Nimona

In a technologically advanced kingdom, the kingdom and its citizens are protected by an institute of knights who carry on the traditions set forth by their heroine Gloreth who as legend held slayed a monster to protect a village. Ballister Blackheart (Riz Ahmend) has trained to be such a knight despite his lack of noble heritage but has been given the opportunity with the support of the Queen (Lorrain Toussaint) and his fellow knight and lover Ambrosius Goldenloin (Eugene Lee Yang). When Ballister is framed for the Queen's assassination he finds himself a wanted fugitive and loses his arm at Ambrosius' hand. As Ballister starts making plans to unravel who framed him, he attracts the attention of shapeshifter Nimona (Chloe Grace Moretz) who wishes to be a sidekick to a "supervillain" and believes Ballister fits the bill, despite Ballister's assertions that he's not one. With Nimona's help, Ballister unravels revelations about what truly happened.

Nimona is the long awaited adaptation of the 2015 graphic novel of the same name by ND Stevenson that was originally published in a series of chapters on Tumblr. Nimona was acquired by 20th Century Fox's animation division shortly after publication of its graphic novel form and actually made it through a significant part of development until of course Disney bought Fox and shut down Blue Sky Studios and many in development projects with Nimona being among them despite being about 75% complete at the time. According to former staffers Disney pushed back on the film's LGBTQ themes and the same sex kiss which may have been a factor in cancelling it. Thankfully like other cancelled animated Fox projects like The Magician's Elephant the forthcoming Escape from Hat, and the in development adaptation of Eric Powell's The Goon, Nimona found itself revived as a collaboration between Annpurna Pictures and Netflix and after an 8 year journey and I'm happy to say it was well worth the wait.

First on a purely technical level, Nimona looks fantastic. The creative team have done a fantastic job adapting the simple but charming art style of Stevenson's comic and with the film's mixture of cel shading and shadows it really does feel like a graphic novel come to life with some dynamic movements and designs that are truly breathtaking to look at. The animation on Nimona is especially to be commended because the way she moves and shifts from one form to another is near pitch perfect in its execution which is further complimented by the expressive faces each of the characters has that offers a wide range of emotions. Artistically speaking, the Kingdom in Nimona is a really unique take which I can only describe as "Medieval Futuristic" and its very much a mixture of Princess Bride by way of Blade Runner in terms of its mixture of fairy tale iconography mixed with holographic billboards and hover cars that creates a world that's got some many amazing details intermixed to make this feel like a living breathing world.

But Nimona doesn't rest on its visuals alone and they're in service of a great story with compelling characters. While needless to say the creative team have made some changes adapting the episodic graphic novel to fit in a feature film narrative, the story's core remains very much in tact even in spite of little details and side characters having been excised for the sake of a more focused narrative. Riz Ahmed is quite good as Ballister and his relationship with Ambrosius equally well played by Eugene Lee Yang is an endearing one that you do get invested in and it's probably been slightly strengthened in translation as the film starts off more tonally consistent as opposed to Nimona which started off more anarchic and silly while gradually getting darker (not a criticism of the book, they're both good in their own way). But at the center is undeniably Chloe Grace Moretz as Nimona who is pitch perfect in her casting and delivery. Moretz does incredibly well in the role as her rapid fire and hard edged delivery is well complimented by the animation team in a manner that reminded me of the perfect marriage of animation and performance that went into Robin Williams' Genie from Aladdin. Moretz gets some solid laughs out of her appetite for destruction, but she also gives us a heartbreaking undercurrent to her performance that we see more of as it's revealed her abrasive edge is a shroud for her inner pain. All these characters and threads culminate in a really satisfying way and I won't dare spoil it for you.

Nimona is a great animated film in a year where solid animation hasn't exactly been in short supply. I really can't say enough good about this film other than you owe it to yourselves to see it. Funny, exciting, heartbreaking, visually interesting. At this point I'm just repeating myself.

Nimona is a heavier movie than expected, but for the most part in a good way. One character is severely wounded early in the film, which sets the tone for an animated film that isn't quite aimed at young-young kids but is more aimed at a "ready for the Lion King" age range. That was surprising given the trailer, but not bad.

The character of Nimona is fascinating; she's a shape-shifter character who doesn't clearly have a "base form" but takes advantage of that characteristic in the full range. Whale, Gorilla, Ostrich--it's all fair game, and she enjoys the transformations and causing chaos generally. If you enjoyed the shapeshifting in the Dungeons and Dragons movie, this will be right up your alley.

It's based on a comic by Nate Stephenson, who is the same creator that made She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. So, think the energy and vibe of She-Ra if you happened to see that, but with a much better animation budget. (And if you end up liking this film, and haven't seen She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, that might be a good follow-up).

I went in knowing nothing of the comics or the troubled production history, so I didn't have any expectations. I thought this would be just an entertaining animation movie on par with most Pixar products as I thought it would have more of an edge than Disney movies. So I was very pleasantly surprised by the originality and quality of Nimona! Yes, some parts are a bit predictable but in this day and age that's almost impossible to avoid so that's not an issue for me. But the rest, from the story to the directing and of course the gorgeous animation, is top notch and made me sad it was already over when the end credits rolled out! Highly recommended!

This was a huge surprise. Nimona won my heart with its spirited story and well thought out characters. I loved how it sneakily introduced so much humour into the story while maintaining a heartfelt plot that asked its characters questions regarding trust, belief and justice.

One might argue that the story is predictable. But honestly, why even predict this storyline? The entire movie is so well executed - the characters are great, the chemistry between them is great, the direction is great, the soundtrack is great, the animation is artful, I honestly don't have the time to predict what's going to happen. All of it was easily enough for me to stay in the moment. If the execution was mediocre or bad, then yes, my mind would've started predicting and nitpicking the movie. This is the exact reason why a movie like Avatar works perfectly for me. That's the importance of executing a story perfectly.

In fact, I actually didn't think the movie would take the direction that it did. And the emotionally-heavy final act of this movie, just tugged at my heartstrings.

Nimona's character is actually brilliantly written. Her body language, mannerisms, touchy opinions about specific topics are the little things that are always really important to make a great character. This script did that very well. And some humour, I thought, was actually very innovative and that made it more hilarious. The fast pace, and the gutsy plot just elevated the thrill and entertainment. The chemistry between the 2 main characters is brilliantly done.

This movie was a very surprising, entertaining and heartfelt experience and I'd highly recommend watching it. It's a Netflix original so it's available there.

Directed by the makers of Spies In Disguise, Nimona is a film that had to face a lot of roadbumps before it saw the day of light.

To say that the fact this movie got released is a miracle, would be an understatement.

But I am glad to say that even after all those hiccups, they delivered with the end product. It's funny, heartfelt and everything you want from a movie about a shapeshifting-sadistic-sarcastic teen. Though the plot is somewhat predictable, the way it is directed and executed does leave you wanting more. The "2 and a half D" animation style that this movie features, might be my new fav artstyle.

Rare Netflix W.