Strange World / YMMV

All Animation Is Disney: It's sometimes mistaken for a Pixar film, while it's actually part of the Disney Animated Canon made by Disney Animation Studios. This is due to its chunky, bulbous art style being very similar to Pixar films such as Soul, Luca, and Turning Red.
Anvilicious: The movie's plot kickstarts when Avalonia is projected to lose its Pando power within a month. It's later revealed that for the past 25 years, Avalonia has been dying thanks to over-farming of Pando. The Clades resolve this by destroying Pando inside and out and converting to wind power. The Climate Change Allegory isn't exactly subtle.
Awesome Music: In the first act, Searcher, Meridian and Ethan make family dinner while dancing to "Lone Digger" by Caravan Palace.
Common Knowledge: Whenever Callisto Mal's brief antagonistic phase is brought up online, it is called a Face–Heel Turn and her leading a mutiny, even though she was the leader of the expedition, it was her ship and her actions were to stop an attempt to stop the mission. If anything, it was the Clades that attempted the mutiny (albeit for a very good reason).
Critical Backlash: Strange World is not without its flaws, but its early reception was excessively negative. Among the harshest criticisms was that the movie was predictable and unoriginal. The revelation that it would feature a gay main character sparked the ire of both homophobes and those who considered it a weak attempt at pandering to the LGBTQ+ fanbase. Shortly after its release, Strange World stood on IMDb with a rating of 4.6, the lowest rating of the Disney Animated Canon on the site. Reception has since then calmed down, and on IMDb the rating raised stably around 5.7, which is among the lowest of the Disney Animated Canon, but still much better. General consensus is that the movie is somewhat mediocre compared to Disney's standard, but still enjoyable and not without redeeming qualities, and the gay representation was overall handled well.
Critical Dissonance: Among critics and verified audience accounts on Rotten Tomatoes, it sits favorably at 72% and 66%, respectively. Its total audience score was at one time mostly negative at 39%, with audiences citing its story, characters and predictable plot twist as factors. It has since risen to a respectable 67%.
Fandom Rivalry: Fans of films like The Bad Guys (2022), Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse often cite this film and Lightyear as examples of how Disney's animated output in the early 2020s doesn't seem to have been on the right path, which caused some friction with people who enjoyed this one and Lightyear.
Friendly Fandoms: The film has immediately struck a chord with fans of Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Treasure Planet, given the bigger emphasis on action-adventure like those films, the main characters being a group of explorers like the former and the main setting being a sci-fi alien world like the latter. It shares this with fellow non-Disney action-adventure animated films from the time like Titan A.E., Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and The Road to El Dorado.
Harsher in Hindsight: When he meets Splat, Caspian declares it to be so cute he wants to merchandise it, a Leaning on the Fourth Wall moment in regards to how Disney usually makes tons of merch for their properties. However, in addition to this movie's Invisible Advertising, there was only a single Splat plush, a few t-shirts, and a water bottle available from the Disney Store. Highly unusual, compared to the entire displays of new merch Disney Store typically puts out for new animated movies. This movie did not even receive Funko Pops, which is especially abnormal for Disney Funko fans.
Hilarious in Hindsight: In a Leaning on the Fourth Wall moment, Searcher and Jaeger complain that Ethan’s game doesn’t have a villain, calling “bad storytelling”, a joke poking fun at critics of modern Disney films for having No Antagonist. The next film after Strange World, Wish (2023), would make having a traditional Disney Villain one of its main selling points.
Ho Yay: A few moments between Meridian and Callisto could also be interpreted as this, especially their discussion while Meridian is repairing the Venture. Though the fact that Meridian is happily married does present a... slight problem.
Inferred Holocaust: The consequences of the end of all electrical power derived from Pando are mostly glossed over. Meridian somewhat anxiously jokes the effects will be "no power, cold coffee, and angry masses", but all that is seen is a year later when Avalonia manages to switch over to wind power. Given the plot's thematic parallels with real life's climate change crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, the film's version of such an emergency being resolved with little conflict may feel jarring.
LGBT Fanbase: The film has already gained one after Disney had announced that Ethan would be gay, making him the first gay protagonist in a Disney animated film. Certainly helping is the film showing his relationship with his crush in detail, and the fact that his orientation plays a major role in his character. The fact that both his parents and his good-old-boy grandfather are completely unfazed by this has also gotten a big positive reaction.
Magnificent Bastard: Splat is a Scout and one of the creatures in the subterranean world under Avalonia, determined to lure intruders to be eaten by the Reapers. First trying and failing to get Searcher Clade eaten by them, Splat tries again with his son Ethan by seemingly befriending him. Later realizing the humans to not be so bad after a caring act from Ethan, Splat saves his life and helps his group escape from the Reapers. Joining their mission of reaching the heart of Pando, Splat convinces a group of Blood Cells to grab their airship and guides them to take it through the Burning Sea without it being damaged. When the group wants to save the heart by attacking the creatures hurting it, Splat tries to warn them against doing so, and when they discover they were living in a Turtle Island that the Pando energy was killing, Splat helps in bringing creatures to enter the heart through a hole and save their world from the Pando.
Memetic Mutation: Following previous Disney films, the news of Ethan being promoted as Disney's "first" openly LGBTQ character quickly became memetic in the queer community due to the overuse of Disney promoting their LGBTQ characters in that way.
So Okay, It's Average: While considered far from Disney's worst effort, the movie isn't seen as one of the more memorable entries in the Disney Animated Canon either, due to critical and viewer opinions that it has a predictable and derivative story, characters, and themes, with only the visuals being the real highlight.
Tainted by the Preview: The official trailer showing that the film has a strained relationship between Searcher and Jaeger has quickly made some fans groan, since this is the second animated Disney film in a row behind Encanto to have a focus on troubled family relationships^note, which has led fans to fear that troubled family relationships and Generational Trauma is gonna become a new trend by Disney (similar to the twist villain trend that became prominent in Disney's films in the 2010s).
Tough Act to Follow: Following the critical and financial success of a movie like Encanto can do that to a movie.

YMMV / Strange World

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