Le Monstre des mers

If it was a Disney movie, everyone would be talking about this movie, but unfortunately, not a lot of people saw this movie. For me, I saw the trailer by chance on YouTube, so I was interested. It is a very fun movie with amazing animation and a great story.

'The Sea Beast' features incredible animation, and some of the most realistic animated characters (humans) I've ever seen - with regards to appearance and proportion. Jacob is also a rather sexy animated creation, mind you!

Speaking of Jacob, he is one of the film's protagonists. As a youngster, he was rescued by Captain Crow and has been living with him ever since. They are monster hunters. Fresh on the trail of the elusive Red Bluster, Captain Crow abandons the mission (against his will) to save a ship under attack by a sea monster.

The Royals pay Captain Crow to hunt sea monsters, but when he fails to capture the Red Bluster on his latest mission, they inform him they will no longer pay for hunters. Instead, they built their own ship, and the King challenges Captain Crow to see who would be the first to capture the Red Bluster.

An orphan, Maisie, who's parents were killed by a sea monster, stows away on Captain Crow's ship and join them on their adventure. The film's first half was mature, with action, adventure and even suspense all the way. It had an incredible sense of realism until that defining moment (almost exactly at the halfway mark) when it suddenly reduced the film to a 'cute' kid's adventure.

After that 'Pinocchio' moment (yeah, you'll recognize it when you see it!), the characters suddenly resorted to silly actions typical of animated films aimed at a younger demographic, and the suspense made way for humour (even slapstick). The believability was completely gone with the feared Red Bluster now being 'adorable'. The film even had a 'How to train your Dragon' character, Blue, acting almost exactly as Toothless.

The film nevertheless remained exciting (although not as much as the first half), and it certainly was entertaining.

This is a fantastic movie for all ages. While oversimplified, this kind of story can only be so complex to work as what it is. I thought the animation was especially well done, because capturing the physics of the ocean, ships and objects together is super tricky. The girl's voice didn't really work for me (too young maybe) and some of the dialog could've been better,, but overall this is very entertaining moment to moment. Nice job!

This has the feel of a recent Disney Animated film, which is definitely a compliment. From a story that has some real weight to it, to a tiny, cute creature that never fails to provide genuine laughs, Chris Williams really has it all down from his time directing some of Disney's best animated films.

I was surprised by the route they took with the story, as I thought it would be a simple beast hunting plot. The Sea Beast has some real How to Train Your Dragon vibes and it honestly worked for me. It hits a lot of the expected story beats, but when your film is this delightful, you really don't mind. I hope Netflix continues to produce this kind of quality animated fare.

There's nothing like a good story at sea! And this is the kind of movie you hope is as good as it looks. And to me, it delivered.

From the impressive physics, beautiful art direction, and immaculate visual execution.. to a proper story with a good message (and symbolism), charming and colorful characters, and dialogue that is never wasted or unnecessary. In fact, there's a lot of appreciated visual storytelling.. Just one look or one scene, and you can easily put yourself in the shoes of the cast. And while there is little to be said that hasn't been said before, it manages to create a bountiful world and story worth watching!

People might compare it to a certain Dragon film.. but that doesn't diminish the value of this one. Personally, I liked this one best, but I'm glad there's just more "colors" to enjoy for everyone. I only wonder if we'll see more of it, though I don't think we should. But one rarely ever knows what we want, until we are surprised with it.

As the movie said, "I have everything I need right here."