THE SEA BEAST
Starring: Karl Urban, Zaris-Angel Hator, Jared Harris, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Jim Carter, Doon Mackichan, and Dan Stevens
Director: Chris Williams
JOSEPH
The Sea Beast is a film split in two. The first half is a bit generic, borrowing heavily from other stories, namely How to Train Your Dragon, but the second half is great! It’s so great, in fact, that even the visuals seem to improve with the storytelling. While the color palette is brilliant, some of the textures are lacking; that doesn’t stop some scenes from being truly beautiful, though. The characters are likable, the world is intriguing, and the ultimate message is bold and relevant. I only wish the first half felt more interesting and necessary to the plot.
QUENTIN
As far as story and vocal performances go, The Sea Beast isn’t anything special. It’s basically a variation of King Kong, with a smidge too much sappiness and a very preachy ending. That said, it’s still a swashbuckling good time, and it’s worth watching if for no other reason than the animation. It looks absolutely incredible, putting Pixar to shame with sequences so realistic that they genuinely look live action. It might be the best animation I’ve seen since Into the Spider-verse, and it’s wild to me that no one is really talking about it. Netflix Animation took a major step forward with this one.
