Waiting for the qrazies..

They still believe light-year flopped because 2 woman kissed on a 5 second scene, instead for it being a boooooring movie

I don't think it was marketed wrong. It just wasn't marketed at all. Its a really weird movie and I think Disney realized they didn't have a winner on their hands so they just tried to let it slide under the radar. This kind of feels like this generation's version of Atlantis or Treasure Planet

They also think Disney has Tim Allen locked in a closet somewhere for his political views despite the fact that he currently stars in his own Disney+ show

Marketed?

Honestly, the first I heard of it when it landed on Disney+. And I have young children.

So I haven’t heard anything about hate either. To me that means it wasn’t loud enough.

Yeah I saw like one ad for it like the week before it came out and it was like nerdy mad finds wacky dad in weird place, look at all this weird stuff!!! And that was it. It honestly didn’t look appealing. The movie was a lot deeper than that.

I love both of those too! Atlantis is hilarious.

Yeah, I barely saw anything for it before it released. Like a couple of posters and one short shallow add right before it released.

I saw a bunch of posts like right after it released like “gay movie flips!”

I must have been looking away when that happened. I finished the movie and thought, everyone is talking about how there’s a gay scene, but I didn’t see one. I was wondering what I missed.

Movie was overall cute, but not my favorite of the last few releases.

Only ever saw it flipping through Disney+ watched it and I think it’s better than a Disney direct to video. The colors and such would Have looked great on the big screen. But there wasn’t much to bite my teeth into. And I don’t. Think it would keep the attention span of a 7 yr old.

I went to McDonalds the week the move came out, expecting a Strange World toy. I was taking my kids to the movie later that week, and thought it would be a cute tie-in. I thought it was funky that there wasn’t a meal planned for the movie at all. I didn’t realize until after we saw the film that it wasn’t really marketed at all. We are a gay family and didn’t even know it had that aspect. I thought it was just some sci-fi action film.

Edit: We all really liked the film.

I can see that. I didn’t really get hooked until the family drama between the dude, his found father and kid figuring out who he is.

Yeah it was super weird. Disney often markets even their crappy stuff and this wasn’t bad. They didn’t even need to market the inclusivity of it. I thought the movie did a good job at making it just part of the movie but not the point of it.

It wasn't bad, there is no need for the hate. It was just totally and completely generic. There was nothing special about it. It just...existed.

My kids liked it, so I guess it accomplished its goal.

Yeah my wife went with my daughter last week to see it…the it came out on Disney plus a week later lol

I enjoyed it more than "Up". I liked the research over violence angle.

That scene where they were playing the game was awesome. I loved the dad and grandpa exasperatedly saying “there’s no bad guy?”

For whatever reason, Disney did not advertise their animated movies well this year. Don't know how much having Iger back for a couple years will change anything, but here's hoping

Wow, getting a lot of downvotes for saying I liked a movie.

Can barely understand your Post title mate, perhaps try proof reading next time and maybe more people will upvote

I just missed saying the “it” before “was fun”. I’m not sure what’s so confusing about the rest of it. Are people really that uptight about perfect grammar and spelling?

We just finished it. It wasn’t bad… but it dragged. It was visually stunning, but I don’t think it was well-written, compared to others in the Disney canon. And it was just weird, like something happens to a character (admittedly a very minor one) and it’s just ignored? There’s a weird heel turn followed by a face turn spurred by almost zero evidence? Pando (and how the $&%# did that name came up?) exists but… ugh, should have written this on my laptop, I don’t want to spoil anything. Let’s just say I have a lot of unresolved questions.

It was OK. Just A-OK. But not deserving of hate due to a mixed race couple with a gay son.

It’s not that you forgot the “it” before “was fun”, it’s the first sentence that no one knows what you are saying.

“Strange Worlds got a isn’t….” What does that mean?

Yeah, totally, it wasn’t up there with the best of them.

