We are fast approaching the dog days of summer, and for people hoping to escape the heat, there have already been plenty of family-friendly options in theaters. Animation dominated the box office last weekend, and Disney offered up its live-action remake of The Little Mermaid a month ago. Now it’s DreamWorks Animation’s turn to take moviegoers under the sea, as Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken hits theaters June 30. Critics had a chance to screen the movie ahead of its release, and they seem to like it, but think it should have leaned further into what makes it unique.
The movie stars Lana Condor from the To All the Boys series as the voice of the titular Kraken, as well as Toni Collette and Jane Fonda as her mother and Grandmamah, respectively. Let’s see what the critics think of the latest project from DreamWorks Animation, starting with CinemaBlend’s review of Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken. Our own Sarah El-Mahmoud rates it 3 stars out of 5, noting its similarity in plot to last year’s Pixar offering Turning Red. At a tight 90 minutes, this is an enjoyable option for families she says, but nothing earth-shattering:
Teenage Kraken is a formulaic and familiar coming-of-age storyline, helped by an endearing take on the identity of krakens and mermaids that audiences have yet to see on the big screen. In other words, the water here is very much fine, but hey, our minds have already been blown in the animation space in 2023 with Across The Spider-Verse, hasn’t it? We’ll let this one swim along in its lukewarmness.
Nell Minow of RogerEbert.com gives the movie 3.5 out of 4 stars, calling it “one of the best family films of the year” with its buoyant energy, and while this critic also points out that it’s reminiscent of Turning Red, DreamWorks delivers its own unique delights Minow says, writing:
The film's settings are beautiful, with charming seaside buildings and an ocean environment so marvelously tactile we can almost smell the sea spray. The movements underwater, whether peaceful or turbulent, are vivid and realistic. The high school environment is funny and evocative, with the prom variously described as ‘a post-colonial patriarchy construct’ and ‘a hormone-fueled benchmark of adolescence.’ And there are very funny jokes about topics not often the subjects for humor: escrow and ASMR.
Many critics, including Travis Hopson of Punch Drunk Critics, agree Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken had potential but didn’t dive deep enough. The movie is at its best, Hopson says, when daring to skewer our perception of The Little Mermaid, and while the critic thinks a franchise could be built around Ruby, this movie gets just 2.5 out of 5 stars:
While the messy Gillman family dynamics are the film’s emotional engine, it’s impossible not to miss the things it clearly glosses over. We see very little of the underwater kingdom where the kraken live and defend the rest of the ocean. Also, there are tons of missed opportunities by not leaning into the conflict between Ruby and Chelsea, and humans’ belief that kraken are evil monsters and mermaids are everything pure and good. Even Ruby’s high school problems are only a background concern. It almost feels like there are three or four separate Ruby Gillman movies fighting for our attention.
Manuel Betancourt of AV Club grades it a C+, calling the movie a “perfectly adequate fable.” The critic says there’s plenty to enjoy, but Ruby Gillman struggles to find the happy medium between its kooky premise and sincere emotion. Betancourt continues:
Enjoyable as it may be, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken never quite rises above its straightforward title and one-note sounding premise—which the film still spends an inordinate amount of time setting up and explaining. Whatever emotional heft the pic may aim to harness is lost amid glib jokes, overly complicated mythic lore, and ultimately, pat platitudes about embracing who you were always meant to be.
Rachel LeBonte of ScreenRant rates it a “Fairly Good” 2.5 out of 5 stars, calling Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken “endearing” with a stunning voice cast, but the movie needed to go deeper, and it may have trouble making an impression with so many other options. LeBonte writes:
That is Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken's biggest flaw: It doesn't go beyond surface-level. As Ruby gets more involved with the ocean and her burgeoning friendship with fellow sea creature Chelsea, her ties to the human world fall away, lessening the overall impact of her arc. Ruby is supposed to be torn between two worlds, but there comes a point where one world dominates all. While her friends become little more than stock figures flitting in and out of the story, Ruby's family becomes a fully-realized group that further contributes to the strength of her bond with her mom.
The critics have lots of good things to say about Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, even if the story isn’t as well-developed as many would have liked. As a family-friendly option with a reasonable runtime, there are surely plenty of worse ways to spend a summer afternoon, so if you’d like to check this one out, head to your local theater now. Be sure to also take a peek at our 2023 Movie Release Calendar to see what else is hitting the big screen soon.
