We can all see in the dark here.
There isn’t much theatrical kids movies in theaters at the moment, so it would make sense to that “Migration” and “Wonka” are what the kids are seeing. Obviously, I’d choose them over “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” because they’re more exuberant than what was presented in that DCEU mess. And whatever kids movies don’t fit in the theatrical slot would go on streaming services, like Netflix’s next film “Orion and the Dark,” and Dreamworks Animation co-distributes it.
It’s also based on Emma Yarlett’s children’s book, which gets spiced here by screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, who usually specializes in adult features from the ingenious “Being John Malkovich” to his first animated feature-the stop motion “Anomalisa” to his last entry-the surrealist nightmare “I’m Thinking of Ending Things.”
I recall an article about how Henry Selick got less credit for “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” because it was labeled “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas,” when, in actuality, Burton was labeled a producer. Kaufman doesn’t take all of the credit for his latest movie, because the director is Sean Charmatz, whose storyboard credits include “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie” and “Trolls.” He and Kaufman both turn “Orion and the Dark” into a cartoon that doesn’t succumb to the noisy and rambunctious levels of routine kids films, but rather tests different levels for both kids and adults. It mixes in some “Inside Out” genes with some “Princess Bride” qualities, and what the rules of reality must apply.
Orion (voiced by a maturing Jacob Tremblay), the title kid, is afraid of everything from bee stings to class humiliations to school bullies to the dark. He’s the kind of kid who is too cynical to try new things, even sit next to his crush on a school trip. And the title is no exaggeration, as the dark is his greatest fear. So why doesn’t he come in the form of a goofy and eccentric Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, and give the boy a reality check? Dark (voiced by Paul Walter Hauser) is his name, and his eyes are blue, so it would help us see him better in the really dark sequences. No offense, Dark.
He has to show the kid how exhilarating the nighttime can be from the stars to the drive-in movies. And I guess he was too busy to show him Las Vegas at night.
Dark is not without his co-workers, known as Night Entities, who look like cousins of the emotions from “Inside Out.” There’s the green mosquito Insomnia (voiced by Nat Faxon), who needs to wake people up at night; the blue “Sesame Street” creature Sleep (voiced by Natasia Demetriou), who uses chloroform or a cartoon hammer to make them sleep; the purple vision Sweet Dreams (voiced by Angela Bassett), who gives them, well, pleasant dreams (bet you thought I was gonna say “Sweet Dreams”); the yellow tape recorder robot thingamajig Unexplained Noises (voiced by Golda Rosheuvel), who needs to knock on some garbage cans; and the mouse Quiet (voiced by Aparna Nancherla), who requires subtitles when talking.
And Dark’s enemy is light (Ike Barinholtz), whose job is wake everyone for a beautiful day. At least, Dark thinks he’s his enemy, but in actuality, he’s isn’t a Gaston-esque bad guy.
“Orion and the Dark” seems like something out of a Kaufman piece, because of its risky choices in a children’s film, and how Charmatz is able to make them seem lively and cartoonish. See, I’m giving both filmmakers credit for their work. I’ve grown a little tired of some of Orion’s cynicisms, but I wasn’t tired of the film’s spirits and charms. In fact, I didn’t expect the film to be risky, and yet clever on both sides of the equation.
Tremblay is growing and developing, and he merges his characteristics inside the boy. And Hauser is fresh and lively as a cartoon version of the Dark, and even when the movie tries to make him invisible, we can still see him in the dark. Notice me using the same word in capital and lower case letters. Night, night.
Streaming on Netflix This Friday