Netflix Fantasy Comedy Is A Must-Watch For The Whole Family

I discovered Orion and the Dark entirely by accident. My girls were obsessed with Luca, the Disney/Pixar film from 2021, and so we were looking for more movies with Jacob Tremblay, who voices Luca. We tripped upon Orion and the Dark right after it was released in February, and the film is a moving one about a little boy who’s afraid of the dark and has overcome his fears while helping others overcome theirs. 

Orion and the Dark begins with Orion (Jacob Tremblay), an 11-year-old boy journaling about all of his anxieties and fears. The big one coming up is whether Sally, a girl at school he has a crush on, will like him back. His class is about to take a trip to the planetarium, and he’s hoping to spend time with her there after she expresses her eagerness to see him.

Before the big trip, the power goes out on Orion’s block one night and his room goes pitch black. As the dark is Orion’s biggest fear, his anxiety kicks into overdrive. 

Meanwhile, an actual figure emerges, Dark (Paul Walter Hauser), who kindly introduces himself to Orion and asks the boy to come on an adventure with him so he can prove nighttime can be fun. Orion reluctantly agrees, and the Orion and the Dark takes off into the sky. Dark and Orion become fast friends, and Dark introduces Orion to his other nighttime friends, Sleep, Quiet, Unexplained Noises, Sweet Dreams, and Insomnia.

Together, the team travels through the night, and Dark shows Orion the value of what they do. 

At this point in Orion and the Dark, the movie is pure fun. Young viewers can learn to love the dark and nighttime and see the value in all the different aspects of falling asleep and staying asleep. The film takes a more serious turn, however, when Orion learns that Dark’s nemesis is Light, who replaces him each morning.

He notes that Light chases Dark away, and if Dark doesn’t move fast enough, Light will completely erase Dark. Also, Light (Ike Barinholtz) is kind of a jerk.

But Orion expresses his wish that people understood how much fun Dark was because Light is so great and everyone loves him. Hearing this, Dark’s team abandons him to work with Light instead, leaving Dark alone on a mountaintop. Dark falls into a depression, and as Light races forward to erase Dark, Orion doesn’t know how to help. The rest of the film twists and turns in interesting directions while Orion figures it out with the help of some people very important to him. 

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You see, viewers realize early in the film that this story is actually being told by a grown Orion to his daughter, Hypatia, in an effort to alleviate her own anxieties. So, the film really becomes one of family, of helping, of loyalty, and of overcoming. Tremblay and Hauser do a great job of bringing it all together.

The way it all comes together, falls apart, and then comes together again is nothing short of enchanting. I give Orion and the Dark all the praise it deserves, and I highly recommend you watch it with your kids. Or alone. Alone is good, too. Maybe even watch it in the dark.