Mixing together classic awkward teen movie tropes from the likes of “Easy A,” “Lady Bird,” and the trove of John Hughes films and sea-creature monster movie shenanigans, Dreamworks has brought their latest film “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken” to the surface for an adventure of a shy high school girl who just happens to be an underwater creature in hiding.
The film follows Ruby Gillman, played by Lana Condor (“X-Men: Apocalypse,” “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before”), as she tries to navigate typical high school frustrations, like a crush on skater boy Connor, voiced by Jaboukie Young-White (“Strange World,” “Someone Great”), or ridicule from the new popular girl Chelsea, voiced by Annie Murphy (“Schitt’s Creek,” “Russian Doll”). This is on top of the fact that her family is hiding their true identity as krakens from the humans of the seaside town of Oceanside. Things become even more complicated when Ruby learns that her mother Agatha, voiced by Toni Collette (“Hereditary,” “Muriel's Wedding”), and father Arthur, voiced by Coleman Domingo (“@Zola,” “Fear the Walking Dead”), have hidden the fact that Ruby is actually kraken royalty and is the granddaughter of the Warrior Queen of the Seven Seas, voiced by Jane Fonda (“Grace and Frankie,” “They Shoot Horses, Don't They?”).
Visually, Ruby’s world is quite appealing and fantastically lush. The underwater sequences burst with a dayglo appearance, shining throughout the murky depths. Oceanside is a great-looking town, with big forests of thick trees contrasting against the ocean waves lapping against the sides of the high school or local library. Everything has a slightly damp feeling that almost gives way to a livable water park, and there are lots of nice touches to flesh things out. The characters have a lively squishiness to them, even the humans. This helps make the exaggerated movements of Ruby and her family stand out even more, and the rubber-hose style is quite fun. There are even some characters that seem to resemble old-school Popeye designs, making it all feel like a throwback to the Fleischer studios era of cartoons.
Condor brings Ruby to life and is tremendously fun as our heroine. Murphy is a particular standout as well, channeling the mean girl persona in a unique way that doubles back in the film’s conclusion. Collette and Domingo are great parental figures, both playing their parts well and helping to bring Ruby’s family to life. Fonda isn’t doing much here beyond just speaking with an empowering voice, but she does it well and it works. White also isn’t given the most to work with, but he makes for a cute skater crush for Ruby. Rounding out the cast are two comedic standouts: Will Forte (“The Last Man on Earth,” “The Willoughbys”) as Captain Gordon Lighthouse, a crazed sailor bent on capturing a live kraken and Sam Richardson (“The Afterparty,” “Werewolves Within”) as Brill, the goofy brother to Agatha who’s practically a living stress ball as he bounces around the screen.
Despite the voice cast and the great visuals, there’s one area where “Teenage Kraken” unfortunately falls flat. While director Kirk DeMicco (“The Croods,” “Vivo”) and writers Pam Brady (“Hot Rod,” “Team America: World Police”), Brian C. Brown (“Lucy in the Sky”), and Elliott DiGuiseppi (“Lucy in the Sky”) clearly had goals of creating a fun mashup of sea creature action and teenage girl angst, the film’s script and overall plot are choked full of clichés and archetypes rather than much new. It’s a combination of everything you’ve seen before with teen girl high school movies and animated action flicks. It’s short and well-paced, but nothing here feels fresh or particularly interesting. Even if you like the characters, by the time the big third-act action finale happens, it’s hard to really feel invested because it plays out exactly like every other animated action movie’s third act finale.
While this is easily a fun mashup on paper, “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken” just isn’t that memorable, despite a good voice cast and some fantastic animation and visual designs. It’s hardly a bad film, but there’s nothing here that jumps out and makes this a must-see movie. It’ll still likely provide an entertaining enough evening with the pre-teens, but it’s hard to see anyone rushing out to see this adventure. 3/5
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