The Sea Beast

There's nothing like a good story at sea! And this is the kind of movie you hope is as good as it looks. And to me, it delivered.

From the impressive physics, beautiful art direction, and immaculate visual execution.. to a proper story with a good message (and symbolism), charming and colorful characters, and dialogue that is never wasted or unnecessary. In fact, there's a lot of appreciated visual storytelling.. Just one look or one scene, and you can easily put yourself in the shoes of the cast. And while there is little to be said that hasn't been said before, it manages to create a bountiful world and story worth watching!

People might compare it to a certain Dragon film.. but that doesn't diminish the value of this one. Personally, I liked this one best, but I'm glad there's just more "colors" to enjoy for everyone. I only wonder if we'll see more of it, though I don't think we should. But one rarely ever knows what we want, until we are surprised with it.

As the movie said, "I have everything I need right here."

This is so cute! Amazing animation, great voice acting, good premise and just all around gorgeous! I loved this movie so much! I loved how sweet and adventurous Maisie was! Kudos to the voice actor they did an amazing job portraying Maisie's character! Red was perfectly cute and scary. The water scenes in the beginning with the sea monsters was actually quite frightening. Maybe it's just because I'm afraid of getting lost at sea or in space and being swallowed whole by a ginormous beast. I was watching the movie and I was like is that Karl Urban? And it is!!

'The Sea Beast' features incredible animation, and some of the most realistic animated characters (humans) I've ever seen - with regards to appearance and proportion. Jacob is also a rather sexy animated creation, mind you!

Speaking of Jacob, he is one of the film's protagonists. As a youngster, he was rescued by Captain Crow and has been living with him ever since. They are monster hunters. Fresh on the trail of the elusive Red Bluster, Captain Crow abandons the mission (against his will) to save a ship under attack by a sea monster.

The Royals pay Captain Crow to hunt sea monsters, but when he fails to capture the Red Bluster on his latest mission, they inform him they will no longer pay for hunters. Instead, they built their own ship, and the King challenges Captain Crow to see who would be the first to capture the Red Bluster.

An orphan, Maisie, who's parents were killed by a sea monster, stows away on Captain Crow's ship and join them on their adventure. The film's first half was mature, with action, adventure and even suspense all the way. It had an incredible sense of realism until that defining moment (almost exactly at the halfway mark) when it suddenly reduced the film to a 'cute' kid's adventure.

After that 'Pinocchio' moment (yeah, you'll recognize it when you see it!), the characters suddenly resorted to silly actions typical of animated films aimed at a younger demographic, and the suspense made way for humour (even slapstick). The believability was completely gone with the feared Red Bluster now being 'adorable'. The film even had a 'How to train your Dragon' character, Blue, acting almost exactly as Toothless.

The film nevertheless remained exciting (although not as much as the first half), and it certainly was entertaining.

Okay. This story has been seen before. A clear example is How to train your dragon. But what is questionable is not precisely that, but the reasons why this argument must be seen again and again. There are traditions around the world that are often ruthless with the animal world. Things that today have no logic or coherent explanation other than the mere fact of belonging to a certain culture. Whaling in Asia, bullfighting in Spain, rodeos in Chile and much more. Traditions cannot be sustained over time only by honoring our ancestors. If we are damaging what surrounds us, it must not continue. The message of this film is very clear.

Speaking of the technical aspects of the film, it is an animation that stands out for its realism and textures within an animated world. The new technologies, which are not so new anymore, allow a beautiful hyper-realism that fills each plane with subtleties. The characters could have had better kinetics and gesticulation, especially in moments where the emotions were more extreme, but considering the audience it was addressed to, it is something that is forgiven.

Entertaining, great message, good voice acting (it was weird hearing The Butcher stop a monster from being killed), and great aesthetics.

Totally recommended.

This has the feel of a recent Disney Animated film, which is definitely a compliment. From a story that has some real weight to it, to a tiny, cute creature that never fails to provide genuine laughs, Chris Williams really has it all down from his time directing some of Disney's best animated films.

I was surprised by the route they took with the story, as I thought it would be a simple beast hunting plot. The Sea Beast has some real How to Train Your Dragon vibes and it honestly worked for me. It hits a lot of the expected story beats, but when your film is this delightful, you really don't mind. I hope Netflix continues to produce this kind of quality animated fare.