Orion and the Dark review: "Netflix's animated adaptation is warm and witty thanks to Charlie Kaufman"
Jan. 29, 2024This warm, witty, anxiety-battling sky ride will have you humming “hello darkness, my new friend…”
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First-time director Sean Charmatz’s visuals retain the original picture book’s warm, line-drawn feel, gorgeous watercolor landscapes, and Orion’s Captain Underpants-style notebook sketches of his fears. But it’s Kaufman’s talky, empathetic story that rules here. Orion and the Dark emerges as a kid-friendly take on his obsessions with exploring high anxiety, existential dread, and how characters can shape-shift the story (see also:AnomalisaandAdaptation).
Dark whisks a protesting Orion across inky skies, dense forests, and the pulsing Northern Lights to try and cure his night-phobia. Tremblay rises to the occasion: his verbose, hyper-analytic hero is both hilariously fearful and relatably fallible. There’s even a niceInside Out-ish angle, as Orion’s fear-driven interventions cause chaos for Dark’s squabbling sidekicks Insomnia, Quiet, Unexplained Noises, Sweet Dreams, and the chloroform-wielding Sleep.
Despite its 3D CGI good looks, the film has an indie, handmade feel, which sits well with Kaufman’s twisty, slightly meta tale. Small kids might struggle with the film’s sudden changes of storyteller, but its smart explorations of fear and feelings are clear-cut, wrapped snugly in a rollicking adventure that sets misunderstood Dark against his cheerily annoying nemesis Light (a breezy Ike Barnholtz). Sprinkled with winking gags about film (Werner Herzog pops up, as does thatPoltergeistcupboard that still haunts your dreams), this is a clever, all-ages charmer.
Orion and the Dark hits Netflix on February 2. You can fill out your watchlist with our guide to thebest Netflix moviesstreaming now.
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Kate is a freelance film journalist and critic. Her bylines have appeared online and in print for GamesRadar, Total Film, the BFI, Sight & Sounds, and WithGuitars.com.
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