Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland

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Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland
Directed by Masami Hata
William Hurtz
Produced by Yutaka Fujioka
Written by Chris Columbus and
Richard Outten (screenplay);
Robert Towne (story consultant);
Yutaka Fujioka and
Jean Giraud (story);
Ray Bradbury (concept for the screen);
Winsor McCay (comic strip)
Starring Gabriel Damon
Mickey Rooney
Bernard Erhard
Laura Mooney
Music by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman;
Tom Chase and
Stephen Rucker;
Melissa Manchester
Distributed by Hemdale Film Corporation
MAWA Film & Medien
Running time 85 minutes (edited)
100 minutes (uncut)
Language English
Budget $35,000,000
IMDb profile

Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, known in Japan as simply Little Nemo, is an award-winning animated film directed by Masami Hata and William T. Hurtz. Loosely based on the comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay, the film went through a lengthy development process with a number of screenwriters. Ultimately, the screenplay was credited to Chris Columbus and Richard Outten; the storyline and art style differed from the original version. The original soundtrack was penned by the Academy Award-winning Sherman Brothers.

The film was released in Japan in July 1989 and in the United States on August 21, 1992. It won the "Audience Award" at Amsterdam's 1992 Cinekid Festival and was nominated for "Best Animated Feature" at the 1993 Annie Awards. While it was considered a box-office flop[who?] in the US, it became a cult classic and a hit on video.[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

A little boy whose dreams transcend reality is sucked into his own fantasy, which is everything he has dreamed of, until he unleashes an old secret that may not only destroy this perfect dream world but reality itself.

[edit] Characters

Nemo: The main character and protagonist of the story. He suffers from constant nightmares. While he's generally a sweet and innocent type, he has been known to lose his head now and then, such as when the princess makes fun of his pajamas. He has been summoned to Slumberland by Professor to be the Princess's playmate and (as he finds out later) the future prince of Slumberland.

Icarus: Icarus is Nemo's pet flying squirrel who lives in the tree outside Nemo's bedroom window. He mostly communicates through a series of squeaky jitters, although some understandable English slips in between, and very rarely leaves Nemo's side (or in most cases his shoulder). He wears an old-fashioned aeronautical helmet and enjoys mostly anything provided his best buddy Nemo's with him. Like most of the characters, Icarus does get aggravated, usually when referred to as "a rat" by the Princess and then again (accidentally) by Nemo. However, he's usually quick to forgive.

Professor Genius: A professor and a genius, Professor Genius is something of a right-hand man to King Morpheus. He tries his best to help and watch over Nemo, particularly making sure he avoids Flip. He is extremely well mannered and though he tries to maintain a formal front wherever he goes, the Professor can't resist the urge to dance whenever the chance presents itself.

Flip: One of Slumberland's black sheep characters and an extraordinary troublemaker. He is the first person Nemo meets in Slumberland. Flip enjoys causing mischief and smoking cigars (much to the distress of the others), and travels around Slumberland on a giant crow named Flap. According to Flip, he is the only person in Slumberland wanted "for having fun" (he even has a wanted poster hidden under his coat which reads that he has a $1,000,000,000,000,000 reward for his capture). He is also the owner of the only known map of Nightmareland. Even though Nemo usually enjoys his antics, most of the others are angered by him, the Princess even hitting him on the head on more than one occasion in the film. He's the one who convinces Nemo to open the door with The Nightmare King behind it (even though he meant no harm by it, not knowing what the door held), thus leading to the story's main events.

King "Morphy" Morpheus: The king of Slumberland and the Princess's father. He ordered the Professor to bring Nemo to Slumberland to be his daughter's playmate. He shares an interest of trains and machinery with Nemo, who grows very dear to him. The king, in spite of his expected responsibilities, has a habit of sneaking off to his playroom (where he accidentally runs into Nemo who, at the time, wasn't aware of who he was). Morpheus decrees that Nemo is to be trained to be Prince of Slumberland and gives him "The Golden Key" which can gain him access to anywhere in Slumberland (provided Nemo promises not to open the door with the same symbol as the key on it). He gets kidnapped by the Nightmare King at Nemo's coronation, prompting Nemo to set off after him, along with the Princess, Prof. Genius, Icarus, and Flip.

Princess Camille: Usually she is simply called the Princess. She was lonely, being an only child and her father always gone on business, thus being one of the main reasons Nemo is brought to Slumberland, to be a companion for her. After a few bumpy starts, Nemo and her become friends. She detests Flip and his constant cigar smoking (and decrees that he is never to smoke another in her presence). In spite of his frequent absence, she dearly loves her father and commissions Flip (at Nemo's advice) to take them to Nightmareland, after King Morpheus is kidnapped by the Nightmare King. Flip refuses at first until he discovers that his only alternative is to be shot out of a cannon into space. At the film's end the Princess shares a kiss with Nemo before he wakes up.

Bon Bon: The Princess's steward. She appears to be a jester or clown, and has a very sweet and positive demeanor. She mainly tries to look out for the princess (she even shows concern when Nemo shows reluctance to accept her invitation, even though he's eventually won over by a batch of cookies the princess sent Bon Bon with as a gift to him).

