The “twist” is an easy one to spot, and the straightforward plot briskly marches to a conclusion that’s easily predicted. The female-centric soundtrack is also a winner.Įven the film’s weakest element – the screenplay, by Pam Brady, Elliott DiGuiseppi, Brian Brown and co-director Kirk DeMicco – isn’t that bad. It’s something to see: a neon-lit, swooping depiction of controlled chaos. Then there’s the final battle: a spoiled-in-the trailer showdown between Ruby and her mermaid rival, Chelsea (Annie Murphy). Ruby’s physicality subtly re-creates the way teenage girls can contort their bodies in an attempt to hide their perceived physical “flaws,” and there are scenes of the ocean that perfectly encapsulate Ruby’s mixed feelings about it: both fear and attraction. There’s much to like about Ruby, just as there’s much to like about “Ruby Gillman.” The voice acting is excellent all around, including Condor Toni Collette as Ruby’s mom, a high-powered real estate agent and Liza Koshy as Ruby’s overly dramatic, hysterically funny friend Margot. Tentacles don’t sell the way seashell bras do. Maybe this is why we never see little girls dressed up as giant cephalopods at Halloween. Not only that, but she’s heir to the throne that her grandmother (Jane Fonda) currently occupies, which is under threat from the evil mermaids, who have managed to rehabilitate their reputation as ship-sinking, sailor-seducing songstresses by being both pretty and extremely marketable. One day, she inadvertently ends up in the ocean and discovers that she is, in fact, a giant, mythical sea creature. Ruby’s life is pretty good – she has a nice group of friends, a loving family, and a knack for math that has led her to tutor Connor (Jaboukie Young-White), a classmate who is also the object of her crush. One shudders to think what a summer in Wichita, Kansas, would do to them.) (They live at the shore because they need the damp air. Ruby is aware that her family is different to some extent, and she obeys the family’s two major rules: (1) Never go in the water, and (2) if someone asks why she’s blue, tell them she’s Canadian. She, as well as her mom, dad and brother, are all secretly krakens, or sea monsters, an identity they’ve kept hidden from the world. “Gillman” tells the story of the titular Ruby (voice of Lana Condor), a teenager who lives with her family in a bustling seaside town. The animated coming-of-age story “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken” is a solid diversion, a good-enough escape if the kids are still making you crazy during summer break and you’ve already seen “Elemental.” It’s just charming enough, just exciting enough and just funny enough to not be a flop, but DreamWorks – the studio that has shown it can challenge Pixar when it comes to pushing the animation envelope – has chosen to play it safe here, rather than try to win the summer family film sweepstakes.
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