Film Review: "Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken" (2023).

"Discover the hero just beneath the surface" in Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken. This computer-animated action-comedy directed by Kirk DeMicco and Faryn Pearl, written by Pam Brady, Brian C. Brown, and Elliott DiGuiseppi, and produced by DreamWorks Animation. Sweet, awkward sixteen-year-old Ruby Gillman is desperate to fit in at Oceanside High, but she mostly just feels invisible. She’s math-tutoring her skater-boy crush, who only seems to admire her for her fractals, and she’s prevented from hanging out with the cool kids at the beach because her over-protective supermom, has forbade Ruby from ever getting in the water. But when she breaks her mom’s #1 rule, Ruby will discover that she is a direct descendant of the warrior Kraken queens and is destined to inherit the throne from her commanding grandmother, the Warrior Queen of the Seven Seas. The Kraken are sworn to protect the oceans of the world against the vain, power-hungry mermaids who have been battling with the Kraken for eons. There’s one major, and immediate, problem with that: The school’s beautiful, popular new girl, Chelsea just happens to be a mermaid. Ruby will ultimately need to embrace who she is and go big to protect those she loves most. 

In June 2021, it was reported that a film originally titled Meet the Gillmans was in production at DreamWorks Animation, with casting taking place and a 2022 release date. According to producer Kelly Cooney Cilella, the film has been in the works for several years. It was first pitched to DreamWorks about a family of sea monsters that were moved to the land and are hiding in plain sight. Paul Tibbitt was announced as the director, with Brady confirmed to pen the script. Production was also expected to start in 2022. In mid March 2023, the cast and crew were announced. Lana Condor, Toni Collette, Annie Murphy, Colman Domingo, Jane Fonda, Sam Richardson, Will Forte, Jaboukie Young-White, Liza Koshy, Blue Chapman, Eduardo Franco, Ramona Young, Echo Kellum, and Nicole Byer were cast. Furthermore, DeMicco and Pearl replaced Tibbitt. Finally, the film's official title was also announced as Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken. DeMicco stated that he cited John Hughes films, Easy A (2010), Lady Bird (2017) and Booksmart (2019) as his inspirations. Pierre-Olivier Vincent serves as the production designer, taking inspiration for the main character from the body of an octopus and bringing the "curviness to all the design language of the film", from the cars to the underwater world.

The film stars the voice talents of Condor, Collette, Murphy, Domingo, Fonda, Richardson, Forte, Young-White, Koshy, Chapman, Franco, Young, Kellum, and Byer. The film works moderately well thanks largely to the voice talents of Condor and, to a lesser extent, Fonda. Condor delivers this tongue-twisting patter with a happy eagerness that is both amusing and ingratiating.

Despite nifty re-packaging of the animated-feature formula--seemingly daring premise; casually multicultural, international story that's seldom pandering; memorable hero - Ruby Gillman, for all its snappy colours and crackles of joy, never quite pops.

Simon says Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken receives:

Also, see my review for Vivo and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.