Michael's Movie Grade: B+
A sheer delight of an animated movie.
What makes this film really stand out is how well it handles its world building. This movie takes mythology and legends (and even Disney's 1989 film version of The Little Mermaid) that we are all familiar with and not only builds upon them, but often subverts them. This makes it seem like this world is a world all of its own rather than a simple rehash of what it is influenced by. I honestly found myself really getting involved in this world and by the end of the movie, I simply wanted more of it. Helping out is wonderful design work that has a real cartoon-y feel to it, while also being quite detailed and completely believable. Even the animation of how these characters move is wonderful. I love how the main Kraken family (while disguised as humans) move in a rubberier and more exaggerated manner than the actual human characters. I love how also you can tell when they are taking note of this and begin to move like the human cast to blend in. This attention to detail really adds a lot to the film. It also helps that we have a wonderful main character. As soon as the film starts we already grow to care about this character and very much relate to her. Because of how easily likable and relatable she is we are with her every step of the way. This even makes moments that might otherwise seem too cliché be quite emotionally effective. The storyline, while following some very familiar tropes, actually works very well. It moves along at a fast pace, never loses an audiences' interest and always makes you care about what is happening. Our main character's relationships with her family are very well thought through and are very easy to relate to and understand.
This movie does have some faults though. The big twist is much too easy to see coming and many of the story points are very predictable. As wonderful as our main characters are, the supporting characters come off as very bland with little more than a few character traits. The humor in this movie made me smile and I enjoyed it but it rarely made me really laugh out loud. However these flaws are completely overshadowed by the movies very strong strengths.
This is simply a delightful family film and it shows just why I am a big fan of Dreamworks animation.
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