Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland

Stars: (voice) Mickey Rooney (The Black Stallion, The Legend of Wolf Mountain), (voice) Rene Auberjonois (M.A.S.H., Police Academy 5). A purported $35 million went into the making of this disappointingly dull, though often richly animated, boxoffice dud based on Windsor McCay's turn-of-the-century comic strip (the first in America). Inspired by the writings of Jules Verne, the film is drawn primarily by Japanese animators and is set in a pre-electronics time when steam engines and air balloons were truly awe-inspiring to young and old. Little Nemo, a young boy given to imaginative dreams, finds himself transported to Slumberland, where he is crowned Prince by the good King Morpheus. Unfortunately, the impressionable lad is led astray by the mischievous Flip (voice of Mickey Rooney), and soon the peaceful Slumberland is taken over by the evil Nightmareland. Very much striving to be in the Disney vein, the filmmakers (which include writer/director Chris Columbus from the Home Alone series) have given Nemo a sidekick (a chipmunk named Icarus who mainly makes cute noises lifted from Gremlins), thrown in a little platonic love (Nemo is aided by the Princess Camille), and made the villain (the Nightmare King) an impressive towering presence. But Icarus is not funny, Flip is flat (not to mention the fact that he chain-smokes cigars and makes advances at the pre-teen Princess, activities which seem more than a little out of place in a "G"-rated film), and the Nightmare King doesn't show up until the final reel. Of dubious interest to the Nintendo-thumbed crowd at which it is aimed, Little Nemo sports some very striking animated sequences and a nice sell-thru price, but is practically devoid of interesting characters and story. Audience: It's an electronic babysitter that will also find interest from the animation buffs. [Note: Hemdale has chosen to use Disney's plastic clamshell packaging approach, and some will undoubtedly think that Nemo is a Disney title.]