Oh man. I was gonna say got a bad wrap, but switched it to isn’t as bad as the hate. Damn.

[removed]

I mean, I’m a black guy with a white wife and a mixed bi kid, so… yeah it represents our family. Is my family not worthy of being represented on screen? Would seeing us out and about offend you or just seeing us on tv?

Edit. Sorry, you might have struck a nerve with the family that happens look like mine was “forced” on you comment.

I think you could probably lay the lack of marketing of this film to the previous Disney regime, I don’t think they knew what to do with the finished product. Could this have been one of the last films that Iger green-lit when he first tenure as Disney CEO was ending (I have no idea about the production timelines of animated films)?

Could have been.

The three legged dog was the over the top part for me. Sorry if my post didn’t make that clear.

You probably won’t believe this, but my brother also has a three legged dog that lost it to cancer named Simba that we just spent Christmas with.

I will probably never see a move that more accurately represents my family than this one.

😆😆😆 yeah, probably.

3 legged dogs are woke?

Something very strange is happening with Disney marketing lately. It's like they've completely forgotten how to sell a new IP.

I think though the u/oneofthezedays raises some points. Yeah, we want to see representation (I’m also a progressive POC) but it just felt like they were ticking off boxes in some ways and allowing just enough on the sexual orientation front. Sure, it was nice seeing the flirting but after a year, they couldn’t have Ethan and his beau kiss?

And to be honest, the dog did not have enough to do. Again, just throwing in a disabled character to be different, yet the character was totally dispensable (Splat was the one that ultimately got them out of the storage room).

On the one hand, yay, diverse characters… on the other hand… not a great movie. Which gives more ammo to the “Go woke, go broke” crowd which then makes it harder for Hollywood to make good films with diverse characters because they don’t learn the lesson as, “Create better movies”, they learn it as, “Representation gets us nowhere at home and hurts our ticket sales abroad so why bother?”

Then again I’m a cynical bastard who thinks that the world’s been going to Hell since Reagan.

gO wOkE Go BrOkE lmao gottem

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

Yeah I kinda get that, but I think this movie did a pretty good job of being diverse without diversity being the point. It’s just like, these people exist the way they are and that’s it. I think there is a difference between when a movie or show has someone’s difference be defining characteristic and the only thing that makes them interesting and it just being a part of who they are.

Like I personally like that the kid being gay or the mom being black wasn’t a plot point at all or even mentioned. The kid could have been straight and the mom could have been white and it wouldn’t have changed the story. That isn’t being “woke” just inclusive which I generally think that’s a good thing.

It was a really bad movie.

Bad bot

For me, I’m done with the “let’s throw in a gay character but not have them be a fully realized gay character” schtick. Especially in Disney properties (and all of them, Marvel and Star Wars included). I’m fine with their sexuality not being integral to the plot, but come on, let them kiss. Teenagers kiss. Let Ethan and his… darn it, he has an odd name and I can’t remember it… let them have a scene like Searcher and Miranda in the kitchen.

And again, I liked seeing the dog… just give them something to do other than be comic relief.

Yeah, the dog was underutilized. The whole closet scene was stupid. Should have just had splat do it.

You mean not marketed at all, I didn't know it existed until it hit D+

Ha! Yeah. It was like they tried to bury their own movie.

Watched it last night, have to admit I zoned out some parts there but overall was alright to meh. Not “theatre worthy”, should have just been a direct to streaming but regardless, the lack of advertising makes sense in retrospect, they must of made a financial call there to not push the P&E as this prob played poorly to test screenings.

