Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed in this review are solely those of Marlon Wallace and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of WBOC.
For the past 20 years, Chris Williams has been working in film animation. He has mainly been a writer and story artist at the Walt Disney Company. He was nominated for Best Animated Feature for co-directing Bolt (2008). He won the Oscar for that category six years later for co-directing Big Hero 6 (2014). The Academy has recognized a few other films with which he’s been involved, but none where he was solo in the director’s chair. This is the first feature where he’s listed as the sole person in charge. It also seems to be his first project outside the Disney ecosystem. Having worked with Disney for a long time, it’s clear that perhaps one of Williams’ favorite properties was Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) or the franchise that started with that film. Williams could just be in love with swashbuckler type films that often feature actors, such as Errol Flynn.
Karl Urban (Star Trek and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King) voices Jacob Holland, the Errol Flynn type in question here. He serves on board a sailing ship called the Inevitable, most likely in the 1800’s, but, the Inevitable has a very diverse crew, not unlike Our Flag Means Death (2022). The ship looks like a pirate ship, but Jacob and the crew aren’t pirates, at least not in the traditional sense. They do work for some unnamed country that has a monarchy. Jacob in particular was an orphan who was adopted by the captain of the Inevitable and raised as the captain’s surrogate son.
Jared Harris (Chernobyl and Mad Men) voices James Crow, the aforementioned captain of the Inevitable. He’s a large bull of a man. It’s also clear that one of Williams’ inspirations was Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick (1851) because Captain Crow could very much be called Captain Ahab. Yet, instead of losing a leg, Captain Crow lost his eye. Instead of being in charge of a whaling ship, Captain Crow is the leader of a ship that hunts down even larger creatures in the ocean. He does so with a vengeance and very much single-minded about hunting them all.
Another inspiration for Williams could be Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) or any of the previous Godzilla or King Kong films. Those movies were all about over-sized animals roaming about and possibly being a threat to mankind. Godzilla was an oversized lizard and King Kong was an oversized gorilla. Williams’ film too features oversized animals. In this case, there are all animals that live below the water. We see an enormous octopus with tentacles that are larger or longer than the masts of tall ships. We see crabs that are likely the size of elephants, if not bigger.
Zaris-Angel Hator (Morbius and The Midnight Gang) voices Maisey Brumble, a prepubescent Black girl who is an orphan like Jacob. She’s living in an orphanage near the port where the Inevitable often docks. She’s read stories in books about the Inevitable and its adventures to hunt down these oversized creatures. She decides that she wants to join the crew, even though she’s way too young. Thanks to her enthusiasm, her eagerness, her gumption and sheer force of will, she joins the crew. Jacob becomes a de facto mentor, even though he doesn’t want her on the ship.
If you’ve seen the animated films How To Train Your Dragon (2010) or even the most recent Wolfwalkers (2020), there’s a very similar dynamic occurring here regarding a young person who wants to be a hunter but then becomes an advocate trying to save the very animal that humans are hunting. Maisey becomes an unlikely advocate because she was told that her parents were sailors who died fighting one of these oversized creatures. Specifically, a “Bluster” is what killed Maisey’s parents. A Bluster seems to be an oversized shark. Yet, the Bluster is bigger than even the biggest humpback whale.
A lot of animated films, targeted toward children, often involve an element of environmentalism or even animal conservation. This often involves cartoons making the animals the protagonists, such as Bambi (1942). That aspect of the film is expected and is quite frankly cliché. However, if that’s all that this film was, it could be easily dismissed, despite the animation here being very superb. One example is a scene that was very reminiscent of the ending to Pinocchio (1940) where a character is swallowed by a giant sea creature. Just another animal conservation film wouldn’t have been all that remarkable. What makes this film remarkable is the other messaging, which becomes a big theme here that is powerful and very relevant.
The theme that comes into focus in this film involves the idea of authority figures lying to the public for whatever personal or political gain. The U.S. Congress implementing the January 6 Committee in order to investigate the lying around the 2020 Presidential election is one such example, but, a more comparable example is the Iraq War, perpetrated by the United States in 2003, which had a rationale that was based on lies. The so-called war in this film is similarly revealed to be based on lies, lies perpetrated by the authority figures. In this case here, that authority is the monarchy, the King and the Queen depicted in this animated tale.
This makes the film not only relevant to English-speaking audiences but also timely. On September 8, 2022, Queen Elizabeth II died. She was beloved by many but there were others who were very critical of the British monarchy and by extension the British empire, which many saw as this colonizing and imperialist force that exploited and abused a lot of people, particularly in countries that were predominantly people of color. Many felt exploited and abused all for the maintenance or advancement of British greed and power. It’s not lost that Maisey is a person of color who speaks directly to those issues in a very damning and emotional way that elevates this film above the average.
Rated PG for action, violence and some language.
Running Time: 1hr. and 55 mins.
Available on Netflix.
