We landlubbers have gotten it all wrong: Kraken aren't terrible monsters from the sea who destroy our sailing ships and munch on our sailors. They're kind and helpful. It's the mermaids who are the real demons.
That's the upside-down premise to DreamWorks Animation's sweet "Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken," a tale of generational sisterhood with the message to not hide your difference. (Oh, and slaughtering mermaids is perfectly OK.)
The movie centers on Ruby Gillman, a young kraken hiding in plain sight in the human town of Oceanside. She's blue, likes math, has a retainer and four long fingers that look like hot dogs. But she and her family have been passing. If anyone asks questions, they say they're Canadian and that seems to work. "Let's all have a very human day," is their morning mantra.
But 15-year-old Ruby (voiced with real tenderness by Lana Condor) is on a collision course with her mom (Toni Collette) when the subject of prom is debated. This year, it will be held on a party boat and any kind of water splashed on Ruby will turn her into a massive iridescent Kraken. Mom (Toni Collette) says she can't go, despite Ruby's pleas. (Even kraken parents just don't understand.)
Prom soon becomes the least of Ruby's problems when she connects with her heritage and learns she's a royal kraken, one of the last of her kind. Her estranged and formidable grandmother (voiced nicely by a real human queen, Jane Fonda) urges her to ditch the humans and reclaim her crown. "You can never outswim your destiny."
Ruby, who likes wearing turtlenecks but has no nose, is torn between the humans above — a potential cute boyfriend, her slightly weird friends and social media — and her heritage and power. Watching her swim, unfurling her arms and legs, glowing with bioluminescence and testing her strength, is a joy. "Being in the ocean is better than I ever could have imagined," she says.
Director Kirk DeMicco keeps things moving at a hectic, pressurized pace on land and lets things float and swoosh in the sea. The animation really shines when it comes to water, whether the roiling ocean or a puddle-filled pier.
A fun soundtrack includes songs by BLACKPINK, Sigrid, The Linda Lindas, Mimi Webb, Fitz and The Tantrums, RAYE and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. There's even Christopher Cross' "Ride Like the Wind" for the old folks.
The script by Pam Brady, Brian C. Brown and Elliott DiGuiseppi isn't airtight, with some bits that make little sense — why does Ruby become a giant Kraken in the library? Does she later become one just being angry, like the Hulk? — but its heart is in the right place and their story of generations being truthful to each other is a good one.
The arrival in Oceanside of a mermaid — gorgeous, sweet and popular — complicates Ruby's life even more. Mermaids, she's been told for years, are selfish, narcissistic and dishonest, but this mermaid, Chelsea, (Annie Murphy) takes a liking to Ruby — "Super-seagirl bestie!" — and they share their woes of hiding among humans. Maybe they can team up to stop the kraken-mermaid feud once and for all?
At the film's heart is the push-pull of mothers and daughters — the elder sometimes lying to be protective, the younger rebelling at all the rules. In one of the film's most touching moments, Ruby as a giant Kraken towers over her mother, who gently soothes this massive creature. The final message — no more lying, no more hiding — is well earned.
There's also a push-pull in the script — between a small story of belonging and embracing outsiders, and an outsized war between sea creatures that includes Godzilla-like stomping around and eye lasers. It's a hard balance to find but the filmmakers have done enough.
"Ruby Gillman" has echoes of last year's "Turning Red," also a coming-of-age story of a girl coming to terms with her familial and personal history. There's also a whiff of "Luca," an Italian-set animated fairy tale about two young sea monsters exploring an unknown surface world as humans. So "Ruby Gillman" gets some points docked for originality, but gets full marks for prompting young ones to go home and battle their Little Mermaid dolls.
"Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken," a DreamWorks Animation release in theaters Friday, is rated PG for "some action, rude humor and mature thematic elements." Running time: 91 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