Hot takes: looked good overall, inventive etc though felt like a mishmash of other movies. The character models just felt off.. idk how to explain it but the best I can put it is their animations when emoting was just too much? Like they were overacting all the time.. which is weird as animation will do this and it’s never something that has stood out to me before. The odd intro I didnt like at all, 1930s newsy montage thing that came off as a bad speudo “up” thing, had me on the back foot right off the bat. The family dynamics were all kinds of messed up. On one hand, Searcher, his wife and the kid? believable, positive and honestly refreshing to see. A working, happy married couple and a dad/son dynamic where they get along and not the typical “edgy teen” thing. But then the whole searcher’s dad that just leaves them at the start.. then come back and they are all mostly getting along.. wut? I found this to pretty much derail this thing for me.. granted prob missed things but how he was just mostly “accepted” is weird. Had a few other things like the kid making stupid decisions to move the plot forward etc was also somewhat frustrating, and the whole card game thing that I just didn’t get. Idk, all we can clearly determine here is that im a terrible movie reviewer lol.

Man, I must be the weird one. I loved the board game scene. The grand dad and son yelling “what do you mean there’s no bad guy?” Was funny as hell. Then my daughter looked over and said, “that’s the same energy like trying to get you and Pop Pop to understand tik tok and instagram.”

It looked great and the core premise of what the world ultimately ends up being is really cool and original. I love the fact that there are no real antagonists. I love the part of it that lives in exploration.

But the script is so heavy handed. It turned what could have been an American Ghibli movie into a cliche melodrama that’s more about a recycled father-son conflict than the strange world.

I just watched the movie this past weekend on Christmas day. I thought it was great! Was it my favorite Disney animated film? No. It was just a wacky feel-good movie about taking care of what you have, whether that be family, friends, your home, or the "planet" you live on. .

I do not understand the hate for the movie. I understand why homophobes didn't like it, but it's still a fun movie.

they used all their money advertising Avater lol

The alien world looked very boring and the character's dialogue in the trailer was horrendously modern. Just in the trailer alone. And yeah, don't judge books by their cover and whatnot but we do have eyes.

The Steve Zahn movie?

Disney execs, somewhere far away, overlooking their vast empire through tinted glass.

"Fuck it. Send it back to the animators, we'll rebrand as hentai and sweep the japanese porn oscars or whatever."

One of the main characters looks like an animated version of Office Jim and that’s enough to keep me from seeing it forever

I came to the realization that the movie feels boring because there aren't any stakes. None that have an actual impact on the story, anyway. Like you said about Searcher just accepting his dad's return 100%, anything bad that happens is immediately dismissed. 25 years of your father choosing to abandon you can't go away in whatever small time frame the bulk of the movie happens in. The characters have no agency and it feels like they're there as plot devices to sell a plot no one cares about.

I took my kids and realized AS THE MOVIE STARTED that it was a Disney film. I don't follow entertainment news that closely, but my head isn't under the sand either. It was not marketed to me at all, and I'm not sure why. It was good to fine.

[removed]

I don't get the weird hate on this movie. Not every movie needs to be record breaker, blow the box office up hit. Not every movie will be Frozen. Most movies are just fine. And thats what this one was. I enjoyed it, it was a fun lil family adventure movie. I don't need to read too much into it.

I didn't know it existed until I saw this Reddit post

The first ad I saw for it I thought "Oh this is going to be another one of their animated sci-fi movies that completely bombs at the box office and nobody likes it except for a small but vocal group of big fans who will call it underrated for the next 40 years."

They definitely did a shitty job of marketing it. Not one ad made any hint as to what it was about other than "three people in a weird place".

I'm guessing that with this and probably also Lightyear they figured the movies weren't going to do well anyway so they might as well save the ad budget for something else.

I've been hearing about it for months, there were ads for it on youtube and on regular tv. Still have no idea what the premise is.

Patricia Heaton throwing a hissyfit about Tim Allen not being the voice of Buzz Lightyear in Lightyear proving he's been CANCELLED BY DISNEY like a full month after they announced he was starring in The Santa Clauses will never not be hilariously stupid.

>Not one ad made any hint as to what it was about other than "three people in a weird place".

Lmao, that and the old timey 50s trailer voice was all I ever recalled from the ads.

Only reason I knew it existed was because I went to D23 expo with my wife who is a pretty big Disney fan. I enjoy lots of dis/pix/marv/star wars stuff so it was really fun. There was a couple of standees and photo opportunities with props for Strange World. I'm pretty 'online' and in the loop on movies and had no clue when it was coming out. I asked a Disney employee and was stunned it was so soon.

How do what is essentially Disney super fans not even know when they are releasing a Pixar movie? Insane.

I thought the movie was pretty good when I saw it and felt it would definitely be a good movie to take kids to.

I think the discourse from the bigots brought the movie down a little, but the marketing was abysmal. It's actually possible that homophobes boosted the movie by telling people it exists.

Don’t like the faces

Ha! Probably.

I could see how they were falling into the uncanny valley a little bit.

Hahaha. Oddly specific, but ok.

[removed]

My 5-year-old and I sat down and watched it over the weekend. He sat through the whole thing.

I liked it

it was awful

I absolutely loved the film, it gave me monster ideas to throw at my players for my ttrpgs. I loved the plot and the setting, the animation was awesome, i was often going “wow that’s beautiful” through the film. Recommend it to friends they replied “ that movie about the gay kid and the lanky dad? Ill pass doesnt seem like a movie id pay to see in theaters” (which was how i watched it. It came out on hbo max, i bothered them to watch it, they loved it!

My family watched it and thought it was terrible.

I really don't understand why people keep saying this. I drove through Dallas around Thanksgiving and it was on all the billboards along the main highway. I constantly saw ads for it on Hulu and regular TV. If you didn't see any ads, it's because there weren't any where you were looking. That's not "not marketing at all", it means you weren't the target audience. Which for your case I guess means the movie was marketed wrong.

I didn’t even know this came out until I heard about how it bombed. That is a sign of poor marketing.

I just watched it on Disney+. I thought it was OK, and appreciated the climate change/alternate energy theme, and the message of cooperation without needing a villain.

Oh, absolutely.

I watched it with my family. hit all the important tropes. gay kid, bi racial patents, trans military type, big corp bad, peace and harmony with the earth. The new Disney is here to stay

Most things are not as bad as some people on the internet make out. TBH, I discount most fan hate. I watch things because I enjoy them, not because someone else enjoys them.

It’s funny, people call them “tropes” but it represented my family almost perfectly. It’s funny how people think that’s a bad thing 🤷🏾‍♂️

That’s a pretty good philosophy.

I actually agree. I watched it with my mother over the holidays and was surprised how much I enjoyed it. I probably won’t watch it again and it felt a little bland, but still worth watching.

The designs for the tertiary creatures felt lackluster and weird, and the narrative pacing was not great, but overall I enjoyed the story and message.

As others mentioned, it was not advertised well. It was never going to be on the level of a Frozen, but it’s definitely not as much of a bomb as others say. Definitely nowhere near Encanto though- different genre anyway.

This felt more of a Disney+ release than it did theatrical though. I will go to my grave thinking Luca (which I know is Pixar) was robbed of acclaim and deserved a theatrical release.

Totally agree with you. It was enjoyable and ok. Sometimes that’s fine. Especially when you can watch it for free.

I didn't say if it was good or bad.. it is what it is.

Fair enough, but I’ve never heard “it is what it is” used for something they thought was a good thing. No one ever says “hey free ice cream, it is what it is!” It’s usually used for something people resign themselves to accept.

Exactly.

And, as a gay man, generally speaking, while I love seeing representation on screen, I sometimes feel they (not just Disney) are heavy-handed in how they present it in film- almost like trying too hard (“hello fellow kids” meme comes to mind), but also simultaneously making sure things can be edited out for international markets that would otherwise refuse to screen it. I get it- it’s business- and losing out on the Chinese market in particular is crippling for box office success.

