The Sea Beast review: Netflix enters its DreamWorks era

In the early days of feature-length computer animation, there was an unofficial list of objects and textures that were notorious for being difficult to master, such as hair, water, and human faces. Netflix’s new animation features Sea beast Shows how far the media has progressed in the last few decades, but at the same time shows what an uninspired, large-budget animation looks like right after it brings visual wonders. increase.

Specifically, this ocean-based adventure story unfolds the water of a mega-gallon computer animation with great skill. On the surface, when a hunter ship roams the ocean for a terrifying beast that seems to threaten humanity, the water shimmers and is agitated. Underneath, when sailors are occasionally dragged down to face giant monster-like creatures, Mook creates a spare, airy beauty. The creature itself is an economic design wonder. It’s a cartoon enough to make it easy to read and impresses enough to give a small audience a good momentary horror.

So why are all humans in this overcrowded story so dull to see? The most distinctive by default is Zaris-Angel Hator. This is a young orphan who reads heroic beast hunting and dreams of joining them on the high seas. She is a black girl and guarantees she doesn’t look exactly like all the other lucky young anime heroes. But in general Sea beast The approach to human design is to mimic recent Disney features such as: Moana Also Encanto Make your eyes a little smaller. Jacob Holland (Karl Urban) is a strap sailor who becomes a guardian who hates Macy when she leans into a monster hunting ship, and is a clever visual of a familiar theme, even in the swashbuckler masculinity caricature. It’s not a variation either. He’s just a generic brand version of Disney Hero.

It’s understandable that Disney’s influence tells a lot. Sea beast..Its director, Chris Williams, is a 20-year veteran of Walt Disney Animation Studios, and he bolt, Big hero 6When Moana. He also worked as part of Disney’s Story Trust on many other projects.There is a little Moana This story of an expert sailor who teaches and learns from a young man with curly hair, Pirates of the CaribbeanRough sailors are challenged by crown soldiers who want to take over the job of monster hunting.

Outside Disney’s territory (though not in a remote world), How to train your dragonThe place where pre-industrial societies lived for fear of fantastic creatures. As Jacob and Macy leave the crew, they face giant horned beasts (perhaps amphibians, given their dexterity both in water and on land). Macy nicknames Red after her light skin color.Creatures are not as good as puppies DragonToothless, the reaction to the protagonist, challenges some assumptions about these sea creatures, derived from old-fashioned maps and perhaps Macy’s probably real-life fairy tales.

None of this is bad material for children’s animation features. Sea beast Provides some breaks from the boring recent trends in animation. Conversations are written and carried out in words that reach a kind of eccentric poetry accented with English. For example, the sea beast is described as “the darkest design in nature.” The language isn’t always right, but it almost completely doesn’t contain small ironic or fake comic placeholders. (“Awkward!” “Well, that Similarly, the magnificence of the film’s strongest visuals can stand on its own, in favor of the pictorial composition of the terrifying vastness of the ocean, rather than the busy and desperately pleasing antiques.

Image: Netflix

But maybe Williams and his crew a bit I want to make you more happy. in some cases, Sea beast It moves at a slow pace. For example, after Maisie was introduced in her first short scene, she suddenly disappeared from the film, slowing her film’s momentum. (My 6-year-old: “The hunter seems to be the protagonist, not the girl.”) Then the movie slowed down again for a speech, and generally overestimated the audience’s interest in Captain Crow (Jared Harris). Vaguely, a person like Ahab is obsessed with revenge on the giant creatures that have long avoided him.

Captain Crow is a movie issue. He’s not fun to watch, not so much fun to be around, and too human to act as a truly confused villain. The nearly two-hour run time of the movie, despite its advanced language, shows the spread of Netflix’s bloat, rather than the complexity of a fairly familiar theme.

It’s hard to tell if Netflix’s feature animation will ultimately develop its own identity.For now, there is another comparison that applies to Sea beast: Rich animation of almost dull characters, reminiscent of early 2D movies from previous DreamWorks Shrek Moved away from hand-drawn cartoons and hastened its pivot.favorite Prince of Egypt Also Sindbad Seven Sea Legends before that, Sea beast Abandon talking animals and funny sidekick, but Disney’s influence cannot be completely shaken off. It’s a lot of well-animated beasts and water, with no place to flow.

Sea beast Currently streaming on Netflix.