Recently Netflix debuted a new original animated film titled “The Sea Beast”. Now, with the exception of just a few other titles (like Mitchell’s vs. the Machines), most of these Netflix “originals” are complete flops and don’t measure up alongside the real heavy hitters of family and children’s film-making. However, this time I think they have a winner on their hands. With characters that have personality and grit, a fun storyline and some great actors voicing the main characters (Karl Urban),this film really comes to have a life and place of its own. A great childrens film needs to have action, comedy, growth in the characters and some kind of moral that doesn’t feel blatantly thrown in your face. In “The Sea Beast”, we are our main characters grow and there is definitely a deeper moral of who the real monsters are and honoring nature and the world without it coming off as cheesy or pushy.
It follows the journey of both a young orphan girl as well as a grown man (who is also an orphan) and a monster hunter. We see both characters evolve in their life perceptions and relationship. We also see growth amongst the main Sea Captain who has a vendetta against the fierce Red Bluster. After the film was over, my 9yr old even said to me “mom that reminded me a lot of the Moby Dick book that I read”. And while The Sea Beast is definitely NOT Moby Dick, there are similarities in the life lessons that are shared that even young children can pick up on.
The movie also ends with a reminder of the beauty and simplicity of family life, and that family are the people we choose and that choose to love us in this life. A reminder that is much needed for everyone right now. It wasn’t flashy or in-your-face, just a nice message to enjoy what we have. In terms of the actual animation, it was also spectacular and very well-done. Along the lines of the animation in the “How to train your Dragon” series, and really brought the characters to life even more. As far as criticisms of the film, the only thing I can really think of is that I would have liked to see a moment of resolution between the main Sea Captain Crow and Jacob. They were supposed to be like Father and Son and had lived most of their lives together, yet at the end after their final fight it never shows them speaking again, even though it hints at the Captains change of heart. Other than that, our entire family of 9 really enjoyed the film and felt it was good for kids of all ages!
