Not be confused with "Strange World"
- “There's no need to be weirded out.”
- ―First tagline
- “Only true colours paint a picture.”
- ―Second tagline
Weird World is a 2018 British/American 3D computer-animation comedy-drama action-adventure film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed and written by British animator and illustrator Reloaxa, in his film directional debut. The film tells a story of DJ and music producer George Jacqueline, citizen of Rainbow City and member of electronic group Zap Cloud, who teams up with human being Stephanie to help gather her super team The Extraordinary Eight back together, so they can save Weird World from a king snake with a very destructive weapon, while, at the same time, discovering more about himself and connections to former team leader Sadie. The film stars Reloaxa himself, as well as Tim Roth, Georgia de Gidlow, Chris Tucker, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ewan McGregor, Eugene Mirman, Ade Edmondson, Linda Cardellini, Tom Kenny, Will Arnett, Grey DeLisle, Tony Robinson, Jonny Greenwood and Prince Royce.
The pitch for the film came a few months after the premiere of the TV showcase series Reloaxa's Avid Animations, which has a common segment called "Weird Shorts", which the film was based on.
The film was met with universal acclaim with a rare 100% rating on the website Rotten Tomatoes. The film's success spawned a just as successful franchise and it is now considered one of the greatest and most influential films ever made.
Film Summary[]
On a colourful planet full of weird looking people and creatures where "everyone has a destiny", George Jacqueline, a 28-year old DJ and citizen of Rainbow City, teams up with the sole human resident Stephanie to help gather her super team The Extraordinary Eight back together, so they can save their home from a king snake with a very destructive weapon, while at the same time, discovering new things about former leader Sadie, as well as both of themselves.
Plot[]
Voice Cast[]
BOLD: Indicates British cast members
- Reloaxa as George Jacqueline/Bash/Zayden/Mickey/Don/Steve Sigafoos
- Tim Roth as King Axecutioner
- Georgia de Gidlow as Stephanie
- Chris Tucker as Craig
- Jane Horrocks as Eleanor Jacqueline
- Ewan McGregor as Sponghuck
- Eugene Mirman as Tyler
- Ade Edmondson as Scooter
- Linda Cardellini as Josie/Alexanne
- Tom Kenny as Axebot
- Dee Bradley Baker as Mac/Harper
- Grey DeLisle as Stella/Kylie
- Adam Baldwin as Hank
- Maya Hawke as Hikouki
- Tony Robinson as Roger
- Jonny Greenwood as Cole
- Prince Royce as Brent
- Sarah Chalke as Molly/Tina
- Paul Rugg - Mitchell
Themes[]
The film's main themes are discovering one's inner self and the importance of friendship and chemistry. The main character George Jacqueline, unlike many Disney characters, is relatively happy with his life and is used to how things normally go for him, not dreaming of wanting more, but his journey with Stephanie and the others encourages himself to be more open to the world and realise there is more out there about the world and about himself he seemingly has been waiting to discover, both strengths and weaknesses, whilst also learning to never give up on everything and everyone he cares about, even when he could have. Stephanie, a character who was established to prefer being alone, learns to be more open about herself around others and realises how precious friendship truly is. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is another key theme in the film, due to both main characters being autistic, but neither one's autism is the main focus of the story or development of either character and instead it just plays off both, not to mention both have completely different traits, therefore allowing two different perspectives to be shown in the film, truly showing how no autistic person is the same. For example, George makes repeatable movements and hates loud noises, whereas Stephanie is introverted, struggles with talking to others and has poor eye contact.
Production[]
Release[]
Home media[]
The movie is available on Disney+, as well as other media of the franchise.
Reception[]
Box office[]
Critical reception[]
Upon release, Weird World received universal critical acclaim, being considered one of Disney's best films to date and it has appeared on lists of the greatest films of all time. The film was praised for it's originality, animation, story, humour, themes, action and most of all, it's characters and voice performances. The film was also lauded by the autistic community for it's portrayals of autism, in regards to the characters of George Jacqueline and Stephanie, who are both autistic (and both played by people who are autistic themselves), and also by the LGBT community for it's portrayal of LGBT rights, also in regards to Stephanie, who is a lesbian. The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 100% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 234 reviews, with an average score of 8.7/10. The site's consensus states: "Memorable characters, stunning animation, poignant writing and all round brilliant concept all make Weird World destined to become an animation icon." Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 from top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 91 based on 62 reviews, indicating "Universal acclaim." In CinemaScore polls, cinema audiences gave Weird World an average score of "A+" on an A+ to F scale.
Trivia[]
- Weird World is notable for being a Disney film targeted towards older kids and adults for the most part, mainly for it's dark themes and atmosphere, violence (including signs of blood), mild language and references to sexual activities, smoking and alcohol. Reloaxa has even stated/warned before it's release "For an animated Disney film, it's not entirely for the kids".
- Because of this, almost every country it was shown gave it a PG rating and in the UK it was even nearly given a 12 rating and if it had been, it would have been Disney's first 12-rated animated feature film. However, the UK did end up giving it a PG.
- The words "damn", "hell", "God", "bloody", "crap", "tosser" and "Jesus Christ" are heard at least once each in the movie.
- "Tosser" is only heard in the UK release, possibly because it's a British slang.
- Because of this, the scene of Sponghuck saying "You tosser!" to Craig after he tosses his gun to try and open King Axecutioner's drawbridge, with George saying "Bad pun alert" after is only shown in the UK release.
- Weird World is also notable for having numerous product placement cameos/mentions. The most notable ones are Automobilli Lamborghini S.p.A., Converse, Pepsi, Boddington's and Oreos, but other ones include:
- Toys R Us
- McDonald's
- Apple
- Starbucks
- Gap
- Subway
- Phones4u
- Mastercard
- AXA
- Radio Disney
- eBay
- Best Buy
- DKNY
- AT&T
- Deutsche Telekom
- American Broadcasting Company (ABC)
- Nike
- Audi
- BP plc.
- Nestlé
- Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC)
- Panasonic
- Orange S.A.
- Circle K
- Because the Pepsi Blue was mentioned and later used as a running gag in the TV series, it was brought back for a limited time in the USA and for the first time in the UK, again for a limited time.
- It isn't the first Disney animated film to contain product placement. Oliver and Company, the Wreck-It Ralph films and Zootopia have used product placement too
- Because the Pepsi Blue was mentioned and later used as a running gag in the TV series, it was brought back for a limited time in the USA and for the first time in the UK, again for a limited time.
- This is the only time in the franchise that Jonny Greenwood voices Cole. Every other time onward, he's voiced by Dee Bradley Baker.
Transcript[]
- Main article: Weird World/Transcript
Soundtrack[]
- Main article: Weird World/Soundtrack
Video game[]
Franchise[]
Due to it's popularity and huge success, the film spawned a just as successful franchise including an 8-year running TV series and three sequels - Weird World 2: The Golden Hour, Weird World 3 and The Weird World 4nale (which was split into two parts).