Posted on the eve of Christmas but deprived of theatrical release,
Avalonia
, the end-of-year Disney animated film, is an environmentalist family adventure, which marks a discreet evolution by featuring a gay teenager .
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In the United States, where it was theatrically released, the film was a distinct disappointment at the box office considering its $180 million budget.
A sum which notably made it possible to create the luxuriant and fantasized universe of
Avalonia
, an ecosystem in which a family, the Clades, evolves.
The grandfather, Searcher, is an intrepid explorer who discovered a mysterious plant that provides clean and inexhaustible energy, the father, Jaeger, a farmer who has revolutionized life on
Avalonia
by exploiting it, and Ethan, who hesitates on the path to follow.
The three will find themselves in a crazy adventure, where they will have to question their certainties in the face of an initially threatening ecosystem, populated by monsters of all kinds, and which they mistakenly think they can master.
Moving away from the most traditional Disney films, with no real "villain", the film undermines productivist agriculture, pleads benevolence rather than force and even takes on anti-species accents.
It marks an evolution at Disney, with the character of Ethan, in love with another boy.
“The fact that he was gay was part of the DNA of the story, but not the plot itself.
This is not a story of coming out, he is as he is, loved by everyone, his grandfather included
, "explained to AFP one of the directors, Don Hall.
“Disney films have a big impact around the world, it is essential that they reflect people”
as they are,
“even in when it is
, he continued.
A Disney subsidiary, Pixar previously featured a stealthy kiss between two female characters in its latest
Buzz Lightyear
movie .
A dozen Muslim countries had banned its release.
In France,
Avalonia
will be available from Friday for Disney + subscribers.
The entertainment empire, unhappy with the media timeline system that protects cinemas by regulating how movies can be shown next, decided not to release it in France.
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Families will still have enough to attend theaters during the end-of-year holidays, between
Avatar
(another Disney film), Dreamworks'
Puss in Boots 2
or, on the French side, the return of
Ernest and Celestine.
