The humble newspaper comic strip doesn’t seem to have the impact it used to, but it was the launching pad for some of pop culture’s best-known characters. One of the most groundbreaking names in the medium wasLittle Nemo, which inspired creators around the world, including two different creative teams who turned it into very different movies.
Adaptation and readaptation is an extremely common issue in modern media. Just about everything isbased on something else, and as source material runs dry, multiple works will see multiple new takes. It can be fascinating to see what one piece of art can inspire in different creators of adaptation over the years.
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Winsor McCay’sLittle Nemo in Slumberlandbegan as a spin-off of anotherpopular comic strip in1905. It became widely beloved by American audiences as it migrated to multiple huge newspapers in the 1910s and 20s. It was celebrated for doing new things with the format, experimenting with pacing and visuals in ways that would inform the medium for generations. In 2022, almost a hundred years after the end of McCay’s original run, director Francis Lawrence brought a loose adaptation of the story to Netflix under the titleSlumberland. The critical reception wasn’t great and there’s no way to know exactly how many people enjoyed it,but Jason Momoa’s facein the posters and name on the cast list drew in some eyes. This recent adaptation differs from the source material in a number of ways, but the first film on the subject is very different.
Released in 1989,Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberlandhas one of the most fascinating production histories of its era. The primary voice compelling the creation of the film was one Yutaka Fujioka, best known as the producer ofLupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro. Fujioka had a dream, to make a Japanese animated filmthat would rival Disney, and he believedNemowould be the perfect source for that project. It took over three years to attain the rights, during which he personally met with the McCay’s descendants to convince them.
With legal privileges secure, Fujioka made some big calls. He reached out to George Lucas in 1981, at the height of his power, to ask him to produce. He refused, but Gary Kurtz, the man he hired to replace him, appointedFahrenheit 451author Ray Bradbury asthe film’s screenwriter. Bradbury had some wild ideas as he rewrote the original treatment, which was turned in by none other than Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki’s first take on the material eventually becameLaputa: Castle in the Sky, but he kept coming back and kept coming up with new ideas. Three or four ofMiyazaki’s greatest films cameout of his time working on this one, which he later characterized as the worst time of his life. The film sat in development hell for years before finally releasing in 1989. After all that work, the film flopped in Japan and the US, leading Fujioka to retire from animation forever. It’s a tragic tale, one that could have, at several points, resulted in one of the most incredible films ever conceived. The film it produced, however, is still surprisingly good.
This anime take onLittle Nemofollows the eponymous child as he explores his dreams and evades his nightmares. One of the most interesting things about this anime take on the material is that Nemo’s waking world is often just as fantastical as his dreams. His presence is ordered by Morpheus, King of Dreams, who promptly goes missing. Nemo must partner with a scientist named Professor Genius and a mischievous clown named Flip to save the king from Nightmare Land. It’s a simple charming story that plays fast and loose with the setting, mirroring the logic of dreams. The songs, primarily carried by R&B singer Melissa Manchester, are a lot of fun and the characters stand out among children’s films. ThoughLittle Nemowasn’t appreciated upon its initial release, it did well enough in home media sales to become something of a cult hit today. It’ll appear on lists ofgreat children’s anime fromtime to time and many consider it a wonderful starting point for young viewers.
Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberlandis a wonderful adaptation of one of the best comic strips ever written. It may not have lived up to Fujioka’s dreams of beating Disney, but it did survive a tumultuous development period that would have shut most films down. Some of the most beloved creatives of the modern era put their hand on this strange film. The more recent adaptation may have better special effects and biggernames in the credits, but the original has it beat when it comes to imagination. Anyone who enjoyed elements ofSlumberlandwill find those elements in droves inLittle Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland.
