Dust Bunny – Review

Eight-year-old Aurora (Sloan) struggles with sleep, as creepy noises and a fear of monsters keep her awake at night. It can’t get you if you don’t touch the floor, she somehow knows. This seems to be the inherent truth of monsters under the bed, and makes for good games of “the floor is lava.” She even heads out onto the fire escape to be free of her stress, hearing creaks under the floorboards.

From this high vantage point, she catches a view of her neighbor (Mikkelsen), who walks through darkened streets without any fear. She “stalks” him a bit the following day, watching him collect his mail, and head up to their shared floor in the apartment building. The following night, she decides she will follow his treks through the streets, and scales down the escape’s ladder.

It is a night of fireworks and celebrations in Chinatown and large dragons with multiple people operating their movements. She dons a wolf mask and scales another building to zip along rooftops, all following her intriguing neighbor. When she sees him “destroy a dragon” she knows she has her monster hunter. Who cares if this dragon was mistaken for the real thing, and the neighbor was simply fending off an attack from assassins?

As Aurora and the neighbor team up, monsters will have met their match. Who is this strange neighbor? Why does he get into fight with would-be killers? Is Aurora’s monster under the floorboards even real? Well, it certainly seems that way after her step-parents meet it, and disappear, but lord knows what really is going on. As the pair face all sorts of challenges, such as social workers and additional human killers, not much is certain.

Dust Bunny is an interesting affair full of many ideas. While not all succeed at the highest level, the script is entertaining and the actors shine in their roles. There is both fun and terror, as well as jokes and blood. The director’s style helps craft a world of wonder, as well as create a vision that a younger kid may have of anything they don’t understand. There is more good than bad here, and the film zips along fairly quickly pace wise. Come check it out, and watch out for things that go bump in the night.