Charlie Kaufman’s last film, I’m Thinking Of Ending Things, ended with a naked elderly janitor stalking the corridors of a school while a maggot-infested pig waffled on about physics. It’s safe to say his latest, a family-friendly animation from the makers of The Boss Baby, is not that.
And yet, this is still recognisably A Charlie Kaufman Film. He serves only as screenwriter — first-timer Sean Charmatz has the directing reins — but Kaufman’s hallmarks can be seen within minutes. Our hero Orion (voiced by Jacob Tremblay as a child and Colin Hanks as an adult) is a typically anxious Kaufman protagonist, defined by a litany of fears: he is scared of bees, dogs, the ocean, “murderous gutter clowns”, and, most of all, the dark.
As in the charming children’s book of the same name, by British author and illustrator Emma Yarlett, on which the film is based, Orion then meets a ghostly personification of darkness, known simply as ‘Dark’ (voiced by a garrulous Paul Walter Hauser), and learns to confront his fears. Impressively, though, there’s more here than just that one obvious lesson — something Kaufman’s script itself acknowledges. Yarlett’s book ran to just 40 pages, aimed at preschool-age kids; this film takes those initial ideas and runs with them, introducing a wild meta framing device that examines, among other things, the very act of storytelling.
To its bones, this is a Kaufman joint.
There are tons of bold swings here, and credit must go to DreamWorks Animation, who have shown a willingness to break the mould before (see also: The Bad Guys, Puss In Boots: The Last Wish). Kaufman’s script includes jokes and references that will fly over the heads of five-year-olds: Orion can be seen at one point reading a book entitled ‘Nihilism Vs Existentialism For Kids’; there is a cheeky rib of other animation studios and their fondness for “dance parties”; there is, improbably, a highbrow gag about David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest.
Charmatz’s direction keeps things within Dreamworks’s CG house style, but brings a scruffy, scrappy approach, reflecting the mindset of its hero, in a manner similar to The Mitchells Vs The Machines: Orion’s hand-drawn scrapbook sketches, which document his many fears, bleed pleasingly into the frame. Conceptually, there is a touch of Pixar’s Inside Out to it all, in the way it anthropomorphises abstract ideas (if not quite as successfully) — ‘Sleep’, ‘Insomnia’ and ‘Unexplained Noises’ are all colourful supporting characters here.
But to its bones, this is a Kaufman joint, and while it has an unusual sweetness — there’s a straightforwardly wholesome father-daughter relationship — it is full of existential dread, big ideas, and a strong resistance to anything too neat, too Hollywood. That a major studio has allowed someone like him into the safe enclave of kiddie films should be celebrated; children need to be exposed to more of his dark materials.