This is not one of the more esteemed or discussed Best Animated Feature nominees for the year. I gave it priority over the other two I hadn't seen only because it's streaming on Netflix. I figured if nothing else, it's a DreamWorks-esque story of sympathy for a giant mythical animal.
In an alternate version of the 17th century, sailors from what I assume to be the British Empire have made a name for themselves as sea monster hunters. The crew of Captain Crow (Jared Harris), in fact, has been idolized in books within their time. Nevertheless, their royal sponsors (Jim Carter and Doon Mackichan) plan to sunset their ship, the Inevitable, in favor of a new one under an admiral (Dan Stevens), unless they kill the notorious Red Bluster before he does. Antics in their next attempt lead to adventurous orphaned preteen stowaway Maisie (Zaris-Angel Hator) and Crow's next choice for captain, Jacob (Karl Urban), getting lost at sea with the intended target, whom Maisie calls "Red" and identifies as female. Maisie reevaluates what she thought she knew about sea beasts; Jacob is more gradual about it. Crow, meanwhile, had sworn vengeance on Red long before this bet, so he'll go to lengths even his loyal first mate (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) deems dishonorable.
While not as morbid in parts as Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, it's at least as violent and thus on the more intense side of PG. I don't think we see any dead humans, but past and potential future fatalities are mentioned. If you can take that, you're in for exciting action sequences.
Part of that excitement comes from the graphics. Few animations have looked this crisp to me. At moments without a good look at the humans or monsters, I could almost forget it wasn't live action. Nice use of color too, if occasionally flamboyant.
The dialog isn't bad either. You may find the joy mostly in banter between Maisie and Jacob. Other sailors may have accents reminiscent of Long John Silver, but they pointedly don't say things like "yarr" all the time. Indeed, the writers showed their work to some extent, with realistic navigational practices for the time.
One other aspect to like: the racial diversity. That, too, might be realistic; I learned that Blackbeard's crew was about 60% Black. I'm less certain that everyone would be treated as basically equal in that regard.
Alas, despite Rotten Tomatoes calling the film "original," I couldn't help thinking the story bordered on the first How to Train Your Dragon. (Red's more intelligent than cute, but we have an improbable little companion called Blue to fill that niche.) Not only can we read the facile moral a mile away, but the ending feels simultaneously forced and...inevitable. Apart from Crow's Mephistophelian bargain going unresolved.
TSB won't win, but it's worth the 119 minutes to watch. Director Chris Williams proves he doesn't need Disney's help to make a good movie.
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