Review of Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (2023) by Thomasreviewer — 12 Jul 2023

I was very interested in Ruby Gillman after hearing about the premise and watching some of the trailers. I saw the film on a Saturday and was satisfied with the film. However, I do feel it could've been so much better. Here's what works and doesn't work.

Pros: The animation was very colorful and the environments looked pretty good. The voice cast was very good, Annie Murphy was born to play Chelsea. I found the story pretty solid for younger audiences but I will get more into the story in a bit. The main character designs I really liked, they aren't perfect but I do think they are competent and fit the film's style. The soundtrack was also solid. There were some pop songs that I feel didn't fit the scenes they were in but for the most part, the soundtrack was good. I found most of the main characters likable, even if some were one note. There was a twist near the end that I thought was neat, even if it was probably for shock value.

That being said, this movie does a lot of wrong from being a very good to even a great film.

Cons: The story is your typical Coming-of-age story and doesn't do much different. If you've seen other movies in this genre, this film is very similar to those movies. The story reminded me a lot of Turning Red and kind of felt like a copy. I think the film would've been much better if it had a different story. Most of the side characters except Connor weren't very interesting and their designs and background characters look very goofy and off. The film was also very predictable at times. The marketing was honestly pretty misleading and revealed a lot of things in the trailers that should've been revealed and be a surprise in the movie. For example, Chelsea is meant to be a twist villain in the movie despite the trailers making it seem she is a villain right from the start.

Overall, Ruby Gillman had a lot of potential and isn't a bad movie but the film definitely could've benefited from having a different and more original story and better characters. I would say this film is worth watching if you have kids under 12 that are interested or if the premise is appealing to you. However, I do think this film will be divisive for people over the age of 12. I think there is a lot to enjoy and a lot to dislike.