LOST & FOUND TEDDY BEAR - Think back to your early childhood, did you have a favorite stuffed toy like a rabbit or teddy bear? Maybe you’re a parent now and your kids have something like that. Well you know that if that special plush toy ever went missing, it could be devastating. This is the premise for NETFLIX’s “Lost Ollie” it’s a screen adaptation of “Ollie’s Odyssey” a book written by Shreveport Author and filmmaker Bill Joyce and it tells his true story of when he lost his favorite toy a bear named “Teddy” on Christmas day.
“But he was the best friend, right? As toys can be when you’re a kid and I took him with me everywhere and I slept with him every night,” Joyce said. “And then on Christmas day after we opened everything, and it was like the biggest Christmas of my childhood was when I was five, man my parents went all out (be)cause they figured it was maybe the last year I might believe and all that. And then evening comes and I go to go to bed and I got to sleep with Teddy, I got all this new stuff but we can’t find him.”
Years later as an adult, Joyce was about to go on a trip and needed to retrieve some luggage that he had stored at his parent’s home in the attic. “And I see this box full of wrapping paper, my mom would save all this wrapping paper,” Joyce said. “At the bottom of the box there was something else, and there was Teddy.”
Becoming reunited with a long-lost childhood friend, even if imaginary – brought back some strong feelings, feelings that helped motivate Joyce to write “Ollie’s Odyssey”.
“I can’t say that it would have changed the trajectory of my life if I hadn’t found Teddy but in fact it has changed the trajectory of my life because I sat down and wrote this story and the book was successful,” Joyce explained.
It took 12 years to get the book made into a four- part animated series. And don’t think the film is just for kids, the story has something for the entire family as it involves loss, overcoming obstacles, and a hopeful, desperate journey told with stunning animation and great vocal acting. If you liked PIXAR’s Toy Story, which by the way Joyce worked on, then you’ll appreciate “Lost Ollie”.
“They maybe small these toys, they may be helpless but they carry a great deal of emotional weight and strength,” Joyce said.
“Lost Ollie” premiered this week, you can see it on the streaming service NETFLIX.
