Momo (2025)

"Momo" (Alexa Goodall) is a street urchin type who lives amidst the pretty substantial ruins of an ancient Roman amphitheatre. She's one of the few people left in society nowadays who actually knows how to listen, and so is popular with people who use her as their sort of agony-neice and with pizza boy "Gino" (Araloying Oshunremi). He lives in a family restaurant that is only one step ahead of the bank. Then an engimatic woman (Laura Haddock) arrives on the scene offering them a life-changing opportunity. By wearing a special bracelet they can accumulate all their spare time and then put it to better use later on. Many people snap up this device but she senses it is a dangerous tool. How can she thwart what she reckons are the nefarious activities of the menacing "Richter" (Claes Bang); his cohort of inhaler-addicted henchpeople and some hovering robots (think V.I.N.C.E.N.T. from Disney's "Black Hole" (1979) only without the lasers)? Well that isn't going to get any easier as her weak-willed pal becomes the poster-boy for the aptly named "Grey" company but perhaps the sagely tortoise "Cassiopeia" and her master "Hora" (Martin Freeman) can assist? Now I must admit that it was early in the morning when I saw this, so perhaps my brain was still in the realm of Morpheus; nor have I read the book - but just what is being stolen? If we are wasting time and someone else has the sense to collect it - a sort of Gallifreyan version of a "Womble" - then why would we care? Therein lay my problem with this. The premiss of the story isn't really explained very clearly from the outset and though I thought Goodall was engaging enough on screen, she's not there that often as the plot advances in fits and starts. Some effort has gone into the rousing score, but too much of the production reminded me of something from "Harry Potter" as the action picked up towards a conclusion that was quite excitingly staged but a little too predictable. If it's a message about valuing time and appreciating the vibrancy of life that brings with it, then fair enough, but again I couldn't see how our world becomes gray and drab by someone else acquiring something we don't use. It's still worth a watch, but I was a little disappointed.

This is one of those stories that is HARD to make into a movie. I would say this is only slightly better off than the Barsoom-stories by ERB, but only just. This movie might have been better off as a TV series, sort of the same treatment The Golden Compass got, but this is in no way a bad adaptation of the story. Momo as a character is lovely, just like in the book, and the world she inhabits is a living, breathing thing. The bad guys are bad, and the friends are friendly. The story feels somewhat truncated, but the adaptation to this era, removing the cigarettes in lieu of inhalers, and mentioning (obliquely, but still) chatbots makes a lot of sense.

I am not sure if Martin's casting here is the best, and maybe an older actor could have given this a bit more gravitas. As a narrator he does a fine job, but I think they could have gotten someone else to do the part he plays.
Overall, this is a lovely time, and a great story put to life on the screen. I highly recommend it.