ANI-MOVIES, *Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken

In one of the few original Dreamworks animated films, it's easy to see this as a slight rip-off of Pixar's Luca and Turning Red which combines a girl's coming-of-age story with sea monsters. Dreamworks' head honcho Jeffrey Katzenburg had okayed the project just before he stepped down in 2016, so it was in development limbo for a while. Croods creator Kirk DeMicco directed it along with former South Park writer Pam Brady. The movie's theatrical release didn't break even from its overall production value, but it has gained a secondary success after debuting on streaming.

Ruby is an average, blue-skinned girl with her blue-skinned family living in the town of Oceanside which is of course near the ocean. She knew she and her family were not necessarily human since her mother Agatha is vehemently against them ever going in the ocean, but Ruby finds she's going through changes. Instead of becoming a giant red panda, Ruby is a kraken capable of achieving kaiju-sized proportions and breathing water. Agatha manages to calm Ruby down after she goes full-Godzilla after failing to ask her crush to the prom and spills the majority of her family's history, which involves the arrival of her uncle Brill who takes Ruby to her Grandmamah. Ruby is the heir to the ocean kingdom where krakens are the defenders against other sea monsters, including mermaids which are deceptive shapeshifters that masquerade as attractive humans, one of whom is the new popular girl at school, the cheerful redhead Chelsea. The mermaid cons Ruby into being her friend and tries to free a magic trident(it's always a magic trident!)from the underwater volcano that Agatha sealed it up in. Chelsea is revealed to be the kraken's ancient enemy Nerissa, queen of the mermaids who hasn't aged at all during the last time she fought Agatha. Taking a new spin on the finale to Disney's The Little Mermaid, Nerissa grows to titan size, and the combined forces of all three generations of female krakens are the only thing that saves the day. There's a subplot with Ruby's father and brother trying to decoy a local sailor in his attempts to prove the krakens exists, but this mostly acts as padding to make the film feature-length.

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is a decent enough movie with Dr. Seuss-inspired character designs, even though it is pretty plain to see that Dreamworks was borrowing quite a bit from Pixar's most recent movies. The movie tries to accomplish too much into its 90-minute running time, like attempting to make us care about Ruby's friends from school even though they are more just background noise. The side-story of the crazy sea captain trying to capture is like a bad cereal commercial drawn out through the movie. It's an up-to-scratch animated film for all ages and doesn't drag down the whole story with yet another reminder of how important family is supposed to be. It might not seem enticing as prior Pixar installments, even though it is an entertaining watch.