Still on general release in UK and US cinemas, having made its debut in late June, is the animated family film, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken. The movie – directed by Kirk DeMicco – follows the story of the eponymous Ruby and features the voice talents of Lana Condor, Toni Collette, Annie Murphy, and Jane Fonda.
In the film, Ruby Gillman is a 15-year-old humanoid kraken who lives with her family in the Californian seaside town of Oceanside. As with the rest of her family, Ruby hides her kraken heritage from the outside world, and this allows her to fit in as best as she can with her human school friends.
But despite Ruby’s constant attempts to be like everyone else, she feels like an outsider – something not helped when Ruby’s mother tells her she can’t go to Prom. The reason behind her mother’s refusal is because the event is being held on a boat on the ocean, and the one rule Ruby has always had to abide by is not to go in the water.
However, after giving into peer pressure by her friends, Ruby disobeys her mother and starts preparing for the Prom. This includes asking out a boy who she has a crush on.
But just as she is about to ask the boy to Prom, he accidentally falls into the sea, prompting Ruby to jump into the water to save him. Although she manages to get him safely back to land, Ruby soon discovers her time spent in the sea has had a dramatic effect.
When she is in the water, Ruby grows in size – something her mother never told her about. But this isn’t the only secret her mother has been keeping, and soon Ruby will discover more about her mysterious heritage.
Released shortly after The Little Mermaid splashed down into cinemas, it’s fair to say Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken feels like ‘the other aquatic movie’ and it is not a film everyone is talking about. No one was talking about it during opening weekend, and no one is really talking about it now.
The movie arrived with little fanfare, has had a tepid response from audiences over the past few weeks, and is currently flopping at the box office. Unless the movie gets a miraculous second wind, I expect it will leave cinemas fairly soon, and depart multiplexes the way it entered.
Is this because the movie is bad? Well, actually, no. In fairness to Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, the film isn’t terrible, and far worse pictures do much better at the box office.
The big problem is, the picture is incredibly underwhelming. This seems to be the buzzword of many summer blockbusters this year, but it is certainly true of this one.
The film is fine in places, but less than stellar overall. There’s not one significant thing which brings this picture down, just rather the general feeling the movie as a whole is uneventful.
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is a DreamWorks movie, so in terms of the animation, it is decent enough. DreamWorks don’t put out badly animated movies, so what’s on offer here is fine.
However, anyone who has seen DreamWorks’ most recent picture, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, will know the two films are like night and day. The animation on offer in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is stunning, while the animation on offer in Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is merely OK.
It may seem unfair to compare the two, but when audiences are shown how good one film looks in a studio’s portfolio, it’s difficult to accept something of a lesser quality. Once again, the animation in Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is OK, but it is of a lesser quality.
As for the voice cast and levels of humour, they are acceptable, but nothing exceptional. Lana Condor is fine as Ruby, and a few laughs can be had here and there, but nothing amazing on either front.
The story is less successful, but it is serviceable. The ‘teen as outsider’ metaphor is fine, the wishy-washy plotting less so, but it just about holds together.
Is it something that will entertain all ages like most DreamWorks movies? No – but I suspect ‘tween’ audiences will find it palatable.
If I was a betting man, I would say Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken will do far better on streaming than it is doing in cinemas. Younger film fans will like the teen-centred story and enjoy the poppy soundtrack, while parents can leave the room for 90-minutes without having to worry the film is going to warp their child’s mind.
As with every summer season, there are a lot of big movies vying for attention and while some of them swim, plenty of them sink. We’re seeing quite a bit of this in 2023, and it is not always a reflection of a movie’s quality.
That said, while Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is passable in places, it’s simply not strong enough. Watchable is fine, but if studios are expecting to lure people back into cinemas post-pandemic and in the midst of economic downturn then they need to up the offering.
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