The Sea Beast (2022)

Netflix's animation studio hasn't impressed me much. Klaus and Over the Moon were rather vanilla and America the Motion Picture was truly terrible. However earlier this year Apollo 10 1/2 was a lovely surprise. But as they tend to collab with other animation studios in each production perhaps it has more to do with their partners than with themselves, or perhaps they just tack on and ride whatever wave they catch. With The Sea Beast the emperor's clothes seem to just be discount bin versions. Everything about The Sea Beast feels like it is cribbed from somewhere else. 

The character animation style feels ripped right from Frozen but with a more mechanical movement style that make it feel more video game than animated feature. Main character Jacob takes his wardrobe directly from Eric in The Little Mermaid. The sea battles and creatures are reminiscent of the How To Train Your Dragon films. But it's the plot that is the most borrowed. 

The story is a bit of a Moby Dick obsession story but it's also a kid goes on an adventure story. And in both its narratives it follows a script we are all very familiar with. I doubt anything in The Sea Beast will surprise you.  I know, I know, the saying goes there are no new stories, just. new adaptations, but these stories need to find something fresh to tell us and for me The Sea Beast just seemed to be repeating old tropes. 

None of this make The Sea Beast bad. It just doesn't make it that interesting. The sea battles are quite spectacular and I appreciated how the film treats legacy as something that is passed through personal connection and affinity instead of biological lineage. Also it's "who is the real villain" moral to the story is, while over simplified, a good message for kids and for all of us. But the characters are all as bland as the archetypes they are representing and the story feels like one we have seen many times before. It's all been done before and done better. But it's also been done worse.

The Sea Beast
Starring: Zaris-Angel Hator, Urban, Jared Harris, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Dan Stevens

Director: Chris Williams

Writers: Nell Benjamin, Chris Williams