Strange World by Disney is a touching father-son story set against half-baked world-building. It has enough imaginative flourishes to keep it interesting, even if its disjointed structure forces it to wrap up quickly while also preventing its environmentalist messaging from fully landing or connecting with its existing emotional core.
At the very least, the film retroactively nails the “Avatar had no cultural footprint” argument, albeit at the last possible second before Avatar: The Way of Water debuts, given how directly inspired by James Cameron’s space saga its designs appear to be. However, its spirit owes as much to pulp magazines and novels from the mid-twentieth century. It begins with this inspiration in the foreground, catching up on the ongoing adventures.