Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1989)

A young boy whose dreams transcend reality is sucked into his own fantasy, which is everything he has dreamed of until he unleashes a century old secret that may not only destroy this ... See full summary »

Directors:

Masami Hata, William T. Hurtz (as William Hurtz)

Writers:

Chris Columbus (screenplay), Richard Outten (screenplay)

Stars:

Gabriel Damon, Mickey Rooney, Rene Auberjonois

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gabriel Damon	...	Nemo (voice)
Mickey Rooney	...	Flip (voice)
Rene Auberjonois	...	Professor Genius (voice)
Danny Mann	...	Icarus (voice)
Laura Mooney	...	Princess Camille (voice)
Bernard Erhard	...	King Morpheus (voice)
Bill Martin	...	Nightmare King (voice) (as William E. Martin)
Alan Oppenheimer	...	Oomp (voice)
Michael Bell	...	Oompy (voice)
Sidney Miller	...	Oompe (voice)
Neil Ross	...	Oompa (voice)
John Stephenson	...	Oompo / Dirigible Captain (voice)
Greg Burson	...	Nemo's Father / Flap (voice)
Jennifer Darling	...	Nemo's Mother (voice)
Sherry Lynn	...	Bon Bon (voice)

Storyline

A young boy whose dreams transcend reality is sucked into his own fantasy, which is everything he has dreamed of until he unleashes a century old secret that may not only destroy this perfect dream world but reality itself.

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Plot Keywords:

king | smoke | cult favorite | cult film | anime | 

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Taglines:

Take Off On A Wonderful Adventure With "Little Nemo"...

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Drama | Family | Fantasy

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

Japan USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 August 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$407,695, 23 August 1992

Gross USA:

$1,368,000

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,368,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

TMS Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min 94 min (Japanese DVD box-set)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The first anime movie to receive a wide release in the United States. Production began in 1982, with the intention of the film being a big-budget showcase of Tokyo Movie Shinsha Co.'s animation style to American audiences. The efforts to make it a movie that would appeal to both Japanese and American audiences resulted in the film having a long and troubled production history, as different arms of production (writing, casting, animation, etc) received conflicting instructions as to how to proceed with the film. Over the course of seven years, numerous powerful figures from both Japanese and American film-making were hired in various attempts to salvage production. Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata worked for a year, between 1982-1983, but ultimately left due to creative differences with the American production company; Miyazaki later called it "the worst experience" of his career. Gary Kurtz and Chris Columbus were each brought on board at different points to act as directors/producers/writers, and Ray Bradbury was hired to write a new script. It is unknown how much each contributed to the final product. Although the film premiered in Japan in 1989, it did not receive its intended American release until 1992, a full decade after the start of production; in a final effort to market the film to American audiences, several minutes of the movie had to be edited in order to secure a softer rating.

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Quotes

Nemo: Your Majesty, I broke my promise. I opened the forbidden door. I'm very sorry.
King Morphy Morpheus: Hm. Your courage destroyed the Nightmare King and his evil kingdom is gone forever.

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Alternate Versions

The following scenes, cut from the 1992 version, were reinstated on both the Japanese and U.S. DVD releases (Total running time of missing footage:): -Originally, the film opened with a long opening credit sequence (including the TMS logo), lasting 2 minutes and 45 seconds, set to the title theme song sung by Melissa Manchester. In addition, the end credits were originally 2 minutes and 3 seconds long (combined with what was originally the opening credits, the end credits in the 1992 version ran for 4 minutes and 30 seconds. The end credits in this version also had a 1992 copyright date, whereas they originally had a 1989 one). -10 seconds of the scene where Nemo falls from the cloud ruins. -10 seconds of the scene where Nemo tries to evade the train. -A 10 second shot of the film's logo, after Nemo wakes up from his first dream. -An entire 1 minute and 43 second scene where Nemo sleepwalks into the kitchen to sneak a pie out of the icebox, only to be schooled by his mother, because he broke his promise, about sneaking them out of the kitchen. He then hurries back to his room. This would explain why the "Remember Your Promise!" note appears again later in the film. -A 12 second scene where Nemo and Professor Genius arrive at the floor where Princess Camille is. -An entire 1 minute and 59 second scene where Nemo and Flip make mischief in the Slumberland Police Station, and then escape on Flip's flying Bird named Flap. -1 minute and 53 seconds worth of footage from the dance scene. -A 17 second scene of Nemo, Icarus, Flip, Princess and Professor walking through a spooky forest on the way to Nightmare Land. -An entire 1 minute and 16 second scene where Icarus tells the Oomps that if Nemo says the incantation to use the Royal Scepter, he will die. Nemo then reassures him that he will be just fine. -A 14 second scene where Nemo gets annoyed by the constant chanting from the Oomps and Icarus, as he tries to study the incantation. -A 49 second scene, where as Nemo and the others venture into Nightmare Land, Oompo gets burned, they lose direction, and they find themselves in a sea of black slime. -An entire 1 minute scene, where one of the Nightmare King's henchmen tells him that Nemo and the scepter have been terminated. But when the Alien Bird informs him that Nemo is still alive, he blows everyone away with his powers. -A 40 second scene where, after the Nightmare King has been defeated, Icarus looks for Nemo, only to find that he died from using all of his strength to activate the Royal Scepter. -A 6 second scene near the end, where, after waking up from his dream, Nemo apologizes to his mother for breaking his promise by taking the pie from the kitchen.

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Connections

Referenced in Hewy's Animated Movie Reviews: The Last Unicorn (2009)

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Soundtracks

Slumberland Princess
Music and Lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman

User Reviews

Visually fantastic!

Ever rent a movie out of curiosity because, although you've never heard a good thing about it, you want to see it anyway because you thought it looked good? That happened to me with "Little Nemo"; I rented it one summer and felt as if I had struck gold.

The thing that got me with this movie was that the animators managed to imitate the original Windsor McCay illustrations so closely. Being an illustrator myself, that completely won me over and that alone would be cause to recommend it. But this is also one of the most visually inventive animated films I've ever seen. I will not spoil the surprise by describing anything, but the way this movie depicts Slumberland is surely the best thing about it. This is definately worth hunting down.