RUBY GILLMAN, TEENAGE KRAKEN (2023)

RUBY GILLMAN, TEENAGE KRAKEN (2023)

Tagline: Discover the hero just beneath the surface.

(Animation, Action, Just Trying to Find Your Way) [R]

I'm a FLIPPING MERMAID!

In this one, Ruby and her family have to get by in the human world. Let’s just say there is something peculiar about them that they don’t want to be exposed. However, when Ruby is getting ready to go to the prom, her potential boyfriend falls into the ocean forcing Ruby to rescue him. The ocean unlocks a part of her family history that could put them all in danger. 

First off, the timing of the release of this movie just seems pretty awkward to me. It comes on the tails of THE LITTLE MERMAID which is still in theaters. This is basically the anti-mermaid movie that either on purpose or inadvertently kind of tries to offer those that can’t stand Disney live-action remakes, an option that also brings us, mermaids. Only these mermaids suck. On a personal level, they suck. 

I think there is a reason this movie didn’t work for me and it definitely has to do with the fact that it feels like we’ve seen this before. That’s because we kind of have. This feels a lot like a rehash of Disney’s TURNING RED having a baby with RUMBLE. It should be noted that I am certainly NOT the target audience, but I probably wouldn't be considered the target audience for THE LITTLE MERMAID either, and I liked that quite a bit. Ruby herself is fine, she’s got a few friends that remind me of people I hung out with in elementary school, but the plot is overly basic and borrowed and I just thought there was a lot that could have been done that never gets done. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but even one of the movie's major posters is extremely misleading. 

So what did they do right? Well, whenever you give me “Oh!” by the “The Linda Lindas”, you are shooting straight for my guilty pleasure chick rock playlist and that is never a bad idea. The soundtrack has a few other okay songs, but yeah. Throw “Oh!” into any movie any time you want. The other good thing is that we got pretty cool mermaid designs that were clearly purposely patterned after Disney stuff. The artwork overall was commendable but there are a lot of missed opportunities. I also think this movie had some decent pacing.

For a movie with the title this one has, it feels like there are a million things that could have been done better. Somewhere in this creation, all the actual creativity is thrown out the window or just in the background. The movie doesn't even bother to try and draw us in emotionally which is usually a strength for Dreamworks. It feels like they are just banking on kids seeing bright colors and a cute character here and there and going nuts. There are also a few janky messages in this one where basically what they are trying to convey is that you just can't trust your parents even if they are doing the right thing. Normally I wouldn't point this out but in a kid's movie as an adult, you start to pick up where the writers are injecting subtle concepts. 

So when we start talking about whether or not I can recommend this thing. My answer is no. I just can’t. My guess is that kids are not going to pick up on some of the underlying messages in this film and that is probably for the best.  

Agatha is about the only solid thing about this flick. This one gets a 3 out of 7. By way of comparison, I gave the much better, TURNING RED a 5 out of 7. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF DREAMWORKS ANIMATION AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.