NEW from DreamWorks, Orion and the Dark is an ambitious animated film brimming over with spark and compassion.
Fans of family films like Inside Out and Soul will find lots to love in this heartwarming adventure, now streaming on Netflix.
Directed by Sean Charmatz, Orion and the Dark is an awe-inspiring tale full of the most potent and charming characters.
Dealing with anxiety and childhood fear of the dark, the film follows Orion (Jacob Tremblay), an imaginative elementary school kid. Orion is shy, modest, and harbouring a secret crush, but is totally wiped out by fear and lives in a constant state of apprehension.
A ball of adolescent anxiety, he is consumed by irrational fears about everything from bees to dogs, cellphone waves, the ocean, murderous clowns, falling off a cliff, and coming home from school to find his parents have moved away without him.
Orion is frightened of rejection. He is so scared of being laughed at that he spends his time alone and struggles to make friends. The school bully is one of the daily toils he must endure, and now he also has the fear of going on a school outing and all the perceived disasters he foresees happening to contend with.
Life is hard for Orion, he is scared of everything, and despite his parents’ love and support and reassurance, he is a bundle of nerves. But like many children, the thing he fears most of all is when the lights go out at night.
The dark is his greatest fear.
So, when the literal embodiment of his worst fear pays a visit, and Dark (Paul Walter Hauser) whisks Orion away on a rollercoaster ride around the world to prove there is nothing to be afraid of in the night, he gets to face his fears head on.
As the unlikely pair become closer during their nighttime sojourn, Orion tries to figure out how to accept the unknown and stop letting fear control his life. Only then will he be able to embrace the joy of living.
As Stephen King once wrote: “It was the possibility of darkness that made the day seem so bright.”
(4/5)
