Netflix’s “Lost Ollie” is a good TV series that could have been a great film. In this era of changing expectations in the movie industry where it seems harder and harder to get an original project financed, it feels like more and more creatives are turning to the wide-open landscape of television production, expanding their feature ideas into limited series that don’t always support the format. That very much feels like the case with this 4-episode mini-series that employs almost no episodic structure at all, basically breaking up a 180-minute movie into four 45-minute episodes. A tighter film version could have been an all-time children’s classic, an unpacking of how grief and memory intertwine, especially in the heart of a child. As is, it’s a show that never quite feels big enough for multiple episodes, even if it succeeds overall because of its massive heart and incredible visual effects. It’s likable and sweet, an easy watch on a weekend for a family, especially one who may be looking for a way into conversations with children about difficult issues like loss.
The pedigree behind “Lost Ollie” is all-star caliber. Director Peter Ramsey, who helmed all four episodes, co-directed “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” one of the best modern animated films. The show was created by the genius Shannon Tindle, who worked on the delightful “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends” (which feels a little like an influence here with its tale of outsiders) and helped develop “Kubo and the Two Strings,” one of LAIKA’s masterpieces. Both gentlemen work from a 2016 children’s book called “Ollie’s Odyssey” by William Joyce to tell a story that will feel like a riff on “Toy Story” to some viewers but has enough of its own original voice to stand alongside that obvious influence.
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“Lost Ollie” opens with its title character separated from his owner. Ollie (voiced by Jonathan Groff) is a charming little toy rabbit, a creation that looks like it was made by human hands instead of a corporate machine. Much like Woody, Ollie has one goal—to reunite with his human owner, a young man named Billy (Kesler Talbot)—but the lost plaything has trouble remembering how he got lost in the first place and has only the vaguest idea of how to get home again. He ends up crossing paths with other lost toys, including a heroic, one-eyed teddy bear named Rosy (Mary J. Blige) and a supportive clown named Zozo (Tim Blake Nelson), who has his own tale of separation from his life partner. One of the most interesting themes of “Lost Ollie” comes in comparing how Ollie and Zozo have dealt with loss, as the writers suggest that unaddressed grief and pain can shift into something darker. The pain doesn’t go away if we don’t address it and even challenge it.
Billy knows a thing or two about loss too. While Ollie is facing being detached from his best friend, flashbacks reveal how Billy was forced to deal with the pain of a dying mother (Gina Rodriguez). Billy’s father (Jake Johnson) understandably struggles to navigate his own pain at losing his partner with parenting his child through a similar loss, and he pushes Billy to “grow up” and leave toys like Ollie behind. A bit too much of the Billy arc of “Lost Ollie” feels manipulative and Rodriguez and Johnson are forced to play archetypes more than actual characters, but Talbot is a promising talent, and one would have to be made of stone to remain unmoved by the final episodes and how they manage how difficult it can be to move on from the unimaginable loss of a parent while you’re still a child. It’s admirable how much Tindle and his team are willing to trust young viewers to manage complex emotional themes in a way that doesn’t talk down to them.
However, the road trip half of “Lost Ollie” is where most viewers will find their wonder. The first thing anyone notices is the technical achievement of this show as characters like Ollie and Zozo always look like they’re actually sharing the same space as the human ones with whom they interact. There’s a never sense that people are acting with tennis balls, and the use of space and shadows with the toys characters is never anything less than mesmerizing. “Lost Ollie” is worth watching purely for the way it brings its impossible concept to life. It’s a beautiful show in terms of composition, framing, and effects, a testament to Ramsey’s remarkable artistic ability.
One only wishes that Ramsey’s craftsmanship was allowed to shine in a more refined story that doesn’t repeat as many beats to stretch its relatively thin narrative to four episodes of television instead of propelling viewers through the length of a feature film. The odd thing is that “Lost Ollie” is narratively stuck in a strange valley in that it doesn’t do quite enough for a TV series but does too much for a feature film. There’s a version of this tale that’s twice as long, embraces an episodic structure, and allows for more character depth for the humans and more world-building for the adventurous toys. There’s also a version that’s half as long in film form and these issues of repetition and shallowness aren’t as prominent because the story is tighter overall.
Having said that, what’s left is valuable enough to hope that it doesn’t get lost in the content factory algorithm of the streaming giant. A 4-part family series released on a Wednesday in late August feels almost certain to be forgotten by Labor Day. That would be a shame. While “Lost Ollie” doesn’t quite live up to its deep potential, it’s leaps and bounds more artistically inventive and emotionally worthwhile than the majority of streaming family entertainment. Don’t let it get lost. [B]
“Lost Ollie” is available now on Netflix.