| Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland | |
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US DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Masami Hata William Hurtz |
| Produced by | Yutaka Fujioka |
| Screenplay by | Chris Columbus Richard Outten |
| Story by | Yutaka Fujioka Jean "Moebius" Giraud Ray Bradbury (Concept) Robert Towne (Consultant) |
| Based on | Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay |
| Starring | Gabriel Damon Mickey Rooney René Auberjonois Danny Mann Bernard Erhard |
| Music by | Richard M. Sherman Robert B. Sherman (Songs) Tom Chase Stephen Rucker (Score) |
| Studio | Tokyo Movie Shinsha |
| Distributed by | Hemdale Pictures |
| Release date(s) | July 15, 1989 (Japan) August 25, 1989 (US uncut) August 21, 1992 (US cut) |
| Running time | 95 minutes (Original cut) 84 minutes (Edited cut) |
| Country | Japan United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $35 million |
| Box office | $11,368,212 (Worldwide) |
Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, known in Japan as simply Nemo, is a 1989 animated film directed by Masami Hata and William T. Hurtz. Loosely based on the comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay, the film went through a lengthy development process with a number of screenwriters. Ultimately, the screenplay was credited to Chris Columbus and Richard Outten; the storyline and art style differed from the original version. The original soundtrack was penned by the Academy Award-winning Sherman Brothers.
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The film opens with the young boy Nemo experiencing a nightmare in which he is pursued by a locomotive. Upon awakening the next day, he goes to see a parade welcoming a traveling circus. However, Nemo is unable to see the circus because his father and his mother are too busy to act as his chaperones. Later that night, Nemo imitates the act of somnambulism in an attempt to sneak some pie away, which acts against a promise he had made earlier to his mother. Upon falling asleep that night, Nemo is approached by figures from the parade. The circus organist introduces himself as Professor Genius and claims that they had been sent on a mission by King Morpheus, the king of a realm named Slumberland. The mission involves Nemo becoming the playmate of the princess, Camille. Although Nemo initially has reservations about interacting with royalty of the opposite gender, he decides to set off to fulfill his mission.
Nemo is taken to Slumberland in a dirigible which he is allowed to drive, causing some chaos and is introduced to King Morpheus, who doubles as the circus ringmaster in Earth. Morpheus reveals that he summoned Nemo to become his heir to the throne. Morpheus gives Nemo a golden key and warns him of a door with a dragon insignia that must never be opened. Nemo is introduced to Princess Camille and the pair roam the entirety of Slumberland together. Afterward, Nemo meets the mischievous clown, Flip, who angers a group of cops and forces him and Nemo to hide out in an underground cave. There, Nemo discovers the door that Morpheus warned him not to open. Flip tempts Nemo into unlocking the door, which unleashes the dreaded Nightmare King. Nemo rushes back to Morpheus' castle in time for his coronation ceremony, where Nemo is handed the royal scepter, the only thing capable of defending Slumberland in the event of the Nightmare King's return. In the middle of a dance session between Morpheus and Genius, the Nightmare King reaches the castle and steals Morpheus away. As the partygoers search for a scapegoat, Flip reveals Nemo to be responsible for the Nightmare King's escape.
Nemo awakens in his home, which floods with seawater and ejects him into the ocean. Genius discovers Nemo and tells him not to blame himself for all that has happened. When the two return to Slumberland, Flip reveals that he has a map to Nightmare Land, where Morpheus is currently being held. Nemo, Camille and Flip set off in a tugboat in search of Morpheus. They are soon sucked into a whirlpool and find themselves in the monster-infested Nightmare Land. The trio comes across a group of shapeshifting goblins who wish to aid in the quest to find Morpheus. The Nightmare King sends a flock of giant bats to seize the rescue party. Nemo attempts to use the scepter, but awakens in his bed instead. The goblins appear in Nemo's room and the group travels to Nightmare Castle by flying through a hole in the sky. However, they are subsequently imprisoned in the castle, where the Nightmare King demands possession of the scepter. Nemo soon uses the scepter to finally eliminate the Nightmare King. Slumberland celebrates the fall of the Nightmare Kingdom, after which Nemo once more awakens in his room. Nemo's parents finally agree to chaperone Nemo during his visit to the circus.
