November 21, 2022
11-year old girl Nemo (Marlow Barkley) grew up only with her father Peter (Kyle Chandler) in the lighthouse which he kept. Peter homeschooled Nemo, taught her about lighthouse operations, and told her fantastic stories before she went to bed. However, one stormy night Peter went out to answer a distress call and never came back home. His father's estranged brother, doorknob salesman Philip (Chris O'Dowd) picked Nemo up and brought her to live with him in the city. Being single and a loner, Philip had a difficult time connecting with Nemo.
One night, Nemo had a bizarre dream where her plush toy Pig was up and about, snorting and walking, and her bed grew legs and carried her off back to the lighthouse where she grew up. In her father's room, she met Flip (Jason Momoa), a huge man with long hair, curved horns, sharp teeth, wearing a pink jacket with golden epaulettes. Flip promised Nemo that she can be reunited with her father if she can help him find a missing map that would lead them to the Sea of Nightmares, where there are the pearls that can make any wish come true.
This fantasy-adventure film produced by Netflix was based on a vintage comic strip by Winsor McCay called "Little Nemo in Slumberland" which ran in the New York Herald from 1905 to 1911. Each story ran daily for a week with Nemo dreaming himself in various adventures until he woke up in the last panel. There was an anti-hero character named Flip in the strip too, a green-faced clown whose mission was to disrupt Nemo's sleep. In its adaptation, Netflix gender-switched the main protagonist and turned Flip into a bombastic satyr-like creature.
The special visual effects department of this film really went very far out of the box to create the most spectacular dreamscapes. A standout scene was the car and truck chase scene in the city streets lined with skyscrapers made of glass that could easily shatter into smithereens. Another memorable scene was that of Nemo, Flip and the Canadian dreamer riding on giant Canada geese. Every scene with Pig was a cute visual delight. However, there were still scenes which were obviously used greenscreen and some CGI not smoothly rendered.
Despite the outrageously over-the-top performance of Jason Momoa as Flip (he seemed to be improvising more than he should), this film still had a beating heart that underpinned all the loud noise and garish colors. The way director Francis Lawrence revealed the connection of Nemo's dream world and her real world was executed with impeccable subtlety. The tearjerking scene of Uncle Philip telling Nemo about his relationship with his brother Peter as children would touch the heart of even the most jaded viewer. 7/10.
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