Flora & Ulysses - Fun Family Movie of Super Powered Squirrel with Delightful Performance of the Young Lead Cast

Weekend has always been a favorite time of the week for me, especially now when there are so many new movies/series released in various streaming platforms. Yesterday I checked on Disney+ and saw this family movie which I thought would brighten up my day. The premise looked to be a lot of fun, so I decided to give this a try. OK, I'll just go straight to it now.

Brief Story Line

A 10 year old girl named Flora (Matilda Lawler) loved to read superhero comic books especially the ones created by her father George (Ben Schwartz - voice of Sonic the Hedgehog, Space Force TV series etc) who sadly was unsuccessful in publishing them. Meanwhile Flora's mother Phyllis (Alyson Hannigan - How I Met Your Mother, Buffy The Vampire Slayer TV series etc) was a successful romance novelist who was in a bit of a slump recently and struggling to write a new good novel.

Due to her parents situation, Flora viewed herself as a cynic and has pessimistic view of life. That was until a squirrel who later on was named Ulysses turn up. Flora noticed that Ulysses seemed to have super powers and started to have hope. Unfortunately, an animal control expert named Miller (Danny Pudi - Smurfs: The Lost Village, Community TV series etc) was called up to catch it. With the help from William (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) the boy next door, Flora tried to save Ulysses from being captured.  

So what would happen to Flora & Ulysses? Find them all in this fun family movie.

End of Brief Story Line

Just like I expected, this movie was really fun in a family friendly way. I already knew that the main character would be a young girl and a squirrel with super powers based on the trailer. So I was not surprised by the humorous side of this movie. But what truly amazed me was the wonderful appearance of newcomer Matilda Lawler. She was so convincing playing this cynical 10 year old girl that I immediately liked her from the start.

This film was based on children's book of the same title written by Kate DiCamillo with screenplay by Brad Copeland (writer of Wild Hogs, Arrested Development TV series even director of Spies in Disguise). I thought Copeland did a brilliant job in making a wonderful screenplay as this movie has some smart dialogues that were witty and sarcastic in a funny way. I guess his prior experience in writing for successful sit-coms truly came in handy.

The plot of this movie was truly simple and did not require any thinking at all. It was rated PG and definitely safe for the whole family to watch. Even as an adult, I enjoyed watching this movie by myself and had few laughs as well, mostly because of the sharp witty comments and the fun aspect seeing a squirrel (of all animals) possessing super powers. Oh, I also love the relationship between Flora and her parents. The additional characters were OK, with Danny Pudi providing comical presence using his experience, though personally for me the character William was not really required. Btw it has duration of only around 1.5 hours and it also has a funny scene during the closing credit.

Overall this was a quite fun movie that successfully brighten up my day. It has some funny moments & dialogues, with charming performance by Matilda Lawler and obviously extraordinary squirrel with super powers. But do not expect this to be a superhero movie with dangerous villain as the main focus was actually the relationship between Flora, her parents and Ulysses. It might not be an instant Disney classic but it certainly has enough charm to delight the whole family. I personally would recommend this for families with young children. 

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars