“Atlantis: The Lost Empire” producer Don Hahn had an anecdote about the ethos that drove that 2001 animated Disney film’s production. Other Disney animated films that were concerned with princesses or magic kingdoms are the Fantasyland area at a Disney park. He wanted to reach it after you have passed through the castle. “Atlantis”This would be Adventureland. This would be where you turn Left.
For “Strange World,” Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 61st (!) They’ve decided to take a left turn and create a new feature. “It’s funny, every time I walk down Main Street, I turn left,” “Strange World”Ron Conli is the producer
“Strange World”The Clades are the tale of Jaeger Clade (Dennis Quaid), a rugged adventurer. Jaeger, who is missing while on an expedition, is found dead. His son Searcher, played by Jake Gyllenaal, grows up and maintains the family name. He farms a strong crop that has transformed his community of Avalonia, a technologically advanced, bustling oasis. Meridian (Garbielle Union), his wife, and Ethan (Jaboukie-Young-White) are his sons. And when the crops start to die, he embarks on a desperate mission to an uncharted realm, led by the president of Avalonia, Callisto Mal (Lucy Lui) — the family’s adorable three-legged dog Legend is also on the trip. It’s in this wild land that they encounter bizarre creatures and where Searcher finds the last thing he was expecting: his father. It’s quite strange! (Watch the trailer below.)
Walt Disney Animation Studios, “hat”Building designed by Robert A.M. Stern, a postmodern architect (and loosely based upon a similar building he designed to the Euro Disney preview complex), Burbank, California. To learn more “Strange World” and talk about the amazing artists behind Disney’s latest wonder.
“As long as the movie is rooted in a relatable, emotional construct, we can go anywhere because I felt so strongly that our relationships between the three generations, even though we’re dealing with an explorer and a farmer and a farmer’s son, that the relationships and the family dynamics were something that were so universal and relatable across the world,”Don Hall, director. “I felt as long as we had that intact, it allowed us to go wherever the hell we wanted to in terms of the imagination.”
Hall relates the movie to Pixar’s “Up,” which begins with the wordless, four-minute exploration of a couple’s love, before veering wildly into a South American jungle filled with magic birds, murderous elderly explorers and talking dogs (some of them flying biplanes). “It’s always stuck in my head that as long as it can be rooted in something that we all understand and know, then we should be fine,”Hall stated.
Earlier in the day, Hall had boiled down the concept to something even more easily digestible – that “Strange World”This is a Jules Vernian-style fantasy adventure, but it’s rooted in a movie about family road trips. “National Lampoon’s Vacation.”
“I mean, that was what Don said to me when I came into the studio to meet Don for the first time,”Qui Nguyen was the writer and co-director. (Nguyen & Hall would collaborate first. “Raya and the Last Dragon”When production problems with the 2021 film caused creative leadership to change, it led to some major changes. “That’s what made it so super exciting was the fact that he had a take to this thing that made it unique. It’s an adventure film, but he had an angle on here that allowed for not just great adventure, but great humor and emotion. There’s moments in this film that are completely moving because of that aspect and things are completely goofy and funny because of that aspect.”
Hall stated that all of them were inspired by the “subgenre of the adventure story, which is a group of explorers find a hidden world” – stories like “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” “King Kong,” “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” even, in Hall’s estimation, “Jurassic Park.”The presentation included 20 minutes of footage. We were able to see all the hallmarks in the sequences. You could also throw in any Ray Harryhausen movie (“The Valley of Gwangi”It immediately came to my mind. Hall was also mentioned “The Land That Time Forgot,”Based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs story that Hall first saw as a child on television.
“It just stirred something in me and that type of story I just love. And so that was always the beginning thing. And then stylistically, again because it could be anything and just didn’t want it to feel …We didn’t want to just let the style of it be too realistic or too stiff,”Hall stated. “I think it’s much more fun to have it be a little more playful and broader. And caricature in terms of the character designs because it just broke it open. It told everybody it’s okay to have fun and play with these characters in a very broad way.”
For the movie’s distinct art style, the team (which included Jin Kim and Cory Loftis, two of Disney’s most talented character and vehicle designers) looked at French comic books, the cover of pulp adventure books and the works of Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki has been referenced in almost every modern animated film, but it is also a common character in many other movies. FeelIt is “Strange World.” You could easily picture Porco Rosso piloting the family’s airship, the Venture.
Hall used to check in frequently with the animation leaders to ensure that things were on track. “We all want to play in this kind of broad space in terms of the physicality, but we can still get a solid performance, an emotional performance,”Hall stated. “And they assured me that every step along the way, don’t worry about it.”
Hall’s two huge animated Disney movies were almost back-to-back and are just as impressive as any other thing on screen. “Raya and the Last Dragon”And “Strange World.”(He also co-directed “Moana”Direction “Big Hero 6.”) “I don’t know if this is the right analogy, but playoff ready athletes,” Hall explained. “Say basketball players that are going through the playoffs. They are at such a sharp place in terms of how in shape they are and their process. And that’s how we felt coming off of ‘Raya.’”Hall then became winded, and exclaimed: “We should have paced ourselves.”
Conli states that Hall and Nguyen were connected by a near-telepathic link. “Their communication is so strong because they’re just like bing bing bing bing bing,”Conli. “And it was great for them to go off because I was able to finish the ‘Baymax’ series [for Disney+].”
Before we left I mentioned the fact that there are a few throwback animated adventure movies out this year. “The Sea Beast” earlier this summer from Hall’s “Big Hero 6”And “Moana” collaborator Chris Williams and Pixar’s “Lightyear”(also starting this summer). What was the deal? According to Hall it’s a combination of what you grew up watching, combined with the audiences they’re catering towards now.
“We all have those touchstone influences. I mean ‘Star Wars’… You cannot escape it. ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark.’ And I’ll expand that to be basically Spielberg,” Hall explained. “If you grew up in that era, you were influenced by those movies. And because we work in animation, we make movies for all audiences. I think a lot of times, just by nature, you are being inspired by the things you were inspired by as a kid. And getting to take that feeling, that inspiration, but then getting a chance to recalibrate it for a modern audience. I think we’re all just in that same space.”Also, “Strange World”It is clear that some spaces are more strange than others.
“Strange World”Released in theatres November 23.
