As far as the subgenre known as the “kid’s movie” goes, there’s a wide variety of tones and messages you could spot in any given corner. Just looking at the 2024 movies aimed at younger audiences, as there are titles like Inside Out 2 and Netflix’s Orion and the Dark that continue to prove that you can go pretty deep when it comes to a younger audience.
So it only seemed fair to ask actors Jacob Tremblay and Paul Walter Hauser, the people playing Orion and Dark, respectively, about the first time a kid’s movie did just that. I was able to pose that question to director Sean Charmatz and producer Peter McCown as well, seeing as we were all on hand to celebrate Orion and the Dark’s recent addition to what could be considered among the best movies on Netflix.
Paul Walter Hauser And Jacob Tremblay’s Favorite Deep Kid's Movies
For the record, Hauser and Tremblay’s answers were hysterical; not because they were particularly offbeat, but rather because they both had the same answers in mind. This only came after Paul prefaced his answer with the fact that he thought they never would have picked the same movies.
Sure enough, CinemaBlend was on hand to observe that beautiful bit of symmetry you can witness in the video above. Both Toy Story and The Lion King were the movies that saw Paul Walter Hauser and Jacob Tremblay bonding in this interview experience, which makes even more sense considering the movie they recently starred in.
As far as how Toy Story kicked things off, Paul Walter Hauser shared some deep questions it made him ask about life with CinemaBlend. In asking those questions, Jacob Tremblay added some insightful feedback of his own:
"Paul Walter Hauser: ‘Are my toys sentient? Is this a thing? Do they have feelings? Should I not be throwing them across the room unthinkingly?’
Jacob Tremblay: That just made playing with toys so much better, I think. Just thinking that they could be real."
Dreamworks Animation and breaking out of the usual animated box of storytelling is as natural a fit as Jacob Tremblay and Paul Walter Hauser. In Orion and the Dark, poor Orion (Tremblay) is afraid of pretty much everything, which leaves him with a lack of friends. But Dark (Hauser) wants to change that through helping our young hero face his fears of darkness and many other perils of life.
Seriously, this kid’s afraid of everything from murder clowns and mosquitos to death itself. Some shared nighttime adventures start to take place, as the lead of this Netflix project is shown the secret world of night. Which, naturally, sounds like the hidden life aspects of Toy Story definitely pair well with this new animated film.
Also, when you're talking about one of the best Pixar movies ever to have done it, that cross-generational appeal kind of makes sense. That same sort of energy applies to the second movie that both Paul Walter Hauser and Jacob Tremblay shared in this regard.
Heralded as one of the best Disney movies from the company's 100 years in operation, 1994's The Lion King happened to be the other title that Paul threw out for Jacob to preemptively catch. When it came to that story, the Richard Jewell actor had a fantastic tie-in to the film we were discussing at that very moment:
Yeah, fathers and sons, the idea of taking your rightful place in the world, and stepping into your destiny. Those are big themes. And I think this movie, Dreamworks has been telling stories from Shrek to How to Train Your Dragon. With this one, I feel we’re really delving into some heavy material that’s going to hit both adults and children.
Without going into too much detail, Orion and the Dark plays with its own circle of life. Only instead of birth and death being present, the exercise of storytelling is what's handed down as a legacy. Which is absolutely fitting as this brainy kid's movie was adapted from author Emma Yarlett's book by none other than Charlie Kaufman.
Nothing says "deep kid's movie" like a film penned by the man who gave us Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. That only opened the door to further mind blowing experiences of kid's movies "going deep," as at this point it's time do dig into producer Peter McCown and director Sean Charmatz's answers to that same question.
How Stephen King, Don Bluth, And Steven Spielberg Went Deep For Young Sean Charmatz And Peter McCown
Not to be outdone, Orion and the Dark’s producer and director team had their own touchstones of children’s cinema that hammered home some emotional spikes. And as any ‘80s/’90s kid will tell you, the filmmakers behind these movies are masters at crafting such formative films.
Starting with Peter McCown, here are the deep kid’s movies that inspired both he and Sean Charmatz; and how they still affect them to this day:
For me, it was probably Secret of NIMH, that was the one I kind of glommed onto when I was a kid. It scared the bejesus out of me. I don’t know if I can say ‘bejesus,’ but it did. It got a little deeper, it went a layer or two deeper. That and The Fox and the Hound, for me, explored the characters, and their friendship, and their bond. And it just tore my heart apart as a kid. So maybe those two are the two that went deep for me early on.
You can definitely see the DNA of both former Disney animator Don Bluth and Steven Spielberg in Orion and the Dark. As both of those creative titans ruled the roost of more mature kid's movies with an iron fist in the ‘80s and ‘90s, their influences are still felt to this day.
However, while director Sean Charmatz would throw out the joint Bluth/Spielberg venture An American Tail as an influential kid's film, a pretty fitting Stephen King adaptation fell into the mix as well. Here's what Charmatz had to say:
For me, I think there’s two that come to mind. First, Stand By Me is one. I know it’s a ‘kid’s movie,’ but as a kid, it was like a very impactful movie on me, and memorable. But An American Tail, animated, was one that really got me. I think it’s that feeling of being left, lost, abandoned, pulled apart from your family. That I think really was relatable and emotional for me as a kid. The character is basically lost, it feels like.
To be frank, I kind of always thought of Stand By Me as one of those kid's movies that was never overtly made for children, but played perfectly for an audience of the right age. Rob Reiner's adaptation of Stephen King "The Body" kind of engrained itself as such in the pop culture consciousness, as the film is widely regarded one of the best films of the 1980s.
Wrapping it all up with a bow, however, is one Steven Spielberg movie that Peter McCown and Sean Charmatz mentiond as a beloved favorite. If you've already seen Orion and the Dark, you might have already guessed this one. But just in case, here's the common thread these men shared in our interview room:
"Peter McCown: Oh, another one is E.T. It’s not dissimilar from this story, in the fact that Elliot is very smart, very wise beyond his years. And he’s scared of this alien, for obvious reasons, at first. But then, over the course of this film, he gets to know him. And then that you can love something so deeply, that you previously were terrified of, was really special.
Sean Charmatz: E.T. was a big one for me as well. … I cried at the John Williams [concert]. John Williams played E.T. and Indiana Jones, and when they played the music for E.T. I was crying."
Looking back on the deep kid's movies stories I got out of Orion and the Dark’s cast and creatives, the care and depth this new Dreamworks movie exhibits is even less of a surprise. After having seen the picture myself, I kind of want to pair it with at least a handful of the titles mentioned above and have a bit of an "inner child" movie marathon.
Teaching life lessons in overcoming fear and sticking up for yourself, as well as others, Orion and the Dark is something that Netflix subscription holders should seek out. You’ll be able to do just that, as DreamWorks Animation's latest is currently streaming for all who seek it, whether you watch your movies with the lights on or off.
