Little Nemo was one of the earliest comic strips made for the medium of animation, especially given that its creator Winsor McCay had developed it into a short animated project in 1911, in addition to the groundbreaking Gertie the Dinosaur. So obviously, a proper film adaptation would seem ideal. Going as far back as the late 1970s, Japanese producer Yutaka Fujiyoka acquired the Little Nemo rights from McCay's descendants to produce a feature length movie at TMS in Japan and a small San Francisco studio. What seemed like a recipe for success turned out to be a one way ticket to disaster.
Although the final film was released in 1989, the production started as far back as 1982, solely due to numerous directors and writers being brought on only to jump ship quickly. Numerous attempts were made throughout the years, including a particularly interesting point where directors Yoshifumi Kondo and Andy Gaskill showed promise of the boy who could always dream having to grow up. Unfortunately, almost none of the creatives on board seemed to be able to put together a satisfying narrative, not even Studio Ghibli director Isao Takahata who's ideal version would have involved the maturity of Nemo as he grows up in spite of his dreams. It was even reported that once the film finally commenced production in the summer of 1988, hundreds and hundreds of scripts, concept art and even songs from many different artists and filmmakers were cobbled together just to get the film over with. When you can't come to a conclusion on what your project should be and it ends up with too many ingredients, you don't really get a very satisfying end product as a result.
In terms of what we did end up getting, the final film focuses on young Nemo entering Slumberland within his dreams and befriending the kingdom. But one night, upon discovering Nightmare Land and its evil nightmare king, Slumberland is thrown into danger and Nemo must restore all good to his dreams once and for all. What could be a seemingly straightforward plot is tragically ruined by several plot points that go nowhere and filler that makes the experience feel more tiresome than fun-filled. Probably as a result from the dreaded production, Nemo goes through so many different characters and props all throughout Slumberland and even in his own reality, yet they either serve no purpose to the plot or just start up and get brought back up way too late. Even for a movie where so much pressure is put on Nemo to save Slumberland, too much time gets wasted that you almost feel like you yourself are sleeping while watching the feature. The story could have been memorably epic, but what we end up getting is wasted potential in favor of all spectacle without any value whatsoever.
Now to give credit where it is rightfully due, the animation crew of TMS did not hold back in letting loose their true creativity. Given that this film was their next big project after the cult favorite Akira, the lush artistry and strong draftsmanship just oozes all over the screen, especially in terms of lighting and shadows. In contrast from the extravagant beauty all around Slumberland's kingdom, the more gloomy looking outskirts of Nightmareland and the swampy forests around it are quite fascinating in their own regard. Even the character animation is some of the smoothest and most colorful work done by the animation department of TMS, to the point where the lip synch matches the English VAs just as much as the Japanese VAs. Speaking of the cast, among a big number of professional voice actors, the likes of Mickey Rooney and Rene Auberjonois are delightfully amusing as their otherwise bland roles. One can tell they were having a lot more fun in the recording studio than the mediocre songs from the Sherman Brothers, which are easily forgotten as soon as they conclude they're so weak.
In the end, no matter how lucious the visuals are and no matter how much love was initially put into this Little Nemo project, all that is left is a well crafted mess with no clue of what it wants to even do with its own titular character. As it seems that producer Fujiyoka couldn't even make up his mind on where to take this otherwise ambitious project, so much for the little boy who could dream up anything possible. There is still hope for a much better adaptation of McCay's creation though, as the previous attempts for this feature in the past have shown. Only time will tell once Nemo gets the proper adaptation he's deserved all along.
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