Well, this looks cute. DreamWorks animation’s latest offering sees a scaredy-cat kid get over his fear of the dark by becoming friends with the supernatural personification thereof. You know, much like Colonel Kurtz made a friend of horror and moral terror. Probably.
How to watch Orion and the Dark in New Zealand
Orion and the Dark is streaming in New Zealand exclusively on Netflix.
Orion and the Dark
What is Orion and the Dark about?
When his daughter is scared of the dark, dad Orion tells the story of how he too suffered the same fear as a kid, until the Dark itself took him on a magical (or supernatural, if you like—the difference between Santa and a Redcap is largely down to good PR) adventure, where he meets fellow nocturnal entities Insomnia, Sleep, Sweet Dreams, Quiet, and Unexplained Noises, plus Dark’s nemesis, Light.
It kind of vibes like a cross between Inside Out and The Sandman to us. But what really raised our eyebrows is that the screenplay is by revered weirdo Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I’m Thinking of Ending Things) who adapted the book by by Emma Yarlett—presumably much more faithfully than when he tackled Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief.
The cast of Orion and the Dark
Jacob Tremblay is Orion, with Colin Hanks as the adult version; Paul Walter Hauser is Dark; Angela Bassett is Sweet Dreams; Ike Barinholtz is Light; Natasia Demetriou is Sleep; Golda Rosheuvel is Unexplained Noises; Nat Faxon is Insomnia; Aparna Nancherla is Quiet; Carla Gugino is Orion’s mother; and, to our surprise and delight, legendary director Werner Herzog is narrating the whole thing. Kids love Herzog.
Orion and the Dark trailer
Why we’re excited about Orion and the Dark
Straight up: if anyone had ever told us there was a kid’s film written by Charlie Kauffman and narrated by Werner Herzog, we’d have arranged an intervention. But it exists, it’s streaming now, and we simply must check it out. There’s a fair chance the kids will dig it, too.
