The dark and the light can coexist…

With TV veteran Bryan Fuller making his first cross over into feature length fares, it’s understandable to be curious if his magic rubber stamp of storytelling can cross platforms.   Dust Bunny is decided a joyous mashup of his two most popular TV properties; Pushing Daisies & Hannibal that allows us to play in the shadows with something horrible while keeping the gentle pastels of something a little more friendly just around the corner.

Ten-year-old Aurora has a mysterious neighbor (Mads Mikkelsen) who kills real-life monsters. He’s a hit man for hire. So, when Aurora needs help killing the monster she believes ate her entire family, she procures his services. Suspecting that her parents may have fallen victim to assassins gunning for him, Aurora’s neighbor guiltily takes the job. Now, to protect her, he’ll need to battle an onslaught of assassins ― and accept that some monsters are real.

In Dust Bunny, Writer/Director Bryan Fuller actually does a deft job in crafting a sweet kind of mayhem that while we know is inherently ridiculous we just can’t help but get quickly emotionally invested in it all.

Crafting a world that wouldn’t be out of place in a Tim Burton film, Fuller sucks us into the visual narrative of this over the top fable about the highs and lows of childhood that does more to put a smile on our face then you’d expect while still acknowledging some of the dark crevices of the childhood experience.

Fuller makes a seamless transition in giving us this one self-contained story after a career of long TV narrative arcs.  It makes us wonder why he didn’t get into making movies well before this.  His script is rife with humor while always allowing us an emotional connection to the dread that this young Aurora feels.

Young Sophie Sloan as Aurora was an absolute find as she manages to channel the dead pan grim comedic stylings of a character like Wednesday Addams while still allowing a degree of emotional vulnerability to seep into it all.  The always excellent Mads Mikkelsen opposite her does a wonderful job of essentially being this bad man…but with a heart when circumstance puts Aurora on his doorstep.  We immediately accept their natural chemistry and banter with him being the slightly overbearing adult who doesn’t believe Aurora until he realizes that she’s actually right.

David Dastmalchian and the iconic Sigourney Weaver do some great character work along the edges to drive it all along but this is essential a two hander of a piece with Mads and his electric young co-star getting us to exactly where we need to be.

While I could see some audiences feeling like Dust Bunny plays the story a little too lightly, it actually settles into a good little sweet spot as it gives us just enough of the darkness to balance out the whimsy and the light of the whole situation.  It’s a slice of fantasy that we haven’t seen since the 80’s and the animated films of Don Bluth like The Secret of Nimh.  Sure it’s pretty well suitable for the entire family but it’s got a real insidious edge to it that can keep the bigger kids engaged throughout.