By Luke Durling
A lot of the time, criticism just seems like nitpicking. An excuse for people to complain about things that don’t really need to be mentioned in order to enjoy something. So, I’m just going to get straight to the point before I begin nitpicking.
Netflix’s The Sea Beast is awesome. It is, by far, a wonderful piece of pirating fun for everyone and perhaps one of the best animated movies of record years. I cannot recommend it enough. You can tell a lot of time, effort and heat went into it with an extremely talented crew at its helm. Featuring a few of the same talents behind Moana, you’re in for a mighty good time. Genuinely love this movie.
Alright, let’s get nitpicky.
The movie has a wonderful story, but I would love to see it a bit more fleshed out. Especially when it comes to Maisie’s background. They mention so much about her that would be awesome to explore, perhaps even more so than the true main protagonist, Jacob Holland. That focus might have also helped the third act revelation become a bit more natural. As it stands, it works well enough. However, I found myself thinking that it was just a bit too moral driven and could use just a bit more polish. Especially since we’ve seen so many stories like this coming from the animation world. What The Sea Beast does is awesome, but by trying to speak to something that is similar to our day and age, it feels like all of a sudden, a specific emphasis is put on something mentioned, but not particularly stressed before. That could very easily be the intention, but it can appear a bit clunky on a first watch through.
Also, there’s a witch. She shouldn’t be there. She shows up, does one thing that could have been easily done by other means, then is gone. Burn the witch. She does nothing.
Finally, the most nitpicking thing I have to say is about the film’s lighting. The animation and models are awesome! High caliber all around. However, the film has a very minor problem with how the light interacts with some of the textures, making them look more mated and dull than I think they were intended to be. Not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but just enough that it is noticeable. To a conventional viewer, this is not a problem at all and is, like I said before, nitpicking. However, as someone who has a particular interest in animation, I noticed these small things that only matter if you have watched as many animated films as I have.
Overall, The Sea Beast is a wonderful experience that anyone can plunder and find joy in. As for the problems, those are my problems. Don’t miss out on this bounty just because of one seagull chewing on the bones.
Final Grade: A-
Calm and Cultured 