My rating: ★★★★✰
Runtime: 1 hour and 35 minutes
Genre: Family / Comedy / Superhero
As some of you know, I am a Kate DiCamillo fanatic.
Okay, that might be overstating things a little since I've only read three of her books. Regardless, I liked every single one of them a lot, and I plan to read her other books as soon as possible.
Anyway, imagine my ecstasy when I found that Walt Disney Studios had created and was releasing its adaptation of DiCamillo's Flora and Ulysses on Disney+. I hadn't read Flora and Ulysses (yet), so I was naturally quite intrigued. I knew I just had to see this.
So I did.
Flora is a 10-year-old girl who loves reading comic books. She also happens to self-identify as a cynic.
Her parents are separated, you see. Her father was a comic book artist who wanted to make a living on his art, but wasn't ever able to get his work published. He now lives disillusioned, away from his wife and daughter, working a job he hates at a local grocery store. Her mother is a romance novelist struggling to find inspiration and worrying that her writing will never amount to anything. They decided to separate to "figure things out".
This is why Flora decided to be a cynic. She and her family were once happy and together. But happiness and togetherness only last so long. Life had taught her to abandon hope.
Enter Ulysses.
Ulysses is an unassuming squirrel who gets sucked up by a runaway "Ulysses" vacuum. Flora rescues him from the vacuum and takes him home, having an inkling of an inkling that this little squirrel is special. (Maybe even... a superhero?) Little does she know that her life (and outlook on it) is about to change...
Forever.
Okay, maybe that was a little melodramatic. But you get the point.
Flora and Ulysses is an endearing comedic twist on the superhero archetype the whole family can enjoy. I've seen DiCamillo's other book-to-film adaptations (Because of Wynn-Dixie and The Tale of Despereaux), and I can confidently say that I liked this one the best out of all three. The film has many genuinely funny moments, but it has a serious side as well. I appreciate that its main purpose isn't to set people on a mindlessly irreverent laughing spree, but to communicate a genuine story.
The good characters are all relatively likable, and Flora's narration offers an amusing and unique perspective to the story. The script was also cleverly written.
I felt like the villain was a little stereotypical, though. I mean, animal control? Seriously? I would have liked to see more creativity on the storywriters' part. He does not provoke concern in me (which I think he should if he's to be villain-y at all), and is (admittedly) rather pathetic. I suppose that's the way villains in comedies are supposed to be, to some extent. Still, I feel like he could have been used to raise the stakes a little higher. All he does is help keep the plot moving forward, and like I said, I don't think he does as good of a job as he could have.
This film isn't your typical superhero fare. It's a tale about a girl and her squirrel (and that's about as unsuperhero-y as it gets). But more than that, it's a tale about how an unlikely hero brings a family together and helps a cynic see that the world is an amazing place if we only have eyes to see its magic.
"We had love, and we had comic books. Not just the ones we got to read, but the ones we got to live. People will say it didn't happen, that squirrels can't write poetry, and that the world isn't full of superheroes. But like any natural-born cynic, I say, 'Do not hope. Observe.' Because when you do, you'll see how much wonder the world actually has. And you won't be a cynic anymore." — Flora
Flora and Ulysses can be found exclusively on Disney+, which is a subscription-based streaming service charging $9.99 a month. If you don't have Disney+, you can always pick up the book by Kate DiCamillo at the library at no charge whatsoever.
Have you seen Flora and Ulysses yet? Have you read the book? Have you read any of Kate DiCamillo's other works? If yes is the answer to any one of these questions, what did you think?