Movie Thoughts: Orion and the Dark (2024)

• Released: February 2, 2024
  
• Directed by: Sean Charmatz
• Running time: 1h 33min
• Rating: 3/5

Synopsis

A boy named Orion, who happens to be afraid of everything but especially darkness in particular, is taken on a journey by the Dark itself in order to hopefully ease his worries.

My Thoughts

It's a cute movie but I don't have that much to say about it. It's fine, nothing bad or offensive. Visually it looks very appealing and I am sad that it wasn't released in theaters. I really hope the financial failure of Ruby Gillman: Teenage Cracken doesn't stop Dreamworks from releasing their new and original movies which aren't sequels in cinemas in the future.

I'll first talk about some of the good. Like I already said, it's visually a good movie with a nice style to it. The characters are also quite likable, especially Dark and Orion, but also Orion's daughter Hypatia. The other night entities are also fun, though they are very one-note in their personalities.

Now for the not-so-good. First, the plot and the pacing. The plot is just a bit...non-existent at times. You'd think that this would be a movie about Dark helping Orion overcome his fears, but after the first third or so the movie takes a sudden turn and now it is suddenly a "save the world"-plot with Orion and the other night keepers having to find a way to get Dark back after he vanishes. 

The pacing also ties into this. So, the reason Dark "dies" or disappears is that he thinks nobody likes the night. So he stays up into the day and vanishes, basically committing suicide in a way. That being really dark aside, the reason for this is that he feels that nobody, not even the other night entities, appreciate him. But the night entities literally turn on him on a dime.

Literally, Orion tells them one story about how great he thinks Day/Light is, and instantly they turn on Dark, leading to him waiting for Day to come to "die". This turning against him was just way too sudden. The implication is these night creatures have been working with Dark for centuries if not longer (they're immortal), but one story from one boy instantly turns them, leading to Dark committing sewer slide. That's just way too sudden to feel realistic.

After this the plot becomes about finding a way to get Dark back, since the world cannot thrive with only light and no darkness. But then in the last third or so it takes yet another turn. Basically, throughout most of the movie we know that this is a story adult Orion is telling his daughter Hypatia. Is this story real or is it fake? Doesn't really matter, in a way I like how vague it is with this. But then they just kind of decide to mess with the story. Hypatia shows up in it, and then Hypatia's own son appears near the end, creating some kind of story-ception and destroying any perception that this really happened. I liked the more ambiguous tone of whether or not this was real, so this, especially the last-minute ending where Tycho shows up, just kind of ruined this for me.

I also didn't really like how the movie will sometimes parrot popular criticisms at itself, such as "oh this ends with a dance party ending" and "is this a returning character in this story?". It just feels forced. Especially since these are being said by Hypatia, a young girl, who wouldn't be worrying about such things. She's a child poet, not an adult chronically online movie reviewer. So logically she shouldn't be talking like this and it just feels like the movie is having a stab at actual movie reviewers. 

But even with these criticisms this isn't a bad movie. I don't particularly care for it, but I do want to see it succeed and I am sad it wasn't given a chance to play in theaters.