Flora and Ulysses
Flora (Matilda Lawler) is a ten year old self declared cynic. She only believes in what can be observed and has given up hope and wonder in exchange for a realistic view of the world. This all changes when a neighbor’s runaway robot Ulysses vacuum sucks up an unsuspecting squirrel. Flora saves the squirrel, takes him home, and much to her shock and delight, she finds that the vacuum has given the squirrel (she names Ulysses) super powers.
Flora loves superheroes, comic books, and really all just stories! Stories are in her blood. Her mom Phyllis (Alyson Hannigan) was a successful romance author but has lost her inspiration, she currently can’t seem to write anything worth reading. Her dad, George (Ben Shwartz) is a failed comic book creator and illustrator. He has failed at getting published over and over again and like Flora and her mom, George has also become a cynic.
Flora’s family is broken and all feels hopeless. After Flora discovers that Ulysses has super powers, she starts to have hope for her situation. However, a super squirrel can’t go unnoticed for long. After the local animal control officer (with a hatred for all squirrels) finds out that a super squirrel is on the loose in his city, he will stop at nothing to catch Ulysses and put the squirrel down for good.
From director Lena Khan, Flora and Ulysses is a fun adventure for the whole family. Matilda Lawler is charming and engaging as Flora. The real bright spot of the movie is Ben Shwartz as George. Schwartz is best known as Schwartz from the Comedy Improv Duo, Middleditch and Schwartz. He is a long been the absurd comic relief role in movies and TV shows (Jean-Ralphio from Parks and Rec is a prime example). This is the first time most people have seen him play a father, and his performance is superb. His chemistry with Lawler and Hannigan is really the heart of the movie.
Flora and Ulysses has two plots, the story of Ulysses trying to figure out his powers, defeat animal control and find his superhero purpose, and the story of George and Phyllis trying to work out their relationship. These two stories do intertwine a bit, with Flora as the common denominator between the two. The two plots have very different tones and hopping between the two stories feels a bit disjointed.
Ulysses is a absurd, he writes in poetry, is always hungry and also can fly and have super strength. He is the comic relief and watching him steal cheese balls and figure out a pop tart is amusing. All of that comes in between the more nuanced story of two married but separated people who are dealing with some relatable but difficult things. After George failed at being a comic book writer, he stopped believing in himself and felt like he let his family down in the process. After so much rejection he doesn’t have the courage to keep fighting. George loves his wife and daughter, but his self doubt and insecurities have gotten the better of him and he ran away. Not far away mind you, he lives a few miles away from Flora and works at the local office supply store. His relationship with Phyllis seems beyond repair. Phyllis feels the weight of being the sole provider for her family and is experiencing writer's block. She feels alone and unseen, struggling to keep her head above water. The two love each other but both feel like failures and their pride keeps them from admitting they need each other. At times it feels like there is an adult plot line and a kids plot line that occasionally converge. This leads to weird pacing which makes both plots hard to follow.
Along this adventure we meet William, the nephew of Flora’s neighbor. He is Flora’s age and is blind (we think). We are told he has Hysterical Blindness, due to emotional stress. When he relaxes, then his sight will return. William is introduced as blind but has only been blind for a short time and walks without help or guidance. Most of the time it is hard to tell if he is really blind or faking it. He does every overblown stereotypical blind person bit imaginable. He clicks his tongue trying to use echolocation, said he can smell a person up to one mile away, and tried to feel Flora's face to “see '' what she looks like. None of these things work, and while losing one sense does make others stronger, in this situation, his new ‘skills’ aren’t real.
The problem with William’s role is that this is supposed to be funny. William being blind is used as a punchline. Flora leaves him to figure out how to get home, most of the adults don’t help him at and this leads to lots of pratfalls and bumping into things. As a viewer this is really concerning. Absolutely no one seems concerned that this child has been through so much emotional trauma that he is suffering from hysterical blindness. William is cagey about his past but eventually tells Flora that he pushed his step dad's car into a lake and that is why he got sent to his aunt’s house. This is the only explanation we get for this condition. There is a very sweet moment if friendship between Flora and William.
William and his backstory leave us with so many more questions than answers. Blindness and emotional trauma should not be punchlines. The fact William wouldn’t be permanently blind (We think…who knows..) is supposed to somehow make it ok to use him as comic relief, but really it was very uncomfortable.
Those of us who were around in the 90’s remember Air Bud, the sports loving dog with a heart of gold. Air Bud not only wins the big game, defeats animal control, but also brings together a broken family and provides friendship to a lonely boy. Flora and Ulysses is the 2021 updated version of that story, with a superhero squirrel and a film full of Marvel references, instead of sports references. Flora and Ulysses has a very Air Bud feel, and honestly I am here for it.
What Air Bud did and what Flora and Ulysses does well is take a hard and real feeling world and then add an animal that brings hope, wonder and magic back into a family's life.
Flora and Ulysses is a charming story, and while it isn’t laugh out loud comedy, it has some funny moments, especially for kids. The movie has a lot of heart and a sweet message about noticing and appreciating the people around you. Flora and Ulysses is a story of friendship, family, love, and finding the beauty and magic in the world around us.
Content Overview
Language: Damn and other made up exclamations of surprise
Violence: Lost of slap sick, people get attacked by cats and squirrel, William falls out of a tree house, but there isn’t any blood or long term injuries.
Sexual Content: Phyllis is a romance author who alludes to what she writes fairly frequently, though it goes over Flora’s head most of the time.
Other Objectionable Content: George and Ulysses both get shoot with a tranquillizer gun,
