This was a movie that I saw streaming on Disney+ but didn't know anything about it. My wife had our niece and nephew over to stay with us. They picked this movie. What intrigued me was seeing that this features the voices of Jake Gyllenhaal, Gabrielle Union, Dennis Quaid, Lucy Liu, Karan Soni, Alan Tudyk and Abraham Benrubi.
We start this off with Jaeger Clade (voiced by Quaid) leading an explorer party. There is a theme song to fill the story. With them is his son, Searcher (voiced by Gyllenhaal). His father is an explorer where his son wants to be a farmer. They are crossing mountains and Searcher notices glowing plants. He thinks this could change things as a power source. Jaeger wants to continue, which he does.
This then shifts into the feature where Searcher is now married to Meridian (voiced by Union). Together they have a son, Ethan (voiced by Jaboukie Young-White). He is different from his father, wanting to explore like his grandfather. He also has different views on the environment.
They run into problems where the plants they're using aren't producing as much power. This brings a member of Jaeger's party to need Searcher's help, Callisto Mal (voiced by Liu). He is convinced to join the party to see what is going on. Ethan sneaks onto the ship which causes Meridian to look for him. They find a crater that leads to a new, uncharted area. This seems like the hollow Earth conspiracy theory. This is just the start of a journey to heal the land and discover the truth of their strange world.
Where I want to start are the things that set this apart for me. The first is that I read this was one of the first from Disney to feature an openly gay teen, Ethan. He has a crush on Diazo (voiced by Jonathan Melo), but he doesn't know how to tell him. It is obvious thought that this other boy has feelings back. What I like here is that it is normalized. Searcher, Meridian and even Jaeger don't make a big deal out of it which is great to see. That was something I wanted to bring up first.
This is also a veiled allegory for how we treat the environment. Jaeger is a hunter and an explorer. He is ready to kill anything he perceives is going to kill him. Searcher is a farmer, which is good. He also has similar beliefs as his father in that, if he thinks a lifeform is going to kill his crops, he will protect. Ethan is a big fan of a card game where the goal is to find ways to coexist with the plants and wildlife around you. I love this approach as it makes the most sense. You also aren't changing the environment but adapting. This outlook helps as this movie goes on as well.
Now I'm not going to go into spoilers, but this features Native American and Asian lore. It is wild that I looked it up while watching this movie and it made sense. What I'll say is that if you pay attention to the 'hollow Earth' environment of the movie, it mimics life under the water. There is a reason for it and goes to other works I've read as to the explanation. Jaime and I were picking up things that we noticed as well. I love what they're doing there and what the major reveals as to the world they live in. It did cause my niece and nephew to argue with me until I could show them what we were saying. They aren't ready for these big ideas.
I've said that our voice acting talent is great. Gyllenhaal and Quaid work as the opposite side of the same coin with how they deal with things. What is great there though is that Young-White takes on a character who is better than his father. I love this idea as it shows growth and making your children better. Union is good as the mother. I didn't recognize Liu's voice, but she is great along with Soni and Tudyk. To be honest, everyone fit what was needed.
I'll finish out that this lacks the charm of what the hand drawn animation of the past had. That's not to say this doesn't look great, especially if you're streaming in 4K. I love the things they do to bring this alien world to life while also making it feel similar to Earth. The different worlds they go to and what they do there is great. I love the message that this conveys through it as well. Other than that, I thought the soundtrack fit what was needed. I do have to give credit to the cheesy theme song to tell us about the Clade family as well.
I'd recommend this one for sure. What is interesting is that I don't remember this one coming to theaters. This one I had fun with for sure.
My Rating: 7 out of 10.
We start this off with Jaeger Clade (voiced by Quaid) leading an explorer party. There is a theme song to fill the story. With them is his son, Searcher (voiced by Gyllenhaal). His father is an explorer where his son wants to be a farmer. They are crossing mountains and Searcher notices glowing plants. He thinks this could change things as a power source. Jaeger wants to continue, which he does.
This then shifts into the feature where Searcher is now married to Meridian (voiced by Union). Together they have a son, Ethan (voiced by Jaboukie Young-White). He is different from his father, wanting to explore like his grandfather. He also has different views on the environment.
They run into problems where the plants they're using aren't producing as much power. This brings a member of Jaeger's party to need Searcher's help, Callisto Mal (voiced by Liu). He is convinced to join the party to see what is going on. Ethan sneaks onto the ship which causes Meridian to look for him. They find a crater that leads to a new, uncharted area. This seems like the hollow Earth conspiracy theory. This is just the start of a journey to heal the land and discover the truth of their strange world.
Where I want to start are the things that set this apart for me. The first is that I read this was one of the first from Disney to feature an openly gay teen, Ethan. He has a crush on Diazo (voiced by Jonathan Melo), but he doesn't know how to tell him. It is obvious thought that this other boy has feelings back. What I like here is that it is normalized. Searcher, Meridian and even Jaeger don't make a big deal out of it which is great to see. That was something I wanted to bring up first.
This is also a veiled allegory for how we treat the environment. Jaeger is a hunter and an explorer. He is ready to kill anything he perceives is going to kill him. Searcher is a farmer, which is good. He also has similar beliefs as his father in that, if he thinks a lifeform is going to kill his crops, he will protect. Ethan is a big fan of a card game where the goal is to find ways to coexist with the plants and wildlife around you. I love this approach as it makes the most sense. You also aren't changing the environment but adapting. This outlook helps as this movie goes on as well.
Now I'm not going to go into spoilers, but this features Native American and Asian lore. It is wild that I looked it up while watching this movie and it made sense. What I'll say is that if you pay attention to the 'hollow Earth' environment of the movie, it mimics life under the water. There is a reason for it and goes to other works I've read as to the explanation. Jaime and I were picking up things that we noticed as well. I love what they're doing there and what the major reveals as to the world they live in. It did cause my niece and nephew to argue with me until I could show them what we were saying. They aren't ready for these big ideas.
I've said that our voice acting talent is great. Gyllenhaal and Quaid work as the opposite side of the same coin with how they deal with things. What is great there though is that Young-White takes on a character who is better than his father. I love this idea as it shows growth and making your children better. Union is good as the mother. I didn't recognize Liu's voice, but she is great along with Soni and Tudyk. To be honest, everyone fit what was needed.
I'll finish out that this lacks the charm of what the hand drawn animation of the past had. That's not to say this doesn't look great, especially if you're streaming in 4K. I love the things they do to bring this alien world to life while also making it feel similar to Earth. The different worlds they go to and what they do there is great. I love the message that this conveys through it as well. Other than that, I thought the soundtrack fit what was needed. I do have to give credit to the cheesy theme song to tell us about the Clade family as well.
I'd recommend this one for sure. What is interesting is that I don't remember this one coming to theaters. This one I had fun with for sure.
My Rating: 7 out of 10.