THE STORY – Rescued from Earth’s nuclear annihilation, four friends crash-land on an unknown planet and courageously set out to locate a new home capable of sustaining their species.
THE CAST – N/A
THE TEAM – Momoko Seto (Director/Writer) & Alain Layrac (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 77 Minutes
Momoko Seto’s “Dandelion’s Odyssey” may ring the bells of comparison to last year’s “Flow.” This film – which serves as a more atmospheric cousin of “Flow” – is also centered on living creatures of the Earth that are directly affected by the destruction of the environment around them. In Seto’s case, he instantly sets his vision apart with his approach of blending animation with live action elements that almost reinforce the thematic heft that emanates with a sense of empathetic subtlety. “Dandelion’s Odyssey” may find it works best for those willing to surrender to its wavelength. Still, Seto’s work is outstanding enough to at least have audiences hope that these little dandelion achenes can make it out safely.
Seto and Alain Layrac’s story, which serves merely as a structural device to propel these seedlings forward, finds viewers thrust into the skies after a nuclear event begins to incinerate everything on Earth. Audiences witness the beauty of Earth in the moments before its destruction as plants grow around the soil in real time. This is effectively captured due to Seto’s implementation of time-lapse footage and incredibly macro slo-motion that gives each environment depicted a breath of life. We see our four seedlings sleeping peacefully, almost snoring as the wind gracefully echoes off their fuzzy pappi. But as the earth begins to burn, their blowball, to which they are attached, floats not only into the sky but past the stratosphere.
These dandelion seeds’ journey leads them to float amongst celestial space squids in the rings of an unknown planet and crash onto this world, where its environmental unpredictability leads these seeds to encounter all types of challenges. While the live-action footage adds a level of realism to this fictional planet these seeds are trapped on, it’s the tiny flourishes that Seto and his animation department embody that give them a sense of personality. The various amounts of pappi on each seed not only serve as different hairstyles for each but also help audiences differentiate between them as they appear on-screen. The way the base of the seed has different shapes and how its designs play into some of the struggles they may face in maneuvering various terrains is also an inspired creative choice. It’s the slightest of creative choices made that speaks volumes for a feature that doesn’t contain any dialogue. If anything, besides relishing in the visual splendor of the world around them, audiences will be taken aback by how much of an auditory experience “Dandelion’s Odyssey” is.
Quentin Sirjacq and Nicolas Becker’s score adds a level of immersion as it’s as varied as the habitats these dandelion seeds explore. It starts with an incredibly electronic base, slowly morphing into a sound in the vein of jazz. Like the planet itself, Sirjacq and Becker’s work here is free-forming, constantly evolving till the very end. Elie Levé’s cinematography is also where the film’s visual language is able to flourish. With no dialogue in the film, let alone characters that can verbally distinguish themself from their emotions, Levé’s work is key to making “Dandelion Odyssey” function properly. The film is stunning, even if it’s clear at times when the hyper-realistic animation doesn’t exactly match the actual live-action footage that’s spliced into the film.
Although the story feels repetitive, it does bring itself to a worthwhile conclusion. Michel Klochendler’s editing helps keep the film from feeling routine in any way and flows like the wind that carries the seeds. Its brief runtime also ensures that the more stripped-back sense of storytelling that Seto is operating on never becomes grating. For a movie about seeds floating around aimlessly, their journey for something constant in life, metaphorically, is bound to connect with many. Out of all the animated works to premiere this year, it certainly sets itself apart from the rest. Seto and company, through these little seeds, capture the beauty of perseverance and the resiliency of nature itself. It may not be the loudest animated feature, but those who catch “Dandelion’s Odyssey” will surely be rewarded with an experience unlike anything in recent memory.