That said, I think they managed to make it feel fairly organic here. It wasn’t a defining part of his character and I liked the awkward crush element. It didn’t need to be more than than that.

The 3 legged dog was a bit of a flex, but you know what- everyone’s family looks different and I think that was kinda the point. So many people get off put by seeing things outside the “expected” frame work and it’s fascinating to me how worked up they get over it.

Right? I actually liked how all of the different elements were there, but they weren’t plot point or a character’s singular characteristic.

Weird. Around here here there was like 2 pictures and I saw like 1 ad on YouTube.

Sometimes that’s good enough. When my kids were 4 and 5 anything that could get them to stay calm for the length of a movie was heaven sent.

😆😆😆

My brother’s dog happens to be a tripod. Love that little guy.

Andor's marketing was atrocious. The only ads I've seen weren't trailers, but long clips of scenes. And they're not even good scenes to illustrate the quality of the show. If your only exposure to Andor was its marketing, you might think it was a soap opera. It's baffling.

Disney sucks

Spoiler (though I haven’t seen it): >! it’s the immune system right? The imagery in the trailer really screamed it at me and everyone I know anyway !<

They tried to do something different with the eyes (make them smaller, taller, and closer together) and I think they ultimately lost some of their expression and warmth.

Yep. Some really cool reveal shots, too.

Yeah, goofy eyes and giant noses.

They're in Burbank on Alameda and Buena Vista I drive by there all the time, the view isn't much

The premise is fantastic, but I feel like the dialogue was very strange. It felt a little too organic (I can’t really explain better). They didn’t feel like characters in an animated movie, but more real and it really takes you out of it. The best example is when they’re all on the ship towards the beginning. The conversations are rushed and frantic and they don’t feel like something from a screenplay. To compare, I watched Klaus a few days after and adored the way it was written.

See I thought this was a fully realized gay character. He actually had a gay love interest and everything. Not like Lightyear or Onward where they throw out a tiny gay token which can easily be cut in the Chinese release.

I thought it should be the standard. Character was gay but he wasn't defined by his sexuality.

Unlike old Disney which always encouraged war with the earth. 'Hooray for capitalism and pollution,' Mary poppins would often say

I don't recall any "encouragement of war with earth" from old Disney movies?

It was a sarcastic reference to your initial post.

Also, weird title that sounded like a working title, but wasn’t. Or was and they just never changed it.

I liked it well enough.

I'm sure it got somewhat review bombed by homophobes but tbh looking at many of the negative reviews I can't exactly say they're wrong, the movie is pretty generic, it comes nowhere near as close to really striking that family dynamic chord that other recent disney films have. The overarching plot is a bit light, it tries to do too many things but does nothing overly well. It could've been a much stronger film about sustainability and environmentalism, it could've been a much stronger film about father son relationships, it could've been a much stronger film about the relentless pursuit of more. Overall it was thoroughly average and I guess that mixed with the review bombing means it gets rated lower than it should be.

For a moment I thought you were talking about the Star Trek show Strange New Worlds, and was I wondering "who the hell hates it?" lol

But yeah, I thought Strange World was fine. It was probably one of Disney's stronger sci-fi animated movies due to the fun characters. Some good moments, but much like Treasure Planet and Atlantis, I doubt I will talk or even think about it very much. It was the kind of film where after you leave the theater, you look at your family and say "that was fun," everyone nods, and that is the extent of its effect on your life.

I've been to the theater many times this year and I saw a trailer for Strange World exactly twice. Other than a poster in front of the theater, I didn't see any other marketing for the film online or in the real world.

Funny enough, after seeing Strange World on Disney plus I started getting advertisements on YouTube and other websites. It's only anecdotal evidence of course, but considering I was shown the trailers for Minions and Puss in Boots countless times and saw posters for those films on billboards and in outdoor shopping malls, the lack of marketing for Strange World in my area was a bit... strange...

