NOT THAT! satires: May 2023

Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1989) follows the adventure in Slumberland of Little Nemo as the title suggests.

The movie is directed by Masami Hata & William Hurtz. The screenplay is written by Richard Outten & Chris Columbus (best known for directing the 2 first Harry Potter films, Home Alone 1 & 2 and Mrs. Doubtfire) and based on the "Little Nemo" comic strip from 1905-1911 by Winsor McCay.

The film is a collaboration between Japanese animation/production studio TMS Entertainment & varying American studios.

The character "Little Nemo" was already obscure by the time the movie was being made during which a lot of disagreement went on and caused the movie to be delayed.

ANYWAY! this is about the movie, not the behind the scenes, so let's quickly go over the movie's plot and review it!

The movie begins with credits while a musical number praising its main character is playing, the song is whimsical and fitting while the visual credits do not really do the film any justice.

We meet Nemo (voiced by Gabriel Damon) in his iconic pyjamas. After a traumatizing nightmare, he and his best friend, a semi-understandable English talking flying squirrel named Icarus (voiced by Danny Mann), go to the circus parade where we meet an assortiment of characters later used as the basis for their Slumberland counterparts.

At Night, Nemo gets woken up by the visitation of Professor Genius (voiced by René Auberjonois) and Bon Bon (voiced by Sherry Lynn) who bring him to Slumberland to become the playmate of the princess.

After escaping Nightmare clouds, they succesfully arrive in Slumberland, where everyone awaits Nemo's arrival. While looking for the king, Nemo meets the frightful, funny and chaotic Flip the clown (voiced by Mickey Rooney) who accidently brings him to king Morpheus.

Nemo is handed a key by the king, which can open any door in Slumberland but is also warned not to open a big scary underground door which has the Nightmare king behind it.

Princess Camille (voiced by Laura Mooney), Nemo and Bon Bon go on a trip around Slumberland to have fun... but the fun must stop somehow... which in this case, Nemo has to learn how to act like a prince by the help of a musical number where varying teachers try to teach Nemo.

Flip and Nemo wreak havoc on Slumberland before the coronation - when they find the underground door, they unlock it to take a peak. They unleash the Nightmare king (voiced by Bill Martin) upon Slumberland. Nemo and his group have to go to Nightmare land to save king Morpheus and defeat the Nightmare king.

The movie is just like their protagonist, awkward or bland at some times. Despite that, it is a more faithful adaptation of the 20th century comic strip than Netflix's "Slumberland" (2022) starring Jason Momoa.

The biggest highlights of the film are the colorful and bright characters, the music, the animation and some of the establishing/ foreshadowing. While "it was all a dream" is one of the laziest ways to end a movie, it's fitting for a movie like this since the comic strip's entire purpose was to show how big and creative the boy could dream. Even though the film failed at the box office at the time of its release, having strong competition with rival film "Kiki's Delivery Service".

"Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland" is one of those films that age like fine wine cause it gained a cult following after its appearance in cinemas.

And personally, it's one of my favorite animated films of all time, right behind "Spirited Away".