DVDizzy Forum

D82 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 23, 2022 5:20 pm And in this other article from Empire UK the directors talk a bit about the gay relationship in the film, among other things. I also found it curious that the article mentions the characters are in another planet, but I don't know if it's Disney confirming it or the journalist who wrote it just assumed that.

Good thing the LGBTQ element will be crucial to Ethan's story and not just done albeit blatantly and for show like how the 5-second kiss scene in Lightyear was.

New promo. Here's also our first look at who I suppose are two of Ethan's friends from an Italian coloring book. Could the boy be his crush Diazo? Maybe one of the members who saw the clips at D23 or Annecy could confirm whether he is or not.


Source: https://www.amazon.it/Luca-Primo-album- ... ref=sr_1_6


Here's another image where they appear along with another new character, but the quality is not too good:


Source: https://www.amazon.it/Strange-world-Sti ... ref=sr_1_7


And here are some more international book covers, some of which include some inside pages as a preview:

https://www.amazon.it/Strange-world-Gra ... ref=sr_1_8
https://www.amazon.it/Strange-world-Sta ... ref=sr_1_9
https://www.amazon.it/Strange-world-I-c ... ef=sr_1_10
https://www.amazon.it/Strange-world-Edi ... ef=sr_1_11
https://www.amazon.it/Disney-Strange-Wo ... ref=sr_1_3
https://www.bookdepository.com/Strange- ... 1761294372
https://www.bookdepository.com/Strange- ... 1761294365

None of Ethan's two friends were in the stuff from Strange World that I saw at D23.

The design of his friends is dreadful. The guy looks like Fred Flintstone and the girl like a deformed Honey Lemon.

D82 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 26, 2022 6:44 pm Here's also our first look at who I suppose are two of Ethan's friends from an Italian coloring book. Could the boy be his crush Diazo? Maybe one of the members who saw the clips at D23 or Annecy could confirm whether he is or not.

This guy and the girl from this coloring book are two of Ethan's friends who visit him at the farm.
I don't know their names but the guy drive the van, while the girl is sat behind.
He looked less chubby and a bit more bulky in my memory, though a bit generic and not memorable.
He was cool and that's fine. There's often a difference between the stuff from Disney Publishing and the final designs from the movie.
The girl who has orange and green (!) hair reminded me a bit of Honey Lemon but younger and also a grown-up Mertle from Lilo & Stitch (guess it was because of the hair color and round glasses). She's a bit sassy.
Diazo is the one who is on the blurry sticker : he has light blonde hair on top of the head and wears a pink-magenta outfit with floral patterns.
He fits well with Ethan and he is a bit taller and slender than him and he looks cute.

I guess they showed the clip where Ethan is with his friends only at Annecy Festival. I wonder if it's by purpose to test the audience with the fact it's obvious Ethan's gay while they didn't mention it at all when they introduced this clip. I know anyway they want this aspect to be totally ordinary which is ok to me and a better way to include LGBT characters step by step.

Yeah, I was about to say, before I scrolled down and saw Kido's post, that the crush is clearly the boy next to the dog. I'm glad Ethan also has friends that he interacts with, and not simply a love interest and relatives. The (girl) friend definitely looks like another Honey Lemon (who was a knockoff of Rapunzel, who was a knockoff of Ariel, etc.). At least she looks like she has a different personality than those, more cynical or sarcastic.

How about bitchy?

Prince Kido wrote: ↑Thu Oct 27, 2022 1:55 am This guy and the girl from this coloring book are two of Ethan's friends who visit him at the farm.
I don't know their names but the guy drive the van, while the girl is sat behind.
He looked less chubby and a bit more bulky in my memory, though a bit generic and not memorable.
He was cool and that's fine. There's often a difference between the stuff from Disney Publishing and the final designs from the movie.
The girl who has orange and green (!) hair reminded me a bit of Honey Lemon but younger and also a grown-up Mertle from Lilo & Stitch (guess it was because of the hair color and round glasses). She's a bit sassy.
Diazo is the one who is on the blurry sticker : he has light blonde hair on top of the head and wears a pink-magenta outfit with floral patterns.
He fits well with Ethan and he is a bit taller and slender than him and he looks cute.

I guess they showed the clip where Ethan is with his friends only at Annecy Festival. I wonder if it's by purpose to test the audience with the fact it's obvious Ethan's gay while they didn't mention it at all when they introduced this clip. I know anyway they want this aspect to be totally ordinary which is ok to me and a better way to include LGBT characters step by step.

Thanks for the info, Prince Kido! It makes more sense it's the other boy. I checked footage description articles from Annecy, D23 and Animation is Film Festival and you're right that the clip featuring Ethan and his friends was only shown at Annecy. Thanks D23ExpoVisitor25 too for confirming they weren't in the footage shown at D23!

D82 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 27, 2022 4:25 pm

Prince Kido wrote: ↑Thu Oct 27, 2022 1:55 am This guy and the girl from this coloring book are two of Ethan's friends who visit him at the farm.
I don't know their names but the guy drive the van, while the girl is sat behind.
He looked less chubby and a bit more bulky in my memory, though a bit generic and not memorable.
He was cool and that's fine. There's often a difference between the stuff from Disney Publishing and the final designs from the movie.
The girl who has orange and green (!) hair reminded me a bit of Honey Lemon but younger and also a grown-up Mertle from Lilo & Stitch (guess it was because of the hair color and round glasses). She's a bit sassy.
Diazo is the one who is on the blurry sticker : he has light blonde hair on top of the head and wears a pink-magenta outfit with floral patterns.
He fits well with Ethan and he is a bit taller and slender than him and he looks cute.

