As a parent, it can be difficult to find family shows or movies to watch that everyone is happy with. Showing your children stuff you used to watch in the 1990s can sometimes lead to mixed results. My kid barely made it through the opening of Willow because he thought it was too traumatic. We watched The Sandlot, and I found it much more problematic than I ever remembered it being when I was younger.
Watching something new is always an option. Some stuff I’ve watched now is better than what I watched as a kid, like The Owl House. But there are so many terrible family movies out there that are just a waste of space, I get nervous trying out anything new. Then I saw Netflix had made a family movie called Slumberland, starring everyone’s favorite man—Jason Momoa. So we watched it. We took a chance and I am still not sure how to feel about it.
The dreamy world of Slumberland
The movie started with Nemo (Marlow Barkley) and her dad (Kyle Chandler) living in this amazing, whimsical lighthouse. Every night Nemo’s dad tells her stories about his dreamland adventures with his outlaw partner Flip. They live this secluded yet enviable life on a rock in the ocean until her dad unexpectedly dies. The only family Nemo has left was her dad’s brother Philip (Chris O’Dowd). When Nemo moved in with Philip, she found the only way to connect to her dad was by trying to see him again in the world of dreams. Instead of seeing her dad, she found Flip (Jason Momoa). Together they must traverse the dream world so they both can get what they really want.
Watching the first half of the movie felt like going through emotional whiplash. Nemo goes through a profound loss to be uprooted with her estranged uncle with zero counseling or a hug. Philip is more focused on his weird job as a doorknob manufacturer than on anything his niece is going through. Nemo, having never gone to school before (she was homeschooled), sets up a nap area in the school’s basement so she could sleep rather than handle her issues in the real world. She’s eleven, I get it, but it bothered me how much the adults in her life failed.
Then there is Flip. I feel like they tried to create a character that is kind of a rake or rascal, but you love him anyway. Something kind of like Beetlejuice or the monster from Little Monster. Several times he brings up how hot he is. Yes, Momoa looked good in those horns but it seemed like a weird point to stick on while talking to a little girl. It just felt more forced than anything else and I wasn’t feeling it. Even though the movie is visually stunning (like butterflies in the shapes of humans), it felt like the heart wasn’t there.
About halfway through I was ready to call it quits but my children were invested in Nemo’s story so we had to finish. Then I was hit with several emotional trains, one right after the other. I was sobbing over this movie I was about to turn off. The rest of the movie played out while I cried until the end when it all wrapped up happily. I still am not sure if I really enjoyed the movie, or if it just hit all of my emotional buttons. What did you think of the movie? Let us know in the comments.
(featured image: Netflix)
Published: Dec 6, 2022 06:56 am