Slumberland (2022)

Streaming Service: Netflix
Movie Name/Year: Slumberland (2022)
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Family
Length: 1h 57min
Rating: PG
Production/Distribution: Chernin Entertainment, Netflix
Director: Francis Lawrence
Writer: David Guion, Michael Handelman
Actors: Jason Momoa, Marlow Barkley, Chris O’Dowd, Kyle Chandler, Cameron Nicoll, Antonio Raine Pastore, Weruche Opia, India de Beaufort, Chris D’Silva, Yanna McIntosh
 
Blurb from IMDb: A young girl discovers a secret map to the dreamworld of Slumberland, and with the help of an eccentric outlaw, she traverses dreams and flees nightmares, with the hope that she will be able to see her late father again.
 

Selina’s Point of View:
The first thing I need to say about Slumberland is that everything is gorgeous. Every bit of the CGI was on point and the settings were larger than life.
 
That said, Slumberland was not without its flaws.
 
One of my issues in the first half was the pacing. The problem wasn’t that it was slow. There was always something happening, always something to hold my attention. The issue was in the transitions. It made the pace seem choppy and a bit disjointed. The trailer made it clear to expect the story to bounce between the real world and dreams, but the method they used made those transitional moments between fast-paced scenes seem out of place.
 
It did take me out of the story a bit. Enough so that I didn’t really get emotionally invest until about an hour in.
 
There were also some portrayal issues with the characters – particularly the girl’s uncle. He turned out to be well-rounded, but up until half-way through he seemed annoying and 1-dimensional. They spent several scenes focusing on him and painting him as a nebbish. I eventually felt for him, but not until that half-way point.
 

That second half of Slumberland, though. It had me in the second half.
 
Once the twists were twisted and the transitions petered out, the feels got involved. There were some funny scenes that happened, but they didn’t overwhelm the depth of the character’s emotions. It was well-balanced and had me choked up for a substantial amount of time.
 
Slumberland was obvious about the theme of grief. From the beginning, it was very in-your-face. It goes deeper than just losing a parent, though.
 
I don’t think it’s a spoiler, but just in case I’m going to issue a minor spoiler warning here.
 
The movie really focused in on what it’s like to lose something you could have had, but didn’t. In this case the relationship between brothers. There’s something devastating about losing someone who loved you, when you didn’t know that felt that way until they were gone. I had something similar happen in the past few years, and the way Slumberland handled that was spot on.
 
I can understand why critics have been hard on Slumberland. There’s a part of me that agrees with a lot of the criticism. That said, I also understand why it’s getting a high score from audiences. I think this flick is unsuccessful in a technical category, but in entertainment it shines. I will probably watch it again.
 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 38%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 88%
Metascore – 37%
Metacritic User Score – None
IMDB Score –6.0/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 3.5/5
 
Movie Trailer: