Slumberland is loosely inspired by the more than century-old comic strip "Little Nemo in Slumberland" by Winsor McCay.

However, this new Netflix adaptation, from Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence, gender-swaps the protagonist and centers the plot around topics that are the source of real-life nightmares: death and grief!

Whereas the original work of fiction was focused on a young boy's adventures in the world of dreams and his friendship with a princess, this adaptation changes the protagonist's gender and is available now on Netflix.

These issues have previously been tackled in family films like Bambi, The Lion King, and Coco, so it's not uncommon to see such serious topics covered in children's literature. In the plot of this film, a young girl named Nemo loses her father.

After her father passes away, Nemo is sent to live with her uncle (Chris O'Dowd), the proprietor of a doorknob company. While he tries to look after her, he finds it difficult to assist Nemo in coping with her grief. This is due in part to the fact that he has never had children of his own and in part to the fact that he has never dealt with his emotions in a healthy way after growing apart from his brother many years ago.

If it weren't for the mythical realm of Slumberland, Nemo's desire to reunite with her father would seem unattainable. The Bureau of Subconscious Activities (BOSA), a team of agents who give us the dreams we need to experience while ensuring that order is maintained within the dream world, keeps this place, which is supposed to be where we all enter after falling asleep, together. Nemo learns this after entering the world.