The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Short on universal squirrel appeal
Disney+’s ‘Flora & Ulysses’ decidedly a comedy-adventure for the kids
‘FLORA & ULYSSES’
Where: Disney+
Available: Now.
Rated: PG for some mild action and thematic elements.
Runtime: 1 hour, 35 minutes.
Stars (of four): ★★
It often is said the best movies for kids also have enough smarts, clever wrinkles and emotional impact to engage adults.
Disney’s “Flora & Ulysses” is not one of those movies.
Still, the new Disney+ offering — about a young girl and her superpowered squirrel — is likely to be entertaining enough for the little ones in the house. It’s oozing with cuteness, packed with silly antics and boasts an appealing (human) star in young Matilda Lawler, as well as a strong supporting cast.
Children aren’t as likely as adults to mind the herkyjerky storytelling and lack of cleverness that pervade this comedy-adventure adapted from 2013 Newbery Award-winning book “Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures” by Kate DiCamillo.
Lawler’s Flora Buckman — who’s 10, not 8, thank you — is a serious fan of comic books and the superheroes who soar within their pages.
“However different they are, all superheroes come to us with a purpose: to save those in need, to stand watch when danger closes in,” she tells us in a bit of opening narration.
While Flora has thoughts on the Silver Surfer and Wolverine to share with us, her favorite hero may be Incandesto, a creation of her father, George (Ben Schwartz), who can channel the light of many suns to brighten the darkest of situations.
However, Flora also insists she’s a cynic, a stance she seems to have adopted since the separation of George, a struggling comic book creator, and her mother, Phyllis (Alyson Hannigan), a prize-winning romance novelist.
“But,” Flora says, continuing her thoughts on superheroes, “they have one thing in common: They never show up in the real world.”
That is until she resuscitates a squirrel after he has a near-death experience involving a robotic contraption in the yard. She names him Ulysses and takes him inside and up to her room, where she gives him some trail mix and shows him her comics.
He seems interested in them, and Flora begins to wonder if perhaps he has gained superpowers from his near-death experience. Hey, that happens, she reckons.
As “Flora & Ulysses” proceeds, he will show some above-squirrel-average traits, and while Flora easily is able to get her dad invested in the little guy, she must continue to hide him from Mom. Throughout it all, she is determined to help this hero find his purpose, as she’s sure he has one.
Flora and Ulysses have a bigger threat in an animal-control bigshot, Miller (Danny Pudi), who becomes obsessed with catching him after the furry little guy wreaks havoc at a restaurant and a waitress (Kate Micucci) becomes consumed with the thought he’s carrying rabies.
As Flora, with the help of her dad and temporarily blind friend William (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth), works to keep Ulysses safe, she also holds out hope her parents will get back together.
Working from an uneven screenplay from Brad Copeland (“Arrested Development”), director Lena Khan (“The Tiger Hunter”) struggles to deliver neither topnotch sequences nor the kind of emotional moments that would lift this romp up a couple of notches. Unlike the movie’s namesake squirrel, it’s all average, at best.
Again, though, the flick does get a bump from its cast.
Lawler (“The Block Island Sound”) has what it takes to carry this little movie and we expect that we’ll see more of her in the future.
However, the movie’s greatest asset may be Schwartz (“Parks and Recreation,” “Sonic the Hedgehog”), who can’t help but give off funny. Even when the actor isn’t asked to do anything particularly comical, he manages to be amusing.
And while it’s nice to get a dose of “How I Met Your Mother” alum Hannigan, it’s the casting of Pudi that’s more fun. Best known for playing the offbeat Abed on “Community,” Pudi makes for a pleasantly goofy, kidfriendly villain.
“Kid-friendly” is the name of the game with “Flora & Ulysses,” even if the movie earned a PG rating, instead of a G, thanks to some of the action and life-threatening danger poses to our little superhero.
We’ll let the youngsters have this one.