High school is hell, especially if you’re from a family of mythical sea beasts attempting to blend in on land. That’s the coming-of-age context for this latest fantastical fable from DreamWorks Animation, the studio behind Shrek. Ruby (Lana Condor) is an ordinary modern teenager – save for the gills she hides under her polo neck – so all she wants is to go to prom with her friends. Even if prom is “a post-colonial, patriarchal construct”. But this year’s dance will be held on a boat, and Ruby’s mother (Toni Collette) has issued strict instructions to stay out of the sea. An act of rebellion is inevitable, resulting in some alarming physical changes, a family fallout and a Kaiju-eque clash of the underwater titans. All the normal teenage stuff.
Pixar’s Turning Red certainly had a neater metaphor for puberty’s metamorphoses, but in lieu of originality this movie boasts some attractively tactile animation – the Gillmans’ slimy seaweed breakfast looks good enough to eat – and an excellent voice cast. This includes I Think You Should Leave’s Sam Richardson putting his jolly, gelatinous vocal qualities to good use, and Schitt’s Creek star Annie Murphy as a mean-girl mermaid, complete with Ariel 1.0-style tresses.
This movie is also a milestone of sorts; DreamWorks’ first to feature a titular female hero. It’s apt, then, that 1970s feminist icon Jane Fonda reigns over it all as the kraken warrior queen and Ruby’s estranged grandmama (emphasis on the second “ma”). It’s she who encourages Ruby to let the light within her shine – like a bioluminescent jelly-fish – and also tartly corrects the persistent misinformation peddled by some other underwater animations we could name. Forget what you’ve heard: “Mermaids are selfish, vain, narcissists with mediocre hair.”
Younger viewers are unlikely to appreciate the story’s symbolism – three female generations, overcoming differences to combine their powers – but they’ll still absorb the ambient Gen Z values of tolerance and authentic self-expression. Kraken anatomy differs from human in some aspects, but this is a film with its heart, at least, in the right place.
• Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is released on 30 June in UK and Irish cinemas.
