After the underrated/unexpected delight of BOLT/’08 (https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2010/03/bolt-2008.html), animation writer/director Chris Williams’s even larger success with BIG HERO 6/’14 and MOANA/’16 no doubt got him carte blanche at NetFlix . . . the results ain’t pretty. The story’s the old saw of a misunderstood monster and the little orphan girl who joins in the hunt only to discover the truth: those violent/heroic stories she grew up loving were all lies! Williams gives a pushy ‘woke’ feeling to much of this, especially when our little heroine spouts off on being taught myths from an old book in place of facts. (Project 1619, anyone?) And coming from such an unpleasant child! Meant to be feisty, smart, independent, she comes across as petulant & irresponsible. Maybe send the brat to her room without supper or give her a time out. Instead, she runs off from the orphanage to stowaway on a ship of old-school sea beast hunters out to beat the King’s own mega-ship as first to reach Sea Beast #1, Red Bluster, a sort of Hayao Miyazaki/Ghibli workshop leftover by the look of it. Animated in an unhappy CGI system that’s fine on backgrounds, less so on characterization, at least our two leading men each get a magnificent prow-like proboscis. With action sequences so elaborate & busy you can’t really follow them, so tension is cut to zero, you merely hang out till our beast has his day in the court of public opinion. But as NetFlix never tells, we may never know.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: For Kid and Misunderstood Beast tropes (played with incredible freshness, emotion and devastating twists), Brad Bird’s debut THE IRON GIANT/’99 is hard to beat. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-iron-giant-1999.html
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