RUBY GILMAN, TEENAGE KRAKEN
US, 2023, 91 minutes, Colour.
Voices of: Lana Condor, Jane Fonda, Toni Collette, Colman Domingo, Annie Murphy, Sam Richardson, Will Forte, Blue Chapman, Jaboukie Young-White.
Directed by Kirk DeMicco.
The mythology of the Kraken. And we are surprised to find a teenage Kraken.
Here is an animation film for the teenage audience, for teenage girls. There are a few boys about that they are not really essential to this plot even Ruby’s school boyfriend.
Who is Ruby Gilman? Actually, Ruby lives with her parents and with her younger brother, a seemingly quiet life. But, the audience has been prepared with an initial voice-over, sounding particularly like Jane Fonda – and it is. She is visualised as a giant Kraken, dressed in yellow, quite an imposing figure to look at and to listen to.
Ruby has no idea who she is, so protected by her mother, also a Kraken, forbidding Ruby to go near to the water. When Ruby rescues a fellow student, she discovers a glow in her body, and she transforms into the giant Kraken. She confronts her mother, goes to find her grandmother, Jane Fonda, telling the truth, that Ruby is the heir apparent, and to do some training with her.
While there are sequences of the family conflicts, especially with the protective mother, the nice father, the genial uncle and the little brother, there is also a malicious mermaid, taking the form of a student, but eventually manifesting her evil self to build up to a dramatic confrontation and fight with Ruby.
Ruby has to accept herself, to reconcile with her mother and discover the power that her mother had in the past, especially imprisoning the mermaid. So, while Ruby has discovered her inner self, accepted it, cresponded to the challenge, is able to mix so much better with her school friends, go to the dance with the bashful boyfriend, she will one day take her grandmother’s place and be the supreme Kraken.
There is a strong voice cast with Lana Condor as Ruby, Tony Collette as her mother, Colman Domingo as her father. (And a good cinema Trivial Pursuit question: what is the film in which Jane Fonda played Toni Collette’s mother?!)