What I liked:

• The colors
• The reveal of what their world actually is. Terry Pratchett vibes, hehe.
• How they tried making a movie about family relationships, inclusivity, with no real bad guy, and a "use resources responsibly" message.

What I didn't like:

• How they were crazy enough to try and do it all at fucking once and thus, mostly failed at it.
• How the inclusivity stuff was just soooo on the nose. And I'm saying that as somebody that always criticizes when they make it the focal point of a character, and thinks it important they just roll with it. Here they did, and somehow still managed to make it annoying and give you the feeling they're really pressing your nose in it. Not a fan of that, at all, and I think it's actually doing the whole topic a huge disservice through the hate it's attracting – bad thing is, I can understand why.
• How they did complete u-turns a few times, especially in regard to pando (and where does that stupid name come from?), with not so much as a thought. "Science" my ass, I hate how that term gets thrown around so inflationary nowadays in its own weird way of virtue signalling.
• Didn't like the "cute sidekick character" of the movie. It ranges on the same level as Frozen's Olaf, and that's as low as it can go.
• How the world was just too over the top and trying to be soo wacky and creative, again purely self-serving and trying to make a point out of it. As if they sat down and thought really hard about what the weirdest things were that they could come up with, and how they could make sure every two-year-old got that they did, instead of trying to do something interesting or consistent. At the same time, it felt like a cheap knockoff of Unce Upon A Time... Life. Just shitty world building in general.
• Also, and that's just personal, I didn't really like the character design. Not so much the graphic aspect of it as the personalities, there was hardly anything likeable about any of them. Compare that with something like for example Encanto, completely different.

In short, nice colors, but only slightly above direct-to-video level.

Pando is the name of a giant tree thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pando_(tree)

Also Clade is a great name for an explorer because it's a reference to evolutionary biology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clade

I'm probably just too critical of lazily written movies, but I couldn't get over the fact that>! this society had planes but never knew they lived on a giant turtle floating in a vast ocean...!<

I watched it with my wife and kids (kids are aged 10 and 7). We all enjoyed it. There were some laugh out loud moments. The reveal was very satisfying and well-structured. I enjoyed the father/son/grandson dynamics. It felt like a really good allegory for the age of exploration, followed by the industrial revolution, followed by the need for an ecologically holistic approach which we hope the next generation will adopt. I also felt like they captured the generational dynamics well in the family - especially the similarities and differences between them.

I think part of the problem is it's really hard to market the movie without spoiling it - like, I was trying to tell my sister to watch it but I couldn't articulate what I liked about it without spoilers, except in the vaguest possible terms. But also, yeah, Disney sort of ran away from it, and I wonder how much of that was politics.

Pando comes from Pando (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pando_(tree)). The name is Latin for "I spread".

I feel like Encanto was a hit in spite of Disney. I only found out about it by word of mouth and I’m an active fan of the writer

Disney hasn’t had a villain in like a decade. Every movie now is just a misunderstanding. It’s so lame and boring.

They definitely advertised it, but whoever was in charge of promotions and the media blitz had better of been canned.

I think they did the same thing to the movie Onward, which is also a really cute movie with a lot of heart. Disney knows what makes it money, it's princesses and existing franchises. Unfortunately, the new and creative stuff gets pushed to the back burner to make way for the profitable things.

I LOVE onward. I was literally weeping at the end when he’s remembering that his brother checked his boxes.

At this point the end of pretty much any Disney movie will make me cry, but that was especially tear jerking.

I caught the Clade reference, having done research in that area myself. It also just sounds like a cool name.

I did not know about pando though. Granted, I had heard of the concept of super-organisms like pando (I think there’s also a fungus that’s similar)… but didn’t know pando. And again, why pando (but not directed at the film but at the scientists who named a quaking aspen that)? I have to say though, I appreciate that aspect of the story more knowing about the real-life pando.

Encanto was last year and I think it had better advertising than anything this year.

oh good one...