Jeri Jacquin

Currently streaming on Disney+ and coming to 4K, Bluray and DVD on February 14^th from directors Don Hall, Qui Nguyen and Walt Disney Animated Studios comes a journey through a STRANGE WORLD.

Jaeger Clade (Dennis Quaid) and son Searcher (Jake Gyllenhaal) are wilderness adventurers who want to get past a mountain that seems to elude them. On the way, Searcher makes his own discovery of a plant that is full of energy. When his father Jaeger wants to continue up the mountain, Searcher knows this is something important and he calls it Pando.

Upset at his son’s choice, Jaeger goes off on his own and is missing for twenty-five years. In that time, Searcher has a wife Meridian (Gabrielle Union) and son Ethan (Jaboukie Young-White) on their Pando farm. This gives energy to the town of Avalonia. Things are going well until one day Callisto Mal (Lucy Liu) arrives to let Searcher know that Pando is mysteriously losing its ability to produce power.

Gathering up an expedition of his own, Searcher discovers that Meridian, Ethan and their dog Legend has joined in the mission. Instead, they are attacked by creatures and end up in a world beneath their own but creatures aren’t the only thing lurking about. Searcher discovers his father Jaeger has been living in the strange world.

While grandfather gets to know grandson and father to son, the journey continues and what they discover at the end of the road is something that they could never have ever possibly imagined.    

Gyllenhaal voices Searcher, part of a father-son adventurer team who discovers something else of importance that leads to a split with his father. Raising his own family, he starts to feel his son pull away and it is distressing. Gyllenhaal gives much feeling to Searcher and when son meets grandfather, well, things get even more interesting.

Quaid as Jaeger fears nothing and when the family meets once again, he thinks it is a chance for more family adventures. Yet, there are issues that have to be resolved between father and son – even though there seems to be an instant connection between grandfather and grandson. It seems like Quaid has a good time voicing this character.

Young-White as Ethan fits well into the clan being a bit of an adventurer in his own right. Once the adventure begins, he has a chance to have his say in regards to their world and do everything possible to correct the imbalance. Union as Meridian is no stay-at-home Mom but an adventurer in her own right. She is also very strict and certainly takes a no-nonsense approach to it all. She will remind Moms everywhere that adventure is for everyone.

Liu as Callisto wants to find out what is happening in their world and is not going to let anything get in her way. She is a bit headstrong in a group of very head strong people but when the need arises, her skills are everything they need to get the job done.

Other cast include Francesca Reale as Azimuth, Karan Soni as Caspian, Abraham Benrubi as Lonnie Redshirt, Jonathan Melo as Diazo, Nik Dodani as Kardez, Alan Tudyk as Duffle, and Adelina Anthony as Captain Pulk.

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment continues to bring quality programming to kids and kids at heart. Home of the most beloved animated features including SNOW WHITE, PINOCCHIO and SLEEPING BEAUTY to name a few is what keeps families coming back for more. To see what is currently available to add to your own family library please visit. www.movies.disney.com for their At Home titles!

Disney+ is the subscription home streaming entertainment with Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic and more. There are exclusive originals with new feature films, shows, short form content, documentaries, and actions series such as THE MANDALORIAN. For more information, please visit www.disneyplus.com.

Bonus Features include Anatomy of a Scene: Creating a Strange World, Strange Science, Creature Feature, The Hidden Secrets of STRANGE WORLD, Outtakes and Deleted Scenes.

STRANGE WORLD takes on the issues of farming, energy sustainability, creatures great and small, family, love, adventure and forgiveness, acceptance and working together to make their world a better place. That is something I would expect from Disney in each of those forms melding into a story. The creatures are, as I would expect, very creative, funny, colorful and all things Disney.

It is an enjoyable film and one that will lead to family conversations with the content of family, love and creating clean energy. Their world is stunning, of course, but also full of life lessons that are not far from our own and that is everything.

In the end – journey to a place where nothing is as it appears!

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