THE FILM
TITLE: Nimona
RELEASE DATE: 14 Jun 2023
WATCH DATE: 24 Feb 2024
TYPE: animated feature film
ACCESS: streaming on Netflix
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THE PEOPLE
DIRECTOR: Troy Quane, Nick Bruno
PRODUCER: Roy Lee, Karen Ryan, Patrick Osborne, Corey Turner, ND Stevenson, Julie Zackary, Andrew Childs
WRITER: Robert L. Baird, Lloyd Taylor, Troy Quane, Pamela Ribon, Keith Bunin, Marc Haimes, Nick Bruno
ACTORS: Chloë Grace Moretz, Riz Ahmed, Eugene Lee Yang
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THE STORY
RUNTIME: 1h 41m
STORYLINE: an outcast knight and a wild, shape-shifting girl take on the kingdom to clear his name and uncover the truth
GENRE/THEMES: action/adventure, fantasy, gay, friendship, acceptance, truth/lies, origin
Based on the graphic novel Nimona by ND Stevenson
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THE CRITIQUE
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS
Nimona was over the top, to the point of being ridiculous. The film had weak characters, and an even weaker script, with plenty of annoying lines. The Big Hero 6/Monster’s University writer (Robert L. Baird) should have produced something MUCH better than this. Perhaps the fact that it took six screenwriters to pull this together says something… a cake handled by too many bakers, too many chefs in the kitchen.
Ballister’s character was inconsistent. We never got to see him at his implied strength from the beginning of the film, and the whole story showed him at his weakest. There was good potential, yet I found myself consistently wanting to see more and disappointed by the end of the film.
I was personally annoyed by yet another gay couple in an animated film, whose primary audience is children... especially when it has zero point to the plot. You can tell it was written in, just because of who they wanted to cast. There is absolutely no point in Ballister and Ambrosius being gay. This is going to be a part of the entertainment industry, yes, but it should not be a part of children’s entertainment.
Nimona had an exciting animation style - some blend of Disney's big eyes and Japanese anime - which is based on the graphic novel. There were some intriguing plot points in the storyline, like how the exposition sets up and ties into Nimona's backstory later in the film. Conceptually, the film is impressive and draws you in, but repeatedly falls short.
Not awful - but it definitely missed the mark for an animated film. In some ways, this cannot be helped though, as it is based on a graphic novel. So, the origin of the issues lies with the book. Nimona is not competitive in its Oscar category against its fellow nominees. (The award for best Animated Feature Film ought to go to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse!)
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THE RECEPTION
NOMINATIONS
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THE IMPRESSION
IN A SINGLE WORD: disappointing
MOST STRIKING ELEMENT: concept
REWATCH: no
RATING: 2 // 5 stars ⭐⭐
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