew they had an ‘average’ film on their hands so didn’t bother promoting it 🤷♂️
Since you said people form Raya and the last dragon was involved, I understood why it was so bad.
Besides I think there are good ways to do inclusion and open to new ideas and cultures to kids for examples: Moana, coco, Encanto... Even buzzlight year and the kiss scene were okay! But... But... this is kinda weird.
So how does this compare to Treasure Planet or Atlantis since those are adventure flicks?
Being inside a turtle is part of some mythology.
I took my 10 year son bad ideal me and my wife had to explain to our son why two boys like each other in that matter
It would be far more interested if this film featured cancer. If they showcased what cancer is capable of in a child's film. Thanks for providing the twist, I didn't have a strong interest in this film but knowing it made me have more ideas with what they could do with that concept.
Arguably indeed - Fantastic Voyage, Dan, surely?
I think I speak for a lot of people when I say we need more exasperated, growling Dan.
Dan is so honest to point out relative strengths of the movie, and gently calls out the shortcomings. The review exceeds the material reviewed.
Ur right, when explained the spoiler it actually hooked me. Terrible marketing, such a shame
@@where_r_you6890 thanks!!
I only saw one trailer for Strange World and it preceded a showing of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. From the trailer I immediately picked up on the premise. Although my source material goes back further than your 1980s film. My trigger source was a 1966 movie starring Donald Pleasence and Raquel Welch. I do appreciate that the plot was expanded to hint at the understanding of expected threats to our world's trajectory. I'm fairly certain that aspect went over the heads of children.
I thought the visuals were dazzling from design to colors. Perhaps adults are too jaded / experienced to be surprised by the third act reveal. I would be interested in hearing what an elementary school student has to say about the reveal.
Not an awful film, but I definitely foresee some audience members feeling like they are on the outside and locked into their past. Perhaps the title "Strange World" also fits thematically with people who might freak out about change and struggle to adapt to a world that now feels very alien and bizarre to them?
I'll just rewatch Treasure Planet then.
Treasure planet is a better movie, so yeah your good!
"I like this movie, therefore I don't want to see anything similar to it."
I just saw the movie in cinemas with a friend and our daughters (9 - 11 year olds). We loved it! I'm super happy I didn't watch the spoiler part of this video (thanks for the warning!) .... For us the central theme of the movie was RENEWABLE ENERGY, cooperation, CHANGING PARADIGMS and perspectives, understanding on a personal and environmental level. SPOILER: The green plant for me is a metaphor for petroleum and our current use of it is killing our living planet. As humans we need change our perspective and put well thought out measures into action on a government and personal level.
No trip to the theater for me and I don't think it will be on Disney+ either. There are too many other movies and shows I rather watch.
ummm i am a grown adult. i have seen all the trailers for this movie. not ONCE did i think “this is a living thing they’re in” 🤨 soooo
So Osmosis Jones but no Bill Murray?
Spoiler>>>>>>>>>>> Dan I get that it was obvious to that they were inside a body. I just thought they were in a Strang World. And ALL of the mystery of this film is centered around discovery that they are inside this being. If that is known from the start and used to market the film you would need to substantially change the story. Maybe there will be more folks like me that hated biology and they won't figure the twist out so fast. Generally I hate fun with the film and like the message about looking at the world a system not just labeling things as good or bad. I'm going to be shocked if we don't get that card game out by Christmas. (p.s. If it's a system the energy plants had a purpose? )