I guess they showed the clip where Ethan is with his friends only at Annecy Festival. I wonder if it's by purpose to test the audience with the fact it's obvious Ethan's gay while they didn't mention it at all when they introduced this clip. I know anyway they want this aspect to be totally ordinary which is ok to me and a better way to include LGBT characters step by step.

Thanks for the info, Prince Kido! It makes more sense it's the other boy. I checked footage description articles from Annecy, D23 and Animation is Film Festival and you're right that the clip featuring Ethan and his friends was only shown at Annecy. Thanks D23ExpoVisitor25 too for confirming they weren't in the footage shown at D23!

No problem.

Here's a better look at Ethan's friends (including Diazo) from an Amazon book preview:


Source: https://www.amazon.com/RH-Disney/dp/073 ... ef=sr_1_10


Another book preview reveals Searcher's mother is (or most likely was) called Penelope.

This film is one of the worse aesthetics WDAS has tried (I personally wasn't crazy about the look of Atlantis or TENG with their square-edged fingers either--well, I love the way Yzma looks in TENG, long and sharp, but she's the only thing)--I'd prefer the look of Turning Red, Luca, and Elio to this, by far--but I mostly like the designs for Searcher, Ethan, and Ethan's friends right now, particularly the love interest. Probably the hardest thing to like about the designs are the noses--how they're just complete circles or variously-shaped ovals rather than defined or more realistic.

The grandpa's design is...okay. The mother's design is bland. I'm still the most disappointed in the design for Lucy Liu's character. Considering how the Revival likes to make so many of the characters look just like their voice actors ( ), it's such a shame they decided to break that trend now of all times. I would've loved another female leader--good this time--in the vein of Virana from Raya, as far as being very feminine and yet still powerful (the way Elsa is, too, actually) rather than another bulky warrior type.

Disney's Divinity wrote: ↑Fri Oct 28, 2022 9:51 pm This film is one of the worse aesthetics WDAS has tried (I personally wasn't crazy about the look of Atlantis or TENG with their square-edged fingers either--well, I love the way Yzma looks in TENG, long and sharp, but she's the only thing)--I'd prefer the look of Turning Red, Luca, and Elio to this, by far--but I mostly like the designs for Searcher, Ethan, and Ethan's friends right now, particularly the love interest. Probably the hardest thing to like about the designs are the noses--how they're just complete circles or variously-shaped ovals rather than defined or more realistic.

The grandpa's design is...okay. The mother's design is bland. I'm still the most disappointed in the design for Lucy Liu's character. Considering how the Revival likes to make so many of the characters look just like their voice actors ( ), it's such a shame they decided to break that trend now of all times. I would've loved another female leader--good this time--in the vein of Verona from Raya, as far as being very feminine and yet still powerful (the way Elsa is, too, actually) rather than another warrior type.

People would rather take unconventional designs to break away from the chains of Lassetter and fix Disney's same face problem.

They could've done the same thing with a style that's nicer to look at. And, besides, isn't the female friend like Rapunzel and Honey Lemon anyway?

Disney's Divinity wrote: ↑Fri Oct 28, 2022 10:47 pm They could've done the same thing with a style that's nicer to look at. And, besides, isn't the female friend like Rapunzel and Honey Lemon anyway?

Mmmm, no. Sorry, I just don't see it in their design. It's just you.

D23ExpoVisitor25 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 9:46 pm Mmmm, no. Sorry, I just don't see it in their design. It's just you.

Try scrolling up then... 2 or 3 other people said it before I did.

Disney's Divinity wrote: ↑Sun Oct 30, 2022 10:39 am

D23ExpoVisitor25 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 9:46 pm Mmmm, no. Sorry, I just don't see it in their design. It's just you.

Try scrolling up then... 2 or 3 other people said it before I did.

Well, with all due respect, they are wrong to assume that.

Am I the ONLY one who likes the design work in this film?

I still maintain that Searcher is smokin' hot. Surprised no other gay guys here have been as vocal as me.

I mean ... just look at him! You want to squeeze that funny-wunny face and tickle him under his chin.

UD is not gay enough anymore.

Jules wrote: ↑Mon Oct 31, 2022 6:51 am Am I the ONLY one who likes the design work in this film?

I still maintain that Searcher is smokin' hot. Surprised no other gay guys here have been as vocal as me.

I mean ... just look at him! You want to squeeze that funny-wunny face and tickle him under his chin.

UD is not gay enough anymore.

No. I like it, too. A great unique look from the sameness Disney's WDAS features had up until Encanto broke free of Lassetter's chains.

D23ExpoVisitor25 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 31, 2022 6:55 amNo. I like it, too. A great unique look from the sameness Disney's WDAS features had up until Encanto broke free of Lassetter's chains.

Great!

I understand many people are not fond of the "Sony Pictures Animation" look, and they are right that the character designs seem influenced by some of the films by that studio.

Then again, SPA boast about not having a house style, and I've never watched a film by them that didn't look "good." (Yes, for all its failures, even The Emoji Movie is competent on a visual level.)

I have no problem with WDAS borrowing from SPA. After all, all studios borrow from each other. Furthermore, I like the SPA look and see no shame in WDAS applying the same sensibility to their films. I hope future films will branch out more into distinct looks. (They don't have to be all the same, nor does this mean they cannot use the house style ever again!)

They claim that they took inspiration from the WWII era films, personally I don't see it:

Hall and his team also looked to the post WWII era Disney animation for ideas for character design — the look of characters in classics like The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Johnny Appleseed figured prominently during development. These 2D inspirations proved a serious challenge for the CG computer systems used by the animation team.

Source:
‘Strange World’: Don Hall and His Disney Team Explore Family Dynamics in Unchartered Territories
https://www.animationmagazine.net/2022/ ... ic-voyage/