Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken

7/10

In Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, the titular Ruby (voiced by To all the Boys I've Loved's Lana Condor) is a Kraken, legendary creature of the deep, whose family have disguised themselves as humans and live in the coastal town of Seaside. Ruby's never been in the ocean and her mother forbids her from entering. However, soon an event will cause Ruby to get in touch with her Kraken heritage.

So, yes, it's the coming-of-age story that was Turning Red but told more simply and not as well. However, by itself RGTK ain't a half bad watch. 

Ruby's likable enough and though this is no Turning Red, her relationship with her mother Agatha (Toni Collette) works well enough. The humor is also decent and the writers were clearly having fun.

The best part is the look of Seaside. It's a very creative looking place that doesn't exist in the real world and is like an American Venice. The design and color for the settings all pop.

At first I didn't think I'd like the character animation. I'm not a big fan of simplistic looks, but I changed my mind on this. All the characters have a unique appearance with differing body and head shapes and the movement animation works gels with the simplicity. Also at first, it bugged me that the Gillmans are able to pass for human when they are blue and have fin ears. However, they explain it away in the movie in a manner that was amusing and worked for me.

Voice acting's alright. The standout here is Schitt's Creek's Annie Murphy as popular new girl Chelsea Van Der Zee. Her voice has this energy to it that jumps off the screen. On the other hand, SNL/Last Man on Eath's Will Forte voices sea captain Gordon Lighthouse, and he doesn't work. Forte's trying but it sounds like he's attempting to be a sea captain rather than actually being a sea captain.

Besides the simplicity of the story, the movie has two weak points that prevents it from being better.: 1) Though Agatha's reasons for not returning to the ocean are explained, it felt like the backstory should've had more detail and tried to hit harder emotionally. 2) The outcome of Chelsea's storyline just aren't as narratively interesting as possibilities you could've come up with in your head.

Kinda recommended. Yeah, it's not perfect and the story goes for basic children's film rather than try to be ambitious, but it's still a fun watch, and I definitely recommend checking out Seaside. This is Dreamworks' lowest grossing animated film at the box office, and it doesn't deserve that. It's much better than the likes of Shark Tale, Antz, Spirit, and Sinbad. Your kids will probably like it; my nieces and nephew had a fun time watching this.