Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken

A shy teenager discovers that she's part of a legendary royal lineage of mythical sea krakens and that her destiny, in the depths of the oceans, is bigger than she ever dreamed.

  • Released: 2023-06-28
  • Runtime: 91 minutes
  • Genre: Animation, Family, Fantasy
  • Stars: Lana Condor, Toni Collette, Annie Murphy, Sam Richardson, Liza Koshy, Will Forte, Colman Domingo, Jaboukie Young-White, Blue Chapman, Eduardo Franco, Ramona Young, Echo Kellum, Nicole Byer, Jane Fonda
  • Director: Kirk DeMicco
 Comments
  • Maxyger756 - 20 June 2024
    Aggressively ok film
    Let's all agree that after the 2 fantastic films DreamWorks put out in 2022, everyone immediately set their expectations high for this film as both the Bad Guys and Puss in Boots: TLW genuinely blew everyone's minds away. This is probably why Ruby Gillman, despite being not that bad, is still rated really low due to the high expectations

    Story- 5/10

    It isn't the most amazing thing in the world and it is very unoriginal with its ideas. Plus very cliche moments here and there. I actually thought this would have worked better as a tv-show with the angle it was going for

    Animation- 7/10

    It was very unique tbh. I prefer experimental styles rather than the boring CGI animation. But some designs looked awful and probably also would fit better in a TV-show

    Characters- 5/10

    None of the characters are fleshed or really sticks out from the crowd. You have the boring twist villain and the awkward teenager who really despises her mother just because of one reason. Yeah they weren't great

    Tones/Messages- 5/10

    It barely even had a tone at all. It's so fast paced that I didn't have time to really spot or feel any consistent tones. The message is also not told in the most sophisticated way.

    Enjoyability- 6.5/10

    Not landing a high spot because the fight scenes are just straight up bland and boring. Not funny except for a few scattered gags and fails to have any emotional resonance with me. The uncle was decent though,

    Overall- 5.6/10

    Ruby Gillman wasn't the worst thing. But I can definitely see why it bombed so badly at the box office. It lacks everything that grabs audience's attention.
  • hazysistersunshine33 - 1 April 2024
    Bland dreamwork addition to this niche genre
    I don't think I need to delve into the plot of this movie too much. It's a very basic plot. If you've seen Turning Red, you pretty know what to expect. Pepper in a little Mermaid, Aqua man, Luca, Mean Girls and even Teen Wolf, you have Ruby Gillman. If you haven't seen any of these movies, she's an awkward teen who's trying to survive and navigate high school. For some reason, she lives by the ocean, but is forbidden to go into the water. One day, she has to jump into the ocean to save someone and realizes she is a Kraken and has a lineage and all that stuff. I mean it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't very good. Toni Collet makes the best of a pretty bland character as Ruby's mom. There is a lot left out of her character like why she left the sea, but still insist on living near the ocean. Jane Fonda has a little more to work with as Ruby's Grandma and queen of krakens who has embraced her Kraken hood. After Ruby realizes she's a kraken, she meets a new girl at her school and they form a friendship, but the mermaid turns out to be vengeful toward the kraken for what they did to her people. It's interesting since mermaid originally in mythology were not friendly creatures and not to be trusted. There are a lot of other examples of suspension of disbelief like the fact that Ruby doesn't look human at all and not only does no one seem to notice or care, but there's a human boy who even digs her. I mean she's like blue. But that's ok because it's about a Kraken Princess so anything realistic goes out the window. Although it's a little two-dimensional, derivative, un-original, cliché, filled with plot-holes and frankly a little boring, the animation is absolutely stunning, especially the underwater scenes. It's so incredible colorful, it could rival Coco. The color pallet included lots of neon's and fluorescents that are almost magical. It also has a nice uplifting message about accepting yourself and embracing differences that I would totally eat up if I was an angsty teenager. It's allegorical to the changes that girls' bodies go through as they mature and hit puberty. Ruby Gilman is a very likable and sincere character that I think a lot go young girls can relate to as well. The original score was a little catchy, but ultimately forgettable. They did include some fun pop songs in the soundtrack though. I probably over-analyzed this fluff more than I should have. It's not one of DreamWorks best, but it's a good pick for the kiddies. Watch on the biggest TV in the house to get the full effects of the eye-popping animation.