Lost Ollie

It's been a long time since something I watched drove me to tears, but that's what happened when I watched the end of the series Last Ollie on Netflix this weekend. Lost Ollie is similar to Toy Story because it's about a kid's toy (Ollie, a rabbit) who's separated from his kid (Billy) and goes on a quest to be reunited with him. But Ollie's journey to be reunited with Billy wasn't what made me cry. I cried because of the other plot line that involved Billy's mother's illness. No spoilers, but watching Billy try to handle his mother's illness from cancer and his reliance on his little toy bunny Ollie made me cry. Having lost my own mother to cancer many years ago (although I wasn't a child when it happened) and then witnessed the characters in the series deal with this brought back a flood of emotions for me. I didn't expect to be so moved by Lost Ollie. I started watching the series because I'd read about it on NPR and knew that Jonathan Groff was voicing the character of Ollie. Being a Groff fan, I tuned in. 

In addition to being a tear-jerker, this series was also dark in a way I didn't expect. It's not really for young kids. But the overarching message of still having memories of lost loved ones is universal and can be appreciated by many people across many ages and other demographics. I was also surprised to see Ollie and his pals Zozo and Rosie board the Belle of Louisville boat during their travels. I saw that same boat when I was in Louisville a few months ago.