What to Watch
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This month’s picks include a DreamWorks Animation film about the unpredictability of life and a fantastical mystery about hope.
By Dina Gachman
Stream it on Netflix.
It’s not every day that the novelist David Foster Wallace and the topic of nihilism get mentioned in a children’s movie, but then again DreamWorks Animation’s “Orion and the Dark” was written by Charlie Kaufman (“Being John Malkovich,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”) so the dashes of existential dread make sense.
Based on a picture book by Emma Yarlett and directed by Sean Charmatz in his feature film debut, the story follows an anxious elementary school child named Orion (voiced by Jacob Tremblay) who is scared of things like school bullies and talking to the girl he has a crush on. But Orion is also afraid of bees, bodies of water and field trips. Most of all, he’s terrified of the dark. When Dark (Paul Walter Hauser) pays him a visit in the form of a hulking, huggable figure, Orion sets off on a journey into the night to face his fears, see his future self and learn to accept the unpredictability of life.
Along the way, he meets figures like Dreams (Angela Bassett), Insomnia (Nat Faxon) and Quiet (Aparna Nancherla). It’s a sweet, funny adventure that speaks to the fears most little kids harbor. When Orion and Dark say their goodbyes, the boy has gained the courage to go on his field trip and Dark has grappled with his own self-doubts, since half the world thinks he’s a monster. A highlight (for parents at least) is a quick voice-over cameo from the filmmaker Werner Herzog, who provides the narration for a documentary within the film about — what else? — the dark.
Stream it on Paramount+.
We meet Tom Lee when he’s a baby in 2009 Hong Kong, riding in the back of his grandmother’s car. She seems like a regular granny until a flock of black and neon green demon creatures descend on the car, which doesn’t surprise her at all. When 12 mythical zodiac figures appear — including a pig, a horse and a goat — it’s the tiger who saves Tom and his grandmother from the devilish sorceress Loo (Michelle Yeoh).
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