By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

Dust Bunny (USA, 2025. Dir: Bryan Fuller): Most people are familiar with Bryan Fuller’s masterful TV adaptation of Thomas Harris’ “Hannibal” and, to a lesser extent, Neil Gaiman’s “American Gods” (all three of you). Fewer may remember that Fuller got started as the creator and showrunner of the whimsical dramedies Wonderfalls and Pushing Daisies.

Never mind having the actor who portrayed Lecter as the lead, Dust Bunny is more like the latter.

Not unlike the output of Jeunet and Caro in the '90s (Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children), Dust Bunny blends harsh reality and fantasy in a highly stylish setup: in the middle of an overpopulated, uncaring city, an eight-year-old girl is dealing with tragedy and a looming threat all by herself.

The child in question, Aurora (Sophie Sloan), fears the creature living under her bed that ate her parents is coming for her next. Not willing to go out without a fight, Aurora tries to hire the hitman who lives in the apartment across the hall (Mads Mikkelsen draped in track suits). The biggest challenge is not to get the assassin to believe her, but the amount of baggage he comes with. Think The Professional minus the inappropriate romantic yearning.

Dust Bunny understands that for kids, fantasies are deadly serious. While it succeeds at dystopian world-building and mood-setting, the story drags. For a first-time director, Fuller can spin a yarn, but his action set-pieces don’t work as well as he thinks they do (and there are so many of them). Far richer are the interactions between Aurora, the assassin, and the assassin’s handler (Sigourney Weaver), three lost souls too guarded to make a connection.

Underneath the overstretched narrative and shoddy digital effects, there is a poignant message: we carry our monsters with us, and being conscious of it can protect you. Fuller will get it right eventually, but for now, ★★½☆☆.

Dust Bunny is now playing in theatres across Canada.