The next contender entering the the summer animation box office ring is ready to dive in, as Universal Pictures unleashes the new DreamWorks Animation original Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken. Opening Friday, June 30 in North America and other territories, the coming-of-age comedy-adventure centers on a sweet, awkward teenage girl named Ruby who discovers she is actually the heir to a monster-sized matriarchal lineage: if she touches the ocean, she turns into a ginormous kraken — not the most conventional way to impress your high school crush.
While the concept is unique and the themes of inclusivity, generational dynamics and coping with adolescence are timely, Ruby Gillman has made a somewhat quiet splash with film critics. Rating 65% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes from 34 reviews, the movie’s brilliant colors and blazing, cartoony action dim in the shadow of comparisons to other films — most prominently among reviewers, the puberty-is-a-curse allegory of Pixar’s Turning Red and the triumph of DreamWorks’ own Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. However, the pic wins points for being a fun family watch with Trolls-level palette power and exceptional vocal performances from Lana Condor (Ruby) and Jane Fonda (Grandmahmah).
Directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Kirk DeMicco (Vivo, The Croods) with Faryn Pearl (The Croods: A New Age, Trolls World Tour) serving as co-director, Ruby Gillman is written by Emmy-winning South Park producer Pam Brady and Brian C Brown & Elliott DiGuiseppi. The key voice cast also featured Toni Collette as Ruby’s overprotective mom, Jaboukie Young-White as her skater boy crush, Annie Murphy as popular new girl/secret mermaid Chelsea, Colman Domingo as Ruby’s dad, Sam Richardson as her uncle and Blue Chapman as her little brother.
Here’s a few bits of flotsam bubbling up from the first critical reviews:
“Younger viewers are unlikely to appreciate the story’s symbolism – three female generations, overcoming differences to combine their powers – but they’ll still absorb the ambient Gen Z values of tolerance and authentic self-expression. Kraken anatomy differs from human in some aspects, but this is a film with its heart, at least, in the right place.”
— Ellen E. Jones, The Guardian (U.K.)
“South Park veteran Pam Brady, who shares screenwriting credit with Brian C. Brown and Elliott DiGuiseppi, brings all kinds of funny ideas to the film, which DeMicco does an admirable job of executing. But there’s a simpler, more sincere movie underneath it all that seems to be taunting audiences, like a glowing shape from deep below.”
— Peter Debruge, Variety
“…There is something nice about just getting to take in a largely sweet story like this one. [Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken] feels like it could have emerged as one of 2023’s stronger studio animations … Alas, while not always defined by formula, it still ends up feeling frequently derivative and slight without putting in the time to dive deeper into its premise. The characters are consistently charming, the humor sufficiently silly, and the animation often beautiful, though the standard path it takes holds it back from fully exploring the potential lurking just beneath the surface. When it all bursts free towards the end is when the film is at its best.”
— Chase Hutchinson, Collider
“All of the voice actors were on point … the colors and character design are also fun with colors pushed to the max … For all its issues, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is a good excuse to get out of the house with the family and take the kids to see something fun. And that’s what this movie is: fun.”
— Kaely Monahan, Arizona Republic
“The film looks terrific, with its candy-store color palette and the beguiling underwater opulence of Grandmahmah’s palace. And the voice work is first rate: along with a wonderfully OTT Fonda, Collette and Condor bring a conflicted tenderness to the mother-daughter dynamic. But the story itself is in too much of a hurry to finish, leading to a third act climax that is over before the tension has had a chance to build, and a message of acceptance that might be a little too neat, given all the tentacles and eye-lasers that Ruby’s school friends have had to suddenly come to terms with.”
— Wendy Ide, ScreenDaily
“It’s been argued, to the point of near-exhaustion, that Sony’s Spider-Verse films elevated audience expectations when it came to what mainstream animation can and should be. But even DreamWorks’s last film, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, proved that each of these studios has the capability to deliver its own brand of exhilarating spectacle balanced by thoughtful emotion. While there’s some of the former here — the film’s underwater effects are a hundred fathoms more convincing than those of Disney’s live-action The Little Mermaid — the latter feels stifled in odd and frustrating ways.”
— Clarisse Loughrey, Independent (U.K.)
