Plot: After a young girl stows away on the ship of a legendary sea monster hunter, they launch an epic journey into uncharted waters. During the adventure, the duo uncovers startling revelations about their way of life, the beasts they hunt, and how they’ve been lied to for generations.
Review: Big Hero 6 director Chris Williams and his talented crew of creators have set sail for adventure and scathing allegory in the filmmaker’s latest animated feature. For those who grew up watching the stop-motion marvels of visual effects master Ray Harryhausen and thumbing through the collected works of oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, The Sea Beast is about to hit you like a tidal wave. Ye be warned, The Sea Beast offers more than adventure amid the high seas. The story also provides clever and layered commentary about people in power and how those who write history books will lie to control the narrative. I bet you weren’t expecting that from an animated film about kaiju-sized sea beasts and the people that hunt them, eh? Neither was I.
As a child, Williams loved to study old maps and listen to tales about maritime monstrosities and sailors sacrificed to the ocean depths. Some of those maps were left unfinished, and that’s where the idea for The Sea Beast was born. While the film features larger-than-life action and collosal creatures capable of untold amounts of destruction, it also offers a heartfelt tale about found family, unlikely bonds, and making difficult changes.
At the film’s heart is Jacob Holland (Karl Urban), a dashing, fearless hunter of oceanic titans with sharp teeth, and Maisie (Zaris-Angel Hator), a young woman obsessed with becoming a slayer of skyscraper-sized sea creatures. Both were orphaned at a young age, and the evolution of their friendship is a joy to witness. Paired together for most of the film, Maisie’s compassion and determination to end the war between man and beast prompts Jacob to rethink his entire way of life. Suddenly, all he’s ever known goes up in smoke, but because Maisie is there to ground him, everything will be okay. It’s a lovely transformation that stands out and feels earned.
The Sea Beast also features stand-out vocal performances from Jared Harris as the haunted Captain Crow, who has unfinished business with a fabled sea beast called the Red Bluster. Bitter yet aspirational, Harris’ transformation from a well-meaning sea captain to a vengeful villain is pitch-perfect and makes Crow a fun character to watch. Marianne Jean-Baptiste also stands out as Sarah Sharpe, one of Captain Crow’s most respected and high-ranking crew members and a woman of action. Sharpe commanded my attention whenever she was on-screen. Her wry sense of humor, versatility in battle, and no-nonsense approach to the world around her make Sharpe a welcomed addition to the cast. I wanted more screen time for Sharpe throughout the film, but sometimes less is more, no?
Head of Animation Joshua Beveridge says The Sea Beast is “the most complex thing we’ve ever done at Sony Imageworks,” and I believe him. From the film’s opening moments, you can tell that The Sea Beast is a beauty. The movie boasts gorgeous vistas, spectacular lighting, a stunning color palette, and underwater kingdoms that will leave you gasping for air as they take your breath away. If you boarded this ship for action, The Sea Beast executes sequences that will often have you on the edge of your seat as horrors from the depths toss battleships like bath toys, or hunters strive to repeat a doomed history. A big part of that wishes The Sea Beast was getting a theatrical release because it feels like it was meant for the silver screen.
In addition to offering young audience members a harrowing and exciting adventure with a charismatic lead in Maisie, The Sea Beast is surprisingly cerebral in how it treats the mission of the hunters and those who write history books. At one point in the story, Maisie uncovers a lie perpetuated by those in charge of the hunters. The explosive reveal introduces a crisis of conscience for an entire city, maybe even the world. The news not only exposes the flaws of a whole society, it argues that people who have believed in a lie for generations need to adopt a new way of life. You could say I’m overthinking it, that I’m projecting. I don’t think so. I believe that in addition to being a visually exciting and entertaining thrill ride for all ages, there was a calculated effort to say something poignant about people in power and how they abuse it.
I was so impressed with The Sea Beast, particularly after the film opens up significantly a third of the way in that I had little time to notice its flaws. I think the movie felt a bit long at nearly two hours, and the soundtrack, while spirited, appropriately epic, and jolly in all the right places, didn’t stay with me after credits rolled. Still, I was delighted by how I felt by the end of The Sea Beast. I expected only a family-friendly affair with salty sea talk and high-seas shenanigans to match. I got that, but the film also gave me an intelligent take on the “humans are the real monsters” theme with a cast of endearing characters, majestic beasts, and biting political commentary.
“I don’t know how the war started. Maybe all that matters is how it ends,” Maisie says to Jacob in the film, and I’ll be damned if this line didn’t hit me hard. Make sure you join Jacob and Maisie aboard the Inevitable when The Sea Beast sets sail on Netflix on July 8, 2022.