Nemo was the brainchild of producer Yutaka Fujioka. His dream for years had been to make a full-animated film that would utilize the resources of his Tokyo Movie Shinsha studio. As the first step towards realizing this project, in 1977 he personally flew to Monterrey, CA to convince McCay's descendents to allow him to obtain the film rights to the comic strip. He originally approached George Lucas in a year later to help produce the film, but Lucas found problems with the storyline. Fujioka also approached Chuck Jones but also declined. The film was officially announced as a project in 1982. In February of that year, the company TMS/Kinetographics was formed in America to produce Nemo, and the best staff from around the world were gathered together to begin production. Gary Kurtz was appointed producer of the American production side and hired Ray Bradbury and later Edward Summer to write screenplays. Kurtz would eventually step down in the fall of 1984.[1]
In the early 1980s, both Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata were involved with the film, but they both left due to creative differences, essentially, Miyazaki was not keen on the thought of an animated film created by him where everything was a dream, and Takahata was more interested in creating a story depicting Nemo's growth as a boy.[1] Miyazaki later described his involvement on the film as "the worst experience of his professional career."[2] The directors who succeeded the duo were Andy Gaskill and Yoshifumi Kondo whom both exited production in March 1985 after completing a 70mm pilot film.[3] Osamu Dezaki was also brought into direct at a brief point and too completed a pilot film,[4] but left as well. A third pilot film was made by Sadao Tsukioka but has yet to become publicly available.[1]
Brad Bird and Jerry Rees also worked on the film through the American department as animators for a month, while at the time were also working on an un-produced adaptation of Will Eisner's The Spirit with Gary Kurtz.[5] During production, the two would regularly ask animators what they were doing, the response they were commonly given was "we're just illustrating what Bradbury is writing," upon meeting Bradbury in person and asking him about the story he was writing for the film, he replied "I'm just putting in writing what these wonderful artists are drawing." After their meeting with Bradbury, Bird and Rees looked at each other and both said "uh-ohhh."[6]
When all of these people had left, Fujioka had drafts done by Chris Columbus, Moebius, John Canemaker and many others. He then re-hired Summer to do yet another screenplay. Subsequently, Richard Outten was hired to work from Chris Columbus' screenplay while Columbus was busy with his directorial debut, Adventures in Babysitting. Many Disney Studio animators including Ken Anderson and Leo Salkin worked on individual sequences, and John Canemaker, Corny Cole, and Brian Froud provided visual development. Frank Thomas, Oliver Johnston, and Paul Julian consulted to the production. The world famous Sherman Brothers (Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman) were hired to write the songs for Nemo. This was their first anime film, though not their first animated film; the pair had previously worked on several projects for Disney, including The Jungle Book, and Hanna-Barbera's Charlotte's Web.
Little production progress was made until January 1988, when the many ideas pasted on the walls of the Los Angeles studio were whittled down in order to create the storyboard from which the film would be made. It was at this point that Masami Hata (a former Sanrio film director) was the appointed director at the TMS studio and Frank and Ollie recommended William T. Hurtz as the director of the American production side. Actual animation for the completed film was commenced in June 1988, as TMS was just completing another ambitious project: Akira.[1] Even though it derived from an American comic strip, Little Nemo was animated by the Japanese company Tokyo Movie Shinsha and thus was considered anime. Because of this, it was also the first anime to receive a national release in the United States.
The film was released in Japan on July 15, 1989. Partially thanks to strong competition, including Studio Ghibli's Kiki's Delivery Service, it grossed ¥0.9 billion (US$10 million) in its release and was considered a box-office flop, against a budget of around ¥3 billion ($35 million.)[7] Afterwards, Yutaka Fujioka decided to retire from the animation business, and TMS made the business decision to focus on locally based anime programs and animation for outsourced western-based productions, including Tiny Toon Adventures. The studio still does features, but primarily films spinning off existing anime properties.
It was then released three years later in the United States in 579 theaters on August 21, 1992 through Hemdale Film Corporation.[8] 11 minutes were cut in order to secure a G rating. It received positive reviews from publications including the Washington Post, Variety, the New York Post, the Boston Globe, and the New York Times.[9] Roger Ebert gave it 2 out of 4 stars, though on a positive note wrote, "Little Nemo is an interesting if not a great film, with some jolly characters, some cheerful songs, and some visual surprises."[10]
Although it had a fairly good critical reception, the film failed to find an audience. In its opening weekend in the United States, Nemo made about $407,695 with a total US gross of approximately $1,368,000.[8] Its later release onto home video helped recover costs, topping the charts and selling over two million copies. It won the "Audience Award" at Amsterdam's 1992 Cinekid Festival and was nominated for "Best Animated Feature" at the 1993 Annie Awards.[11]
In March 2005, Little Nemo was given a "much untalked about" limited re-release in Denver, Seattle, Atlanta, Austin, Houston, and other cities in the US. This was through Regal Cinemas, Edwards Theatres, and United Artists Theatres as part of a Kidtoon Films G-rated matinées promotion. It was only shown on weekends.[12]
The film was released on VHS through Hemdale Home Video, Inc. on March 2, 1993. It features a mail-in coupon worth $5.00, with purchases of Tropicana Orange Juice. Hemdale also produced a Collector's Set which includes a VHS movie, illustrated storybook, and cassette soundtrack. On October 5, 2004, Little Nemo was released on DVD through Funimation (under license from TMS, who had regained North American rights to the film after Hemdale closed). All of the cuts made were restored in the DVD release, bringing the run time of the film to the full 95 minutes. However, this is not mentioned or addressed in the DVD materials.
After the title went out of print, Little Nemo could be seen selling anywhere from $80–$200 US for a sealed copy (usually DVD) on Internet sites such as Amazon and eBay. However, Echo Bridge Home Entertainment reissued the disc as a budget title on January 27, 2009, with a suggested price of US$6.99. It is available at the usual stores such as Best Buy and Amazon.com, as well as via the distributor's website www.echobridgeentertainment.com.
After the Japanese release, Capcom developed a Nintendo game entitled Little Nemo: The Dream Master, released in late 1990.[13] The North American release of the NES game mystified mainstream players, since the film had yet to be released in North America until two years later. An arcade game, also by Capcom, was developed that same year under the title Nemo.[14]
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