Slapstick humor, when done well, can be a joy to watch. Throw in a skeptical little girl and her superhero pet and it sounds like a recipe for a heartwarming and endearingly sweet and engaging family film. Somehow, Flora & Ulysses, which is directed by Nina Khan from a screenplay by Brad Copeland, misses the mark in what should have been an entertaining and fun film. Flora & Ulysses has all of the right ingredients, but falls short of bringing them all together, leaving the film an uncharismatic and empty shell.
Based on the children’s novel by Kate DiCamillo, Flora & Ulysses follows the story of Flora (Matilda Lawler), a ten-year-old with a penchant for comics and superheroes. Her father George (Ben Schwartz), a down-on-his-luck comic book writer, and mother Phyllis (Alyson Hannigan), a romance novelist suffering from writer’s block, are separated and trying to figure things out. Flora, a self-proclaimed cynic, refuses to hope anymore. That is, until a regular old squirrel named Ulysses is sucked into a vacuum and emerges with superpowers, thus changing Flora’s life forever. She tries to keep him a secret for a while, but Ulysses is spotted and that’s when his journey as a superhero — who now has his own villain in an animal control worker played by Danny Pudi — fully begins.
The biggest unbelievability factor isn’t that Ulysses suddenly has superpowers. Rather, the issue stems from Flora’s cynical perspective. The audience is expected to believe that a ten-year-old has no sense of optimism or hope. Yes, her parents are going through a rough patch and might get divorced, but that subplot is contrived and lacks a more thorough exploration of what that means for Flora and how it affects her emotionally. Her being a cynic is surely meant to be a cute and even humorous aspect of the story, but it’s a stretch, especially since the film curtails this very notion with its tone.
Flora & Ulysses generally lacks a lot of the magic and emotional investment that makes such family-friendly films worth watching at any age. The film relies too heavily on the CGI squirrel to bring the heart and humor to the story rather than the other way around. Flora becomes a mentor of sorts to Ulysses, convinced that every superhero has a purpose and therefore she must train him and help him figure out what that purpose will be. She’s helped along by her neighbor William (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth), whose temporary blindness is exploited for some slapstick humor that is wholly unnecessary.
Flora doesn’t particularly need Ulysses to figure things out or to find some light in the admittedly not-so-dark tunnel of her life, but she is certainly convinced that she does. The plot would have worked much better if it wasn’t so thinly developed and emotionally empty, with several of the film’s runtime wasted in an overdrawn chase led by the reliably funny Pudi, whose antics here aren’t enough to save the film from its lack of charm. Lawler does an outstanding job bringing Flora to life, but the material doesn’t support her exuberant performance.
The film transforms into a thrilling comedy adventure that is only invested in Flora on a superficial level, with its attention primarily on the idea of superheroes as hopeful figures; Ulysses is an example of how they can, according to Flora, save metaphorical lives. Considering that this is a Disney film, Flora & Ulysses spends a lot of time referencing other notable superheroes now owned by the company, including Spider-Man. In a strange, roundabout way, the film leans into the corporate machine that is angling toward superheroes being these much-needed saviors, be they fictitious or not.
Flora & Ulysses is available to stream on Disney+ on February 19. The film is 95 minutes long and is rated PG for some mild action and thematic elements.
Let us know what you thought of the film in the comments!
Key Release Dates
Flora and Ulysses
Release Date:2021-02-19
