Little Nemo - Abenteuer im Schlummerland

"Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland" (aka. Little Nemo: Dreamland no Daiboken) is quite a fun Euro-Anime film. It also spun off a video game based on the movie and it is a good film for those whom don't really remember or never heard of McKay's original comic series.

It is about a young boy named Nemo and his flying squirrel going on different dreamlike adventures, some of them having different results of their own. Sorry, I just don't feel like spoiling anyone today.

I swear, I cannot believe this film bombed outside of Europe and Asia, because it was "un-Disney like". Yeah, well, that is why Little Nemo is good. Alot of Disney's (recent) works are so sappy and sweetsy, like syrup on sugar on saccarine. Kind of like an unberable sweetness.

Anyways, check this movie out. You will be doing me and others whom remember this film a favor, and PLEASE put it on either DVD or VCD, with also the original Japanese and French tracks too!

PS. Did you know that Brian Froud, Moebius and Hayao Miyazaki all worked on Little Nemo? No wonder it is so great!

"Little Nemo" is not easy to watch, but then again neither are the original comics by Winsor McKay easy to read. He had a wild and unconstrained (sometimes nightmarish) imagination, and the movie mirrors that general feeling. However, the imagery of this film is a striking tribute to a master of imagery. I wonder if Miyazaki of "Spirited Away" and "Castle in the Sky" was influenced by McKay. His flying machines, architecture, lighting and characters remind me of those seen in the "Little Nemo" comics and his casual cross-disolves from fantasy to reality and back are highly reminiscent of McKay's work. The film's major failing is its attempt to maintain a coherent, disney-like story arch in the midst of the rampant near-madness of MkKay's imagined world. Also, the squirrel was a mistake. Over all though, if you're familiar with McKay's work, I recommend you see this film to get a feel for what a McKay movie might have been like if he had persisted beyond his fledgeling attempts at animation. To see his actual attempts, I recommend the DVD "Animation Legend: Winsor McCay".

Little Nemo is one of the unusual cartoons. The reason is a combination of Japanese animation and American script and English borrowed voices. Originally, Nemo was actually a comic created in 1905 (yes, it's so old) by author Winsor McCay and followed the unusual adventures of Nemo in his dreams where he would usually wake up in the last picture of the comic. He used his son Robert for the template for Nemo and drew a comic that came out, intermittently, for over 20 years. The animated version went through problems, the script changed like the screenwriters and in the end we got the aforementioned combination where we have a Japanese director, an American screenwriter and English actors. Even the great Miyazaki participated in the beginnings as early as the first half of the 80s, but he leaves because of disagreements and himself later declares that this work was one of the worst experiences of his life. Side note: the script eventually went to Chris Columbus who is best known as the director of the first two films Home Alone and the first two films of Harry Potter. The film was originally released in cinemas in Japan in 1989, and after 3 years in America. He received mixed reviews and did not earn close to what was expected, however, later on by going on VHS he gained a lot of popularity and today enjoys a cult status with a certain audience.

In the film, we also follow the boy Nemo who goes to Slumberland in a dream, meets various characters such as Professor Genius, King Morpheus, Princess Camille, clown Flip, and is always accompanied by Icarus, the flying squirrel. All characters have appropriate names. I can say that this is by no means an easy cartoon. Nemo reflects reality in his dreams (which is logical), he often wakes up and we can't always be sure what a dream is and what isn't, at least not while watching. We have a situation where something unusual happens, so we know that it is a dream, but then Nemo wakes up, but strange things start happening again, which means that the second dream has started, that is, that Nemo dreams while dreaming. I remind you that this is a cartoon for kids and that Inception comes out a full twenty years after. There is one more thing I have to mention. When the nightmare starts and we meet the Nightmare King (I said the names are appropriate) quite intense, scary and dark scenes appear. Whoever watched knows what I'm talking about. Since I was 5-6 years old when I first watched those scenes, they were the scariest thing in my life, we have nightmares myself (haha ingenious when you think about it) because of the King of Nightmares. When I looked at him again as an adult, I can absolutely understand why this was scary for me (and I believe many other children) to watch. A nightmare is a de facto nightmare. I have to commend this film for its courage and determination to insert a little more serious themes into the children's cartoon, making it a little more complicated than the average cartoon. That is why I think that it is unique and that it can offer something to adults who watch it together with children. They will not be bored or monotonous for sure.

In reference to my review's my tag line, this is by no means a movie for "kids only". Looking back at Little Nemo as an adult, I'm surprised at how well it still holds up in my eyes. The writer's did a good job in making Little Nemo suitable for younger viewers, but without dumbing down the plot, dialogue, or artistic creativity of the film. There's no reason why a kids film can't be smart and original, and it really irks me when writers use a young target audience as an excuse to give us a second rate script.

Little Nemo is certainly unique if nothing else. The story follows a young, imaginative boy named Nemo as he travels through the mystical Slumberland. Nemo meets and befriends numerous people throughout Slumberland eventually earning the high esteem of the land's royal family. Unfortunately things go horribly wrong after Nemo's curiosity inadvertently leads him to unleash a virtual Pandora's Box, which threatens to destroy the kingdom. Can Nemo redeem himself and save his new friends?

The lead characters are very well developed, thanks in no small part to the great voice actors. They convey a genuine and convincing level of human emotion. Little Nemo has a very surreal atmosphere to it, which work perfectly at conveying the dreamy atmosphere of Slumberland. There are also some surprisingly dark and moody moments. Don't get me wrong, this isn't scary by any means, far from it, but the colors are very effective in conveying the tense emotion and gloomy atmosphere of these scenes. Likewise the more upbeat moments are also very well executed, with a bright vibrant array of reds, blues, yellows, etc. Really top-notch animation, that still holds up very well even by today's standards.

I would definitely recommend Little Nemo if you're looking for a quality children's film, that parents will likely enjoy as well.

My sister and I used to go to this daycare where we watched a movie a day. We watched a lot of movies more than once and this was one of them, because everyone loved it so much. About a month ago, I remembered so little about the movie that I thought I had dreamed about it (kinda ironic, don't you think?). Then I looked it up on IMDb and realized it was a real movie. I got it for my sister for Christmas and having just watched it, I'm glad I did.

Nemo is a fun-loving boy who dreams that he goes to Slumberland, a magical kingdom that contains everything any kid would ever love. This place becomes a sort of reality for Nemo and he is entrusted as King Morpheus's heir and given a key to every door in the kingdom- however, he is asked to not open the door that has the key's symbol on it. Of course, he ends up opening it (with a little encouragement from a troublemaker named Flip) and the Nightmare King ends up kidnapping the king.

The movie is not an intricate masterpiece storywise, but the plot and characters are so much fun it really doesn't matter! The real joy here is the animated backgrounds and effects- this movie is a visual stunner.