What Is the Story About?
Slumberland is the story of a young girl Nemo. Based on the comic strip, Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay, the film follows a young girl Nemo in the dreamworld of Slumberland. She lives with her father Peter in a Lighthouse. On a stormy night, her father loses his life and Nemo’s world is shattered. She teams up with an outlaw in her dreams to find wish-fulfilling pearls so as to see her late father again.
Performances?
One of the major reasons why one would watch Slumberland is the performances. Jason Momoa and Marlow Barkley are commendable individually as well as together. Their chemistry clicks off so well that even when the story moves nowhere, you’d root for the duo. For a feature film debut Barkley has done great. She carries this reclusive, curious and adamant Nemo well.
Analysis
Slumberland, the 2022 Netflix American fantasy adventure outing is directed by Francis Lawrence and written by Michael Handelman and David Guion. Based on the comic strip ‘Little Nemo in Slumberland’ by Winsor McCay, Slumberland is a more imaginative dream fantasy version of the comics. Additionally, Nemo is a 9 year old girl in the film unlike the comics.
Nemo, who lives in lighthouse and is home-schooled by her father quite loses the footing she’s had when her father passes away in a storm. She has to now live with her father’s estranged brother who is quite a recluse and doesn’t know how to handle Nemo. Unable to bear the grief, she decides to steer away to Slumberland aka dreamland to bring her father back using wish-granting pearls.
She meets an eccentric outlaw named Flip who decides to team-up with her in finding the pearls in Slumberland. Both Flip and Nemo have different wishes and they start their adventure to reach the ‘Sea of Nightmares’ by breaching other people’s dreams. The journey ahead for the duo is filled with troublesome adventures, realizations, mourning and heartbreak both in real world and dreamland.
What’s interesting about Slumberland is how ambitious it tries to be. There are quite a few high budget visual frenzies, wildly imaginative special effects, an extremely charming duo at the forefront, and also a heart-warming story at the core. But what it truly lacks is self-awareness. For a film that largely aims at kids, the visual grammar of Slumberland is sometimes gimmicky.
Fantasy is an apt dumping ground for grief. David Guion and Michael Handelman’s screenplay tries to mend in a 9 year old girl’s grief into the dream world like most fantasy animation films we’ve gotten used to seeing. But, the grief element quite doesn’t get the treatment it deserves in Slumberland. What we get in turn is an overstretched CGI galore where there’s too much happening around.
In short, Slumberland had everything at its expense. An imaginative comic strip, a fire-cracker of a cast, high budget and a relatable story. But, it still ends up as a largely forgettable fantasy. It also gives the audience (kids in particular) yet another elongated big budget fantasy outing they’d probably enjoy, but forget by the end credits.
Other Artists?
Kyle Chandler as Nemo’s father ‘Peter’ is quite a charismatic girl dad. Chris O’Dowd as Peter’s brother ‘Philip’ has also given a nice performance. His combination scenes with Marlow Barkley were particularly sweet. None of the other characters register enough for a mention.
Music and Other Departments?
Pinar Toprak’s music for Slumberland falls under the run-of-the-mill category. Jo Willems’ camera work is nice, though. But one could not help but think, how both the departments could have done better. Mark Yoshikawa’s editing also needed some more fine tuning.
Highlights?
Core Story
Cast
Drawbacks?
Forgettable
Music
Editing
Underutilized emotions
Did I Enjoy It?
Yes. In Few parts
Will You Recommend It?
This Film Can Cater to Kids and Make a Silly Family Watch
Slumberland Movie Review by Binged Bureau
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