Little Nemo (1989)

I am definitely a product of the nineties and was subjected to the wonderful programming around me. I was amused by Barney. I was confused by Mister Rogers Neighborhood (why must the man strip?). Rocko's modern life was the most amazing cartoon ever while Ren and Stimpy made me nauseous. Disney was the ultimate being. Beauty and the Beast was my life.

Yet despite being surrounded by all these twisted childrens programming, my brother and I somehow stumbled upon a great animated film called "Little Nemo".

I have nothing but childish fond memories of this film. It was loosely based on a newspaper strip by Winsor McCay from about 1900 to 1914. Someone actually made a huge calender with the newspaper strips that I found at a comic convention a few years ago. I loved that calender. Unfortunately it was destroyed since I stored it very incorrectly in the garage.

The movie centers around a boy named Nemo and his super duper flying squirrel Icarus (ha.). During a dream (or is it reality??) he is visited by a royal procession with an invitation to join the Slumber king. He is transported to Slumberland wherein starts the adventure. There is Nightmare Land, the antithesis of Slumberland. The King is kidnapped by the Nightmare King, in large fault to Nemo. So its up to Nemo to save him!

That's a really lame and simple explanation of the movie. There are alot of other plot points to this story but I would rather leave you to watch it.

It was a movie marketed to children but it wasn't made in the padded style of today. There is a very dark element to the movie that still scares me a bit today. Almost like a non-gore Freddy movie. It was a warped twist to dreams and reality. There is a dream sequence involving a train that makes me jump every freaking time.

Nemo is just a boy who acts like a boy. He makes a mistake, tries to run away, but eventually develops the courage to fight against the Nightmare king. He has the help of friends of course.

The style was well done and the songs are really catchy. Well to me anyway. I'm a sucker for catchy music.

Also, it's a movie I watched when I was younger. It doesn't matter how bad or how good a children s movie is. There is always something about a movie you watch when your younger that will always trigger a thought or emotion. For this movie, it always triggers for me to dig deep for courage. When I'm a little scared, if I remember Nemo standing up to the Nightmare king yelling the magic incantations to activate the sceptor, I feel just a tiny bit braver.

Only a few tiny,teeny annoying things, (I just realized in my older state),about this movie
1. the king wore a skirt
2. the king wanted a boy...um...yeah
3. many plot holes....don't think too hard about them
4. Dammit Mickey Rooney's in this movie!! (He's the voice of flip...)