ORION AND THE DARK -- Charlie Kaufman Gives Us an Incredible, Humanistic Children's Film

Review by Sean Boelman

The second animated film written by Charlie Kaufman (Anomalisa, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Dreamworks’s Orion and the Dark, is not only an exceptional work of children’s cinema but also among the best work in Kaufman’s career. It’s hard to find a children’s film as nuanced and compelling as this, but Orion and the Dark exceeds expectations in every way.

The film follows a young boy who is afraid of everything as he sets out on a journey with the embodiment of one of his greatest fears, the Dark, to learn that his fears might be unwarranted. Adapted by Kaufman from the 2014 children’s book of the same name, it’s surprising how well the screenwriter’s characteristically existential (and often morbid) style translates into the children’s film medium that is typically anything but.

As with many films adapted from children’s storybooks, it sometimes feels like the story is stretching a bit. (The source material is only 40 pages long, so the adaptation had to add a lot of material to bring it up to feature length.) Yet, every time you think the story might be beginning to run out of steam, Kaufman finds a way to draw you back in.

At first, seeing how much of a Charlie Kaufman character Orion is despite being a child can be a bit jarring. He has wisdom — and anxieties — beyond his years. Yet, as with any Kaufman script, the pieces fall into place slowly but surely. It is soon revealed that we are not watching a mere children’s story but a deconstruction of one, turning the genre’s moralistic trappings into something far more humanistic.

On its surface, Orion and the Dark is a film about overcoming fear, a message that will be incredibly beneficial to younger audiences who watch the film. Adults will find themselves more moved by Dark’s story of struggling to fit into a world that is afraid of him, as so many of us have struggled to find meaning and purpose in our lives and failed to do so.

Although the voice ensemble is filled with recognizable names, including Paul Walter Hauser, Jacob Tremblay, Carla Gugino, Colin Hanks, Ike Barinholtz, Nat Faxon, and Natasia Demetriou, none of them feels like a particular scene-stealer. In that way, it feels like an old-school, ensemble-driven voice cast where everyone does their part effectively but near-anonymously.

The animation style is a bit conventional, falling into the typical Dreamworks mold, but it fits the film’s nature as a children’s book adaptation quite well. It’s whimsical and colorful, with abstract designs for its characters but rich settings for its world-building. Viewers, both young and old, will be wonderfully immersed in the magic of this tale.

Orion and the Dark is incredible — one of the best, most thematically mature movies to come out aimed at a younger audience in years. It offers plenty that will appeal to children, but also the complexity to make it a must-watch for adults. However, should we be surprised with a screenwriter as talented as Charlie Kaufman behind the project?

Orion and the Dark streams on Netflix beginning February 2.

Rating: 5/5