The Goblin Boomps: A group of goblin escapees from Nightmare Land, Nemo and the others encounter them on the journey to save King Morpheus. Flip was the first to meet them when he sneaked off to have a cigar (and rewrite his map, which got watered out when their boat crashed into a bog). They reveal themselves to be friendly and funny goblins, in spite of what the others expected them to be (being goblins). They are capable of morphing their bodies together and assuming various forms. All of them, except for Oompo (the largest of the group who got caught as they escaped and meets up with them later on with a message from King Morpheus detailing how to destroy the Nightmare King) ran from the Nightmare King because they didn't enjoy the tormenting work he forced on them, preferring fun and jesting.

Flap: A giant crow, Flip's friend/transport around Slumberland. Flap is referred to as a girl by Flip saying things like, "C'mon, old girl!" She is often used as the getaway for Flip when trapped in tight situations and even by Nemo when he joins Flip in his antics.

The Nightmare King: The story's main antagonist. He was sealed behind a large door long ago, until Nemo, with Flip's help, accidentally releases him. He kidnaps King Morpheus in order to lure Nemo, and more importantly the Royal Scepter (which he and the other inhabitants of Nightmareland fear), to his Nightmare Castle. Nemo barely manages to destroy the Nightmare King with the scepter and ends the evil king's reign along with Nemo's own nightmares.

[edit] English cast

[edit] Japanese cast

[edit] Reception

Having been originally released in Japan in 1989, Little Nemo was featured in 579 theaters throughout the US in 1992. It received positive reviews from notable publications including the Washington Post, Variety, the New York Post, and the New York Times but failed to find an audience. Famed film critic Roger Ebert gave it 2 out of 4 stars, though on a positive note wrote, "Little Nemo is an interesting if not a great film, with some jolly characters, some cheerful songs, and some visual surprises."

In its opening weekend, Little Nemo made about $407,695 with a total US gross of approximately $1,368,000. Considered a box-office flop,[citation needed] it eventually became a cult classic and went to video where it recovered vigorously, selling over 2 million copies. Currently it stands with no review at Rotten Tomatoes as there aren't enough critic reviews to stand a percentage rating. However, it stands at 6.9/10 stars at IMDb (currently with approx. 900 votes). Though not the highest review for an animated film, it beats out other more critically acclaimed and/or commercially successful animated films ratings such as Anastasia, Pocahontas, FernGully: The Last Rainforest, All Dogs Go to Heaven, The Land Before Time, Oliver & Company, Shrek the Third, Bee Movie, and even other cult classics like The Black Cauldron.

[edit] Trivia

Likely due to the production of the film, Capcom developed a Nintendo game entitled Little Nemo: The Dream Master, released in late 1990. An arcade game, also by Capcom, was developed that same year under the title Nemo.[1]

In March 2005, Little Nemo was given a "much untalked about" limited re-release in Denver, Seattle, Atlanta, Austin, Houston, and other cities in the US. This was through Regal Cinemas, Edwards Theatres, and United Artists Theatres as part of a Kidtoon Films G-rated matinées promotion. It was only shown on weekends.

[edit] Production

Fujioka Yutaka of TMS (Tokyo Movie Shinsha) originally approached George Lucas in 1978 to help produce the film in the US, but Lucasfilm found problems with the storyline. The project was offered to Chuck Jones and finally to Gary Kurtz who first hired Ray Bradbury and later Edward Summer to write screenplays.

In the early 1980s, both Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata were involved with the film, but they both left due to differing views on what the film should be and desire to work on other projects. The directors who succeeded Miyazaki were Andy Gaskill and Yoshifumi Kondo. When all of these people had left, Fujioka had drafts done by Chris Columbus, Moebius, John Canemaker and many others. He then re-hired Summer to do yet another screenplay. Subsequently, Richard Outten was hired to work from Chris Columbus' screenplay while Columbus was busy with his directorial debut, Adventures in Babysitting. Many Disney Studio animators including Ken Anderson and Leo Salkin worked on individual sequences. Frank Thomas and Paul Julian consulted to the production

The world famous Sherman Brothers (Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman) wrote the songs for Little Nemo. This was their first Anime film, though not their first animated film; the pair had previously worked on The Jungle Book, Charlotte's Web, The Aristocats, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

Even though it derived from an American comic strip, Little Nemo was animated by the Japanese company Tokyo Movie Shinsha and thus was considered Anime. Because of this, it was also the first Anime to receive a national release. The production of Little Nemo is legendary in Hollywood animation circles because of the vast number of independent animators and artists who worked on the film over more than a decade.

[edit] Home video and DVD releases

The film was released on VHS through Hemdale Home Video, Inc. on March 2, 1993. It features a mail-in rebate worth $5.00, with purchases of Tropicana Orange Juice. Hemdale also produced a Collector's Set which includes a VHS movie, illustrated storybook, and cassette soundtrack. On October 5, 2004, Little Nemo was released on DVD through Our Time Home Entertainment. All of the cuts made from the original 85 minute-long film were reedited into the DVD release, bringing the run time of the film to a full 100 minutes. However, this is not mentioned or addressed in the DVD materials.

Both the VHS and DVD are currently out of production, and there are no plans on reissuing the film at this time. With its cult status and out-of-production state, Little Nemo has been seen selling anywhere from $80-$200 USD for a sealed copy (usually DVD) on Internet sites such as Amazon and eBay.

[edit] Taglines

  • Take off on a wondrous adventure with Little Nemo!

[edit] Easter egg

A large green dinosaur which bears a close resemblance to Gertie the Dinosaur, another of Winsor McCay's works, appears holding up a tent in Slumberland.

[edit] External links

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Little Nemo
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Adventures in Slumberland | The Dream Master
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