LogFAQs > #969871330

I saw the teaser for Disney's latest animated film many months ago. It looked kinda cool but after never seeing it more than a couple of times I sort of forgot about then. Then suddenly over the Thanksgiving holiday I decided to check the theater schedule and saw something called "Strange World" was showing and I actually had to look it up to realize what it was. A lot of people probably know Genny and I are Disney buffs, having seen every single film in the main canon at least once, not to mention the fact these films served as the building blocks of our eventual relationship. So even if I don't always agree with what Disney might be doing, they'll always be important to me and that's especially true for their animated canon.

Once we got into the theater and the previews were rolling, Genny decided to show me a short video on the film we were about to watch. We disturbed no one since despite seeing this on Monday after the holiday weekend we were the only people in the entire theater. I didn't even realize this film had a proper trailer, as I had never saw it despite frequenting the movies several times monthly. Maybe I just missed it I guess since perhaps they'd not advertise Strange World in horror films or other things we tend to see, but to see absolutely no trailer for a main Disney film feels strange to me. Anyway... we watched the film. I thought it was good. Easily above average and all. I wouldn't go out and call it great or lifechanging, but it was enjoyable and likable for me. I liked the cast of characters and the animation was really well done.

I made the mistake of reading, and continue to read into, public reaction to this film. And by that I mean what you can find on the internet. The movie was review bombed at IMDb and other places, and apparently even the trailer was bombarded with dislikes even though YouTube has removed dislikes from it's main platform. The reason for it generally seems to be this "anti-woke" movement. Obviously, I've known about this sort of thing for a really long time now and it isn't "news" to me or anything, but for whatever reason this just hits home to me more than most things because of how connected I am to these movies. I feel sadness for the artists involved, and just for the movie as a product itself. Disney themselves failed to market this even a little bit and I can't help but think it's all tied to what is essentially one of the lead protagonists being gay. It's not a huge point in the movie, but unlike Disney's other gay characters this one is a star of his film. I feel like them not putting effort behind this film is either out of fear from backlash they'd receive from the Right or their way of simply failing on purpose so they don't have to do it again.

I don't know, it's been on my mind a lot. Again it's not some awakening I've had about the evils of this world but it is something I wanted to vent about a little. To know there are so many people, and presumably younger people since so much of this is online based, who throw hate behind something because of a gay character, or because perhaps of an interracial marriage or perhaps because the film deals with environmentalism is depressing to me. I'm trying to disassociate the film with these feelings so I can look back on it and enjoy it, because I did, but I'm finding it difficult.

Did anyone else even go see this movie?