Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken
review by Bobby Blakey
For years Dreamworks has been smashing the box office with their animated franchises including Shrek, it’s spin off series Puss in Boots, Madagascar, Kung-Fu Panda and How To Train Your Dragon. Now they are taking things under the sea with their latest feature Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken featuring the voices of Lana Condor, Toni Collette, Annie Murphy, Colman Domingo, Sam Richardson, Liza Koshy, Will Forte, Jaboukie Young-White, Eduardo Franco, Ramona Young, and Jane Fonda from The Croods and Vivo director Kirk DeMicco.
Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken follows a shy teenager who discovers that she’s part of a legendary royal lineage of mythical sea krakens and that her destiny, in the depths of the oceans, is bigger than she ever dreamed. Learning to be an all-powerful sea creature while hiding among humans is hard enough for Ruby, but to make matters worse, her super popular new bestie, Chelsea, is secretly a mermaid! Mermaids have been battling the Krakens for eons to rule the ocean, but Chelsea has come to land to finally put an end to that conflict. However, when Chelsea double-crosses her, Ruby will ultimately need to embrace who she is and GO BIG to protect those she loves most.
I wasn’t overly interested in this movie when I saw the first trailers, but still found something about it that had promise. Diving into this flick I found myself immersed in this silly new adventure and having a fun time with it all. Sure it is predictable and pretty by the numbers, but the fun characters and twist on the kraken/mermaid mythology made it feel fresh and new.
Where this film really stands out is the color palate and animation. It is a visual treat for the senses on all fronts bringing so much for you to see on
screen. The character designs are great and offer up stuff that is funny but endearing. The silly reasoning that everyone buys their obvious different look is pretty funny and you just buy into it. When it goes underwater it brings a whole other level of beauty to the film making it work way more than it might have otherwise.
It's not breaking down any new barriers in the animated genre, but it delivers the fun, heart and great visuals. I had a lot of fun here and hope this film finds its way to kids that will no doubt have a blast. In addition to the film this release offers up bonus content including deleted scenes, commentary, drawing guide, featurettes and more.
Dive into the ocean and grab your copy of Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken available now on digital and then on Blu-ray and DVD on Setptember 26th from Universal and Dreamworks.