When I was a kid, I used to play Humoungous Entertainment games and one of my favorites was Pajama Sam No Need to Hide When it’s Dark Outside. It’s about a boy named Sam who’s scared of the dark so he decides to dawn a red cape as Pajama Sam, go into his closet and capture “Darkness”. Orion and the Dark sort of reminds me of that game. In this movie Orion is scared of everything especially the dark until one day the literal entity Dark shows up to help him conquer his fears.
I thought Dark was very likable thanks to Paul Walter Hauser’s performance. I think the idea of paring a kid who’s afraid of everything with an entity that everyone is afraid of is clever. I also really liked the other night entities. Each one had their own unique designs, personalities, and roles to play during the night. Some of the funniest moments involve the ways Sleep gets people to fall asleep. Dark’s rival Light however was very underused. His rivalry with Dark isn’t explored much and he just serves more like a plot device then an actual character.
SPOILERS: When Dark and Orion leave to see the night, the story is interrupted by Orion’s daughter Hypatia who older Orion is telling the story too and the film sometimes cuts back to them. In the third act after Dark “disintegrates himself” ridding the world of night forever, older Orion admits he doesn’t know how the story ends. So Hypatia decides to make one up by putting herself in the story and helping her younger father save Dark. I thought the relationship between Orion and Hypatia was sweet and very unexpected. The third half however does have a bit of a pacing issue especially after Orion and Dark say goodbye and there’s still like 5 minutes left of the film. Hypatia still has no idea how to get back to her time until a kid with a time machine helps her get back and then it turns out that that ending was made up by her future son.
Orion and the Dark is a very charming animated film with cute animation, and mature themes. Anyone who is afraid of the dark will be less afraid or better yet not afraid of the dark at all after watching this movie.
Verdict:
+Hypatia
+The Night Entities
-Light
-Third act pacing
Score: B+
JacobsonCinema 