A knight framed for a tragic crime teams with a scrappy, shape-shifting teen to prove his innocence. But what if she's the monster he's sworn to destroy?
And so we end Pride Month, appropriately with a heartwarming tale of friendship, companionship and rebellion called “Nimona”. 7 years, two studios, hundreds of people, and a thousand buckets of sweat and tears to wrangle out of development hell later and all that effort paid off in a big, BIG way.
It is pure METAL.
Everything about how this film looks is euphorically executed. Putting aside how seamlessly it sets up a world that’s BEGGING to be explored even further, it combines the futuristic Blade Runner elements of the world with a medieval, high fantasy visual aesthetic and a punchy cel-shaded animation style that boasts its geometric, vectored shapes and graphics while also blending in with an already unconventional style. In a year that has already boasted so many visually impressive films, this is yet another instance of animation remixing long-standing tropes and styles to mold something unique.
Outside of looking lively and atmospheric, it’s tone and mood compliments that well, balancing out its darker subject matter with a well-rounded display of absurdity and ironclad pacing with a brisk flow. Superlative editing is bolstered by pristine cinematography and visual lighting, the scope of the feature lends a lot of detail to the kingdom’s environments and the world outside of it and for every childish gag, there’re minutes worth of witty banter and better visual gags around the corner to make for more entertains comedy. Dialogue is very solid all around, it’s action set pieces are slickly polished as they are entertaining and every character is either likable, empathetic or memorable in their own anarchic way while being written like actual humans who must deal with real problems. Of course they wouldn’t be nearly as interesting without the impressive voice cast.
Even Troy Quane and Nick Bruno delivered in their second co-directorial outing together; the same duo who directed Spies in Disguise and were storyboard artists for Arthur Christmas carefully juggling both minimalism and maximalism with a natural progression that rewards itself and the viewer for their patience.
Based on a webcomic from ND Stevenson, many of its darker undertones and storybeats were altered for the movie but that doesn’t mean the story is lacking for it, no no no. As a tale that highlights themes of queerness, fragility, symbology, stagnancy, free expression and fluidity of identity, and how they oppose and subvert traditional controlling institutions and exclusionary systems, the story it packs alongside it boasts poignancy and charm as much as it does sadness, frustration and bittersweet affection. For a film that emphasizes a surprising amount of action and high stakes, it also knows when to slow down and let the drama speak for itself through differing sides, all desperately trying to hold onto their psychology or break free.
While its powerful messaging is easy to rally behind and praise, the digestible yet unapologetic nature of it breaks from the formulaic narrative framework of both its setup and structure even if it can’t fully break free. The darker subject matter it has to tackle are handled with the utmost care, sensitivity, and empathy as it explores ideas of self-harm and suicidal ideation, threats that not just LGBTQIA and trans youth but also minorities and people of color like myself are still facing due to their mistreatment. It’s the right amount of restrained subtly while banging you over the head with it and not enough to where it’s overbearing; you can call it pandering all you want but you can feel the frustration and angst from the people who worked on this as they’re free to let their out on society as a whole, the dilemma of just wanting to make it but the system not letting you…..and most importantly, speaking out to how we can’t let that darkness win in the end.
Even when the plot structure is standardized and charting familiar, cliched territory a lot, especially at the films VERY LAST SCENE, what more can ask for if the narrative story started off promisingly, got better as it soldiered on and went all out on a truly wonderful note all the same?
Outside of it being nice to see Blue Sky Studios TRULY go out on a high note and to finally have Chloe Grace Moretz in another movie I can genuinely call great, I’d dare call this film a sleeper hit for the year. Animation is KILLING IT.
