Somewhere between “Alice in Wonderland” and “The Little Prince” in style and sensibility, Winsor McCay’s weekly hilarious page series “Little Nemo in Slumberland” deserves more than a proper big-screen adaptation. Not that people haven’t tried it before over the years. (At one point, Hayao Miyazaki tried an animated version. The more realistic “Dream One” came out.) And it’s not that ugly, all-encompassing film from “Constantine” director Francis Lawrence—or even has much of anything to do with Makai’s highly-fanciful comics. Which dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century.
Yes, the main character is called Nemo, and yes, most of the events of the film take place in the fantasy subconscious world of Slumberland, where gravity and time play by completely unexpected rules. But that’s as far as the similarities go – which may explain why Netflix hasn’t bothered to emphasize relevance in its marketing campaign. “Slumberland” feels less like an adaptation of “Little Nemo” than a large, unwieldy modern visual effects movie “inspired by” an earlier piece of IP for the brand (like Ben Stiller’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” which it unfortunately does).
Here’s the playground: Only child Nemo (in a neat twist, that’s a girl’s name in this fantasy) is raised in a lighthouse by her father, who tells her a vivid bedtime story before suddenly disappearing after the first scene. The incident takes place off-screen and is barely dealt with before Nemo packs up to live with her awkward uncle (Chris O’Dowd) in the big city, which she doesn’t like a bit. As Nemo’s new guardian, he sends her to school and struggles to bond, leaving Nemo to dream of her dreams, sensationally alive since her father’s death.
On the first night in her new home, Nemo sprouts with long legs like a spider, and she crawls out the window and carries her all the way to the lighthouse, where she meets Flip, an “outlaw” thief in a pink suit. Feather hat. It’s the kind of brilliant clown role that usually goes to Johnny Depp, but it falls to Jason Momoa instead. While this choice may seem like a distant second choice, it’s only about the best thing “Slumberland” has to offer. Audiences aren’t necessarily accustomed to seeing the comedic side of the “Conan” star, so it’s strange to watch him don a prosthetic belly, pastel nails, and pointy teeth to play the unfamiliar dream-crusher. Like Nemo, newcomer Marlo Barkley suggests a young Saoirse Ronan, but he never gets a chance to show off her group — or deal with her character’s more complex feelings.
Instead, “Slumberland” focuses on offering a kid-friendly adventure. Flip (who was a recurring character in McCay’s original comics) searches for a treasure map that will lead him – and Nemo, who was smart enough to find it – to a cache of wish-granting pearls. Nemo wants to bring her father back, which might lead you to believe the movie will prove to be dealing with grief and loss, but screenwriters David Geon and Michael Handelman do such an embarrassing job of dealing with my father’s disappearance in the first place. illness.
“Slumberland” is stronger at evoking elaborate dream worlds than it is at crafting a satisfying emotional foundation, which is generally the case for previous Lawrence projects as well. Like something out of a Pixar movie (maybe “Monsters Inc.” minus the monsters), the movie offers a somewhat original look at how dreams are created and managed: all based on a massive skyscraper where different kinds of sleeping experiences are located on separate floors. With the map in hand, Flip and Nemo figure out how to navigate between them, making the journey wild, as one person’s imagination full of butterflies feeds in the toilet tank of the Art Deco-style executive bathroom.
Sometimes, “Slumberland” suggests a simpler, child-friendly role on “Inception,” despite Lawrence’s lack of Christopher Nolan’s next-level logic and visual sense of world-building. This film succeeds at times, but often hurts the eyes, as Lawrence prefers wide angles, frantic action, and an unappealing visual aesthetic.
The movie lacks a traditional villain, offering rude “dream cops” who act a bit like Agent Smith in the “Matrix” movies, as well as a smoky squid-like nightmare that haunts Nemo throughout Slumberland. Everything is very flashy and organized in a rather sloppy manner, which is a pity, as MacKay pioneered such a catchy style in his ‘Little Nemo’ comics. The intricately designed final credits — beautiful CG patterns designed to look like dioramas cut into paper — rub off on her, suggesting a host of other, more interesting adventures that Nemo could have explored instead.
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