Netflix

New movie ‘Orion and the Dark’ leaves viewers confused.

The new Netflix animated movie Orion and the Dark is excellent, but how it unfolds could be clearer. 

Jacob Tremblay voices Orion, an anxious child who is afraid of everything ranging from bees, heights, and clowns. But what most terrifies him is the dark.

One night while Orion is in bed, the embodiment of his worst fear appears before him and offers to help the boy conquer his fears by showing him the benefits of darkness.

The element Dark (Paul Walter Hauser), takes Orion on his nightly duties of bringing dark to the world with his team of elements, which consists of Sleep, Insomnia, Quiet, Unexplained Noises, and Sweet Dreams.

As they travel around the world, Dark shows Orion what each night’s entities do. Quiet removes surrounding sounds, bringing nothing but silence; Sleep induces people to sleep; Insomnia induces anxiety in those sleeping, waking them up in the night; Unexplained Noises make various noises outside homes; and Sweet Dreams create dreams.

While they are making their rounds, Orion comments that Light seems more preferable to Dark, as Light makes him feel safe and warm. Feeling dejected, the night entities quit their nighttime jobs to work during the day. This leaves Dark alone and unable to complete his job without his friends – and the rest of the world with constant daylight. 

The only part that deteriorates the quality of the film is how the plot unravels. The writers tell the story in order in the beginning, but then in the middle it abruptly cuts out to a scene where Orion is an adult and tells this story to his daughter Hypatia (Mia Akemi Brown).

The writers fail to clarify if the events actually happened to Orion or if he is simply creating a bedtime story for his daughter. In addition, his daughter begins adding storylines, which makes it hard to figure out what is real and what is not. 

The plot is overall hard to follow. If the writers had waited to add his daughter till the end, the movie plot would have been easier to follow. 

This film does a good job of highlighting different anxieties in children and ways to overcome those fears. Overall, it is a decent movie with the exception of the confusing plot.