An early 20th century weekly comic strip created by Winsor McCay about Little Nemo鈥檚 dream world and adventures provides the very loose inspiration for Netflix鈥檚 latest big budget spectacle,
It is a blockbuster children鈥檚 fantasy in the colorful over-the-top vein of 鈥淎lice in Wonderland鈥� with a horned Jason Momoa doing a cross between Jack Sparrow and Beetlejuice on an adventure with a soft-spoken 11-year-old girl, plus Kyle Chandler sporting a beard and a fisherman sweater to rival Chris Evans鈥� 鈥淜nives Out鈥� look. It is earnest and fanciful and they seem to have had a massive visual effects budget to play with. So why isn鈥檛 鈥淪lumberland鈥� more fun?
Yes, this is a story that鈥檚 ultimately about grief 鈥� Chandler鈥檚 sweater-wearing, lighthouse managing, storytelling single father to Marlow Barkley鈥檚 Nemo is lost at sea early on and we spend the rest of the film following her as she tries to find a way to be reunited with him. But 鈥淪lumberland鈥� is also a treasure hunt through dreams, where nightmares and dream cops are chasing her and Momoa鈥檚 Flip, an outlaw in a shiny jacquard suit who has forgotten who is in the real world, describes himself as a 鈥渢roubling mix of father-figure and pent-up masculinity."
鈥淪lumberland鈥� is the creation of Francis Lawrence, director of the last three 鈥淗unger Games鈥� movies, working with a story written by Michael Handelman and David Guion (鈥淣ight at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb鈥�). This is a team with quite a bit of experience making big, glossy, entertaining spectacles for a pre-teen set. So it is a bit of a head-scratcher that 鈥淪lumberland鈥� comes up short in its capacity to awe.
Nemo, after losing her father, is placed in the custody of his estranged brother Phillip (Chris O鈥橠owd, doing his best baffled hangdog), who rips her out of her postcard world in the lighthouse and takes her to the big city, where he lives in a sleek high-rise apartment that looks like it鈥檚 out of a showroom. He鈥檚 made big bucks in doorknob sales, apparently, which will of course play into the plot at some point.
It鈥檚 there that Nemo, when she falls asleep, is transported to Slumberland, meets Flip, who she recognizes from her father鈥檚 bedtime stories, and they conspire to find a magic pearl that will grant them both their wish. In order to do so, they鈥檒l have to dream-hop through other people鈥檚 subconscious, if you were wondering where the 鈥淚nception鈥� nod was.
But the dreamers here are just world constructors and their dreams are strange brew of dazzling and uninspired, like the woman doing salsa in a butterfly ballroom with butterfly dancers. Was that just a visual they thought would be cool? Because neither she nor the butterflies have much to do with anything beyond just a room to pass through while trying to evade Dream Cop Agent Green (Weruche Opia). In this way 鈥淪lumberland鈥檚鈥� big, flashy set pieces feel more like random virtual reality worlds that aren鈥檛 quite fully developed than an actual human dream. At the very least, they could have had more of a 鈥淩eady Player One鈥� escape room element to them to heighten the tension and stakes.
鈥淪lumberland鈥� is not a terrible movie and it may very well spark your imagination or tug at your heartstrings (though sweet kids crying over dead parents is about as low-hanging as the fruit can get). But it also could have been so much more had it not gotten so bogged down in its own superfluous flash, which, by the end, just feels exhausting.
鈥淪lumberland,鈥� a Netflix release in select theaters now and streaming Friday, is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association for 鈥減eril, action, language, some thematic elements and suggestive references.鈥� Running time: 120 minutes. Two stars out of four.
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MPA Definition of PG: Parental guidance suggested.
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Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr.
Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press