Orion and the Dark

Netflix now has the streaming rights to Universal's animated films from Dreamworks and Illumination. What I have now is a film Dreamworks produced for Netflix itself. This is Orion and the Dark, based on a picture book by Emma Yarlett, and it is an interesting film, to say the least. Let's see why.

Orion (Jacob Tremblay) is scared of everything. He fears rejection, dogs, bees, the Ocean, falling off skyscrapers, the school bully and even accidentally killing the school bully, among others. But he's scared of the dark most of all. The Dark himself (Paul Walter Hauser) isn't happy with that. So, he decides to assuage Orion's fears with a global tour. 

The Dark and his friends, Sweet Dreams (Angela Bassett), Sleep (Natasia Demetriou), Unexplained Noises (Golda Rosheuvel), Insomnia (Nat Faxon), and Quiet (Aparna Nancherla), show Orion how they bring night to the world. All the while, they have to stay one step ahead of Light (Ike Barinholtz) and his daytime. Everything seems fine until Orion's insensitivity threatens the world itself. I think that's it, but...

All of this is actually told by an adult Orion (Colin Hanks) to his own fearful daughter, Hypatia (Mia Akemi Brown). This sudden metafictional twist is revealed within the first half-hour.  Actually, it's not really surprising, considering that Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation, Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) wrote the script. His story-within-a-story approach is as intricately surreal as those films. Although Orion assures Hypatia his story is real early on, they both make it up as they go along. Hypatia even inserts herself into the story as a Deus Ex-Machina. That, however, isn't as weird as a second Deus Ex-Machina in the final minutes.

Orion is quite likable. Sure, many of his fears are morbidly ludicrous, but him being afraid of rejection is compelling. His first words narrate not just to us, but his crush, Sally (Shino Nakamichi), about his fearful state of mind. He can't even fathom sitting next to her in an upcoming field trip. Dark, his co-protagonist, shares his feelings of social inadequacy. He first complains about Orion's scaredness, but he's still willing to politely assuage his fears. His first plan is to show him a pitifully short film narrated, by of all people, Werner Herzog. It's quite fun to see them bond over the course of the movie. You'll definitely feel it when they fall out near the end, which I can't elaborate on, but there is a flying turtle involved. 

Now for a few others. I liked the other night entities, particularly Sleep and Quiet. Sleep's somnolent weapons are morbidly funny, while Quiet's barely legible voice makes for some impressive sound editing. It helps that they have character designs as appealing as their personalities (practically everyone does, though I wouldn't call the bully Richie's personality appealing). Sweet Dreams's ethereal visage is striking and she makes for a good voice of reason, while Unexplained Noises and Insomnia are both pretty amusing. Dark and Orion falling out in act three is precipitated by them joining Light, though that plot thread (intentionally) goes nowhere. Light is the closest thing the film has to an antagonist, but he still respects Dark as his equal. On the human side, what we see of Sally and Orion's relationship is nice to see.

Who knows if Orion and the Dark will make it onto next year's Oscar ballot? I think it should, considering its cuddly animation and intricate storytelling. Anyone too young to see its screenwriter's usual works will get plenty to think about over its 93 minutes. Anyone who is old enough will somewhat understand its intricacies once they see his name. I don't think either age group will lose any sleep over this film. It's just an appealing, yet weird, film. Press play and you'll see what I mean.