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A14 PEOPLE / ARTS
Thursday 1 February 2024

‘Orion and the Dark’ loses itself in the leap from children’s book to

animated film

By MARK KENNEDY The animated world is won-
AP Entertainment Writer derfully realized, from the
To say the hero of Netflix’s shaded, uneven grass to
new animated movie “Ori- the gritty crosswalks of Times
on and the Dark” is fearful is Square. There is a welcome
an understatement. use of childhood drawings
Orion, 11, is scared of clog- to give the movie more
ging up the school toilet, texture but it’s a far cry
murderous gutter clowns, from the game-changing
cell phones giving him can- animation of “Spider-Man:
cer, mosquito bites getting Into the Spider-Verse.”
infected, falling off sky- Even some voice work from
scrapers, bees, dogs, hair- Werner Herzog fails to lift it.
cuts, mispronouncing good Since the source material is
morning and the ocean. a children’s book, the film-
Among other things. This image released by Netflix shows a scene from “Orion and the Dark.” makers have added and
“It’s OK to be nervous more Associated Press added, like a group of
than OK, in fact. It’s nor- lame nocturnal spirits un-
mal,” his mom tells him, book but, like its main hu- tells Orion. “You are by far lace joke and a gag he imaginatively called Night
helpfully. “Sometimes you man character, lacks con- the loudest, the most ob- should have kept mining Entities Insomnia, Sleep,
just have to feel the fear fidence, ending with time noxious and, frankly, the with Dark being a fledgling Quiet, Unexplained Noises
and do it anyway.” travel and dimension jump- most hurtful.” and frustrated moviemak- and Sweet Dreams. None
One thing that scares Orion ing. You could say the film- So a deal is struck: Orion er. make much of an impres-
the most is darkness and makers are scared of their must join Dark for 24 hours (He calls Sundance “such a sion and Sleep looking sus-
that is where things get own movie. as he flies around the globe boy’s club.”) piciously like a blue version
going in this very uneven Orion with tufts of wavy bringing night to the world. But most of the film lags and of Telly Monster from “Sesa-
movie that seems to com- brown hair, a thin mouth, “You’ll finally see that I’m there’s lots of manufac- me Street.”
pletely lose the thread by ears like satellite dishes nothing to be afraid of. tured conflict. You can tell Predictably, halfway
the end, despite a script by and nicely voiced by Ja- You’ll learn to appreciate the dialogue is thin when through the film the roles re-
renowned filmmaker Char- cob Tremblay is visited one the beauty of the night in- Orion and Dark both laugh verse and it’s time for Orion
lie Kaufman. night by a hulking Dark, in stead of being so terrified but nothing is happening, to come to the rescue of
“Orion and the Dark” is a black cloak, with only his all the time.” trying to telegraph friend- Dark. He’s feeling insecure
about fear and overcom- eyes and teeth in white. Kaufman the inventive, ship. There’s also some cin- about his rival the smarmy,
ing it but this movie direct- He’s wonderfully voiced by subversive and mind-blow- ematic theft, like a child fly- sun-glasses-wearing Light.
ed by Sean Charmatz has Paul Walter Hauser. ing mind behind “Being ing on a beast’s back like “Every day I bring lightness
too much junk clogging “You know, there are a lot John Malkovich” and “Eter- “How to Train Your Dragon” and hope to the world and
up the vision. It’s based on of people that are scared nal Sunshine of the Spotless and a kid interrupting the you bring the exact oppo-
Emma Yarlett’s children’s of me but you you’re on a Mind” is rather tame here, narrator from “Princess site,” Light taunts Dark. q
whole different level,” Dark despite a David Foster Wal- Bride.”

Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny and others may vanish from TikTok as

licensing dispute boils over

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN In a Tuesday letter ad- ate compensation for our Tok’s users.” Tok said.
AP Business Writer dressed to artists and song- artists and songwriters, pro- UMG said that TikTok pro- Yet Universal Music also
Universal Music Group, writers, UMG said that it tecting human artists from posed paying its artists and called new technology a
which represents artists in- had been pressing TikTok the harmful effects of AI, songwriters at a rate that’s potential threat to artists
cluding Taylor Swift, Drake, on three issues: “appropri- and online safety for Tik- a fraction of the rate that and said that TikTok is de-
Adele, Bad Bunny and Billie other major social plat- veloping tools to enable,
Eilish, says that it will no lon- forms pay, adding that Tik- promote and encourage
ger allow its music on TikTok Tok makes up only about AI music creation. UMG
now that a licensing deal 1% of its total revenue. accused the platform of
between the two parties “Ultimately TikTok is trying to “demanding a contractual
has expired. build a music-based busi- right which would allow this
UMG said that it had not ness, without paying fair content to massively dilute
agreed to terms of a new value for the music,” UMG the royalty pool for human
deal with TikTok, and plans said. artists, in a move that is
to stop licensing content TikTok pushed back against nothing short of sponsoring
from the artists it represents claims by UMG, saying that artist replacement by AI.”
on the social media plat- it has reached ‘artist-first’ UMG also took issue with
form that is owned by Byte- agreements with every oth- what it described as safety
Dance, as well as TikTok er label and publisher. issues on TikTok. UMG is un-
Music services. “Clearly, Universal’s self- satisfied with TikTok’s efforts
The licensing agreement serving actions are not in to deal with what it says is
between UMG and TikTok is Taylor Swift performs at the Monumental stadium during her the best interests of artists, hate speech, bigotry, bully-
expired as of Wednesday. Eras Tour concert in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Nov. 9, 2023. songwriters and fans,” Tik- ing and harassment.q
Associated Press