Orion and the Dark

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for Orion and the Dark
• a review of Orion and the Dark completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 27 February 2024.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the story

Elementary school kid Orion is afraid of just about everything. He fears bees and haircuts, talking to girls and falling off skyscrapers. He fears field trips and PE and bullies but the thing he fears most of all is the dark. One fateful night, Dark (the embodiment of his fears) appears in his bedroom. Dark (voice of Paul Walter Hauser) is frustrated and misunderstood and tired of being hated and feared. In an effort to show Orion that he really is a nice guy, Dark whisks Orion off to show him what he does at night and how there is really nothing to be scared of. Along the way, Dark introduces Orion to other night elements, such as Sleep (voice of Natasia Demetriou), Sweet Dreams (voice of Angela Bassett), Quiet (voice of Aparna Nancheria), Unexplained noises (voice of Golda Rosheuvel), and Insomnia (voice of Nat Faxon). During the course of the evening, Orion inadvertently causes havoc with the workings of the other elements, disrupting dreams and criticising their methods but nothing wreaks more havoc than Orion’s insights about light and how wonderful it is. Frustrated by how things have gone and betrayed by their lack of understanding about light, the other elements quit working with Dark, wanting to try living in the daytime instead. Dark, feeling alone and defeated, allows himself to be overtaken by Light (voice of Ike Barinhotz) and he disappears from the world. The world itself is then thrown into chaos – people are too hot, plants are dying, no one can sleep and young Orion has no idea what to do or how to fix it. Luckily his daughter Hypatia (voice of Mia Akemi Brown), to whom he is telling the story, knows exactly what to do and she joins the childhood version of her father on his quest to save the world by reuniting the night-time elements and bringing Dark back.

Insecurities; Facing your fears; Crippling anxiety; Negative self-perception.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

• There are illustrated images of murderous clowns with knives, mosquitos attacking Orion and his limbs falling off, Orion falling off buildings and being picked on by bullies.
• Orion draws a bully, dead on the ground, after he imagines punching the boy in the head so hard that his nose goes into his brain and he dies.
• Orion imagines the school bus he and his classmates are riding in catching fire and burning them alive.
• Orion imagines his entire class being crushed by large planets at a planetarium.
• Orion describes his fears of dying and how he believes when you die there is nothing.
• Orion is accosted by a bully in the locker room at school. He is made fun of and threatened.
• Sleep smothers a man with a pillow and then kisses him goodnight. He chloroforms a lady to get her to sleep and is just about to hit a baby with a sleep hammer when Orion intervenes.
• Insomnia whispers worrisome things into people’s ears reminding them of their deepest fears.
• A giant, evil cucumber in a dentist office attacks a woman in her dreams.
• In a dreamscape, a giant bully tries to squash and crush Orion. The bully grabs Sweet Dreams and Dark and locks them in a cabinet while he goes after Orion, attempting to stomp on him. Eventually he grabs Orion and holds him over a filthy toilet bowl, clearly intent on flushing him away. The toilet sprays water into the bully’s face and a force sucks the bully into a door. Orion is nearly sucked in too but Dark saves him just in time.
• Two characters shove each other against cars.
• Dark is sucked into a closet and then into a deep, dark hole.
• Drawings of bees and jellyfish come to life as Orion fights to keep holding on to Dark.
• Hypatia and a character from the future fight off and shoot a number of interdimensional time monsters. Pieces of their broken bodies litter Orion’s lawn.

Material that may scare or disturb children

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

• Orion is very scared of the dark. One night, a sudden storm starts and there is a black, gnarled branch that is scratching and tapping at his window, while he cowers in fear. His night lights go off after a power surge and everything in his room suddenly takes on a sinister appearance. There is a large skull shadow on the wall, creepy dolls leering at him and darkness itself seems to be creeping up the walls, getting ready to surround him. It quickly takes the form of a darkness monster and Orion is initially terrified. After getting to know Dark a bit better he is later unafraid.
• Some children may also be frightened by the numerous drawings in Orion’s sketchbook that come to life, showing him dying in a variety of ways: falling off buildings, being attacked by animals or murderous clowns, suffering from radiation poisoning etc.
• Dark sits down and waits for the sun to overtake him. He is tired of feeling hated and misunderstood and he feels completely alone so he doesn’t see the point of going on. He allows himself to disappear, much to the horror of Orion who is desperately trying to convince him to keep going. The world soon faces catastrophic consequences without night.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

• The elements all try to wake up Orion as he is in danger of dying in his dream. Nothing works and he and Dark are being sucked into a black hole, from which there would be no escape. The elements are panicking and things look pretty bleak, until Quiet says the perfect words and Orion awakens just as they are disappearing into the hole. Some children may be worried by the gravity and intensity of the scene.

• Nothing further noted.

Product placement

• None noted.

Sexual references

• None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

• None noted.

Use of substances

• None noted.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• Hell
• Heck
• Butt
• Jerk
• Stupid
• Idiot
• Screwing (everything up.)

In a nutshell

Orion and the Dark is an animated adventure about overcoming your fears and writing your own story. The film features well-developed characters, an interesting dialogue and numerous plot twists that you don’t see coming. It is a family film that all but the youngest children can enjoy.

The main messages from this movie are that being scared is a part of life; that it is ok to be nervous but it is important to face your fears and not let them determine your destiny; and that it is important to find your inner worth and to know your true value, regardless of how the world may perceive you.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• Courage
• Friendship
• Optimism
• Helpfulness
• Unity.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

• Allowing fear of the unknown to stop you from trying something that you want to do.
• Listening to the little voices that whisper: “You can’t do that” or “You are not good enough”.
• Belittling your own value or forgetting the important role that each of us plays in the world.