Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken was a weird movie for me. I am a massive DreamWorks fan, I would put them right up there with Pixar/Disney when it comes to animated movies. Despite seeing this movie advertised multiple times in the theatre and on TV, there was just something about it that did not click with me.
How to Download Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken
You should be able to download or stream the film from Peacock TV about 45 days after its theatrical release which happened on June 30, 2023. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and check the current availability.
The Movie Review
I will be honest, I was not all that bothered about checking Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken out in the theatre. However, we have these Unlimited Cinema Cards so we decided to check out an early morning showing over the weekend. I have to say that this is one of the most forgettable animated movies I have seen in quite some time. It is not straight-up bad, but I doubt I will remember much of this by the time next week rolls around!
Before I start with what I thought was meh about the movie, let’s take a look at the positives. Lana Condor as Ruby was a lot of fun, as was Annie Murphy as her rival, Chelsea. It was fun whenever they would be clashing with each other. The actors played off each other really well. I also liked how the movie had Toni Collette in it as I am a huge fan of hers!
The movie also looks great, I had heard some people had problems with the animation, but I never did. It is bright and very vibrant and I think that it is probably very stimulating for younger children. Speaking of younger children, unlike most other DreamWorks movies that are great for the whole family, I really do think that this is more tailored toward those 12 and under.
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is about a teenager called Ruby who lives with her family and is just trying to navigate high school. While trying to help a guy she has a crush on, she ends up covered in salt water and this reveals to her that she is actually not a human, but a Kraken!
Her whole family are Kraken’s and her grandmother is the Queen and Ruby is the next in line for the throne! The whole family drama here of this teenage girl trying to escape what her family is, is very similar to the Pixar movie Turning Red with many of the story elements being very similar.
In keeping with Pixar as well as being similar to Turning Red, I also think that there is also elements of Luca here too with the whole fish people pretending to be human things. In many ways the more I think about it, it is like DreamWorks took Luca and Turning Red and smashed them together and came up with this!
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken does have a bit of a twist and that twist is in this world, mermaids are bad and they have been at war with krakens for eons. This leads us to the villain of the movie, Chelsea. Chelsea is a typical teenage mean girl, but she is also a mermaid and she tricks Ruby into helping her which puts the two on a collision course. The whole Ruby and Chelsea thing is the highlight of the movie for me.
This is just a very predictable and average kind of movie. To be fair, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is coming on the heels of The Bad Guys and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, two awesome DreamWorks movies so it had a lot to live up to. Also, I think the fact that it is so similar to Luca and Turning Red, but nowhere near as good as either of those made its averageness stand out even more.
