Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.0

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken Blu-ray Movie Review

The cover art of Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken reminds us that this film comes from the studio (DreamWorks) that brought us Shrek and How to Train Your Dragon. This does a couple of things. First, it trades on our nostalgia for two fantastic films that spawned reasonably solid franchises and second, it sets the bar for this particular feature pretty high if its title is going to be uttered in the same breath as those two films. This is especially true as those two films in particular stand up well against some of Pixar's best work. Can Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken possibly live up to that kind of pressure and those expectations?

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken wastes no time getting us acclimated to the town of Oceanside, which, as the name implies, is surrounded by water and is a perpetually wet environment. Ruby (Lana Condor), despite being blue and boneless, is a pretty typical teenage girl. She's going through a number of very typical teenage problems like trying to be brave enough to reveal her feelings to her crush, navigating everything surrounding prom (and high school), and dealing with a supportive but overprotective mother (Toni Collette). These challenges take on an additional level of difficulty due to the fact they are literally fish out of water. They're aquatic creatures living among humans as a result of past conflict in their underwater home. How do they manage to fit in considering they are quite obviously blue? They tell everyone they're from Canada, of course. While Ruby isn't sure why, her mother has forbidden her from going into the water; tough to do based on where they live. But when Ruby's promposal goes awry she ends up falling into the ocean, starting an unexpected and unstoppable transformation from a mild-mannered high school student into a towering Kraken that does not understand what's happening to her or the limits of her power. Additionally, falling into the water has made Ruby discoverable by Grandmamah (Jane Fonda), the grandmother she never knew she had and queen of the Karaken kingdom. Grandmamah offers to train Ruby to use her newfound powers and understand her heritage and what's happening to her. At the same time, a new girl, Chelsea (Annie Murphy), arrives in town and just happens to be a mermaid. Even though her mother and grandmother have warned Ruby that mermaids are actually evil, an unlikely friendship develops. What could go wrong?

Whie watchig this film, it's not much of a stretch to view Ruby's transformation into a Kraken as a metaphor for puberty. Her body's changing - she gains an extra tentacle, she glows, and she grows to a height that rivals the town's lighthouse. When it happens to her, she is initially terrified, and justifiably so. Her mother hasn't shared any of the family's history with her. She doesn't know that all of the women in her family transform into Kraken. Her mother demures under the weight of Ruby's strong emotional reaction to her changing body, still only giving her the bare minimum of information. Her father, meanwhile, chimes in with a series of unhelpful cliched responses, including the cringe-inducing line about Ruby "blossoming" into a woman. Her success or failure in dealing with her coming of age will color everything in her life, from her high school relationships, to the relationship with her mother and family as a whole, and her ability to confront the main villain once she is revealed.

It's important to note that Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is very female-centric. The pivotal heroes in the tale are all women - Ruby, her mother Agatha, and her grandmother. Rather than pitting these three strong women against a man or a genderless monster, the villain here is also female. If there is saving to do, the women are going to do it. If there is death and destruction to dole out, a woman is going to do that, too. Comically, every male we meet in the film is in some way incompetent or "less than" the women in the film. Conner, Ruby's love interest, is not particulary clever and requires tutoring from the brilliant Ruby. Ruby's dad, Arthur (Coleman Domingo) is more focused on building ships in bottles than anything else, while her mother is a successful real estate agent. Uncle Brill (Sam Richardson), who is dispatched to make contact with Ruby after her initial transformation, is staggeringly daft and seems built for abuse. Will Forte's Gordon Lighthouse is a half-mad old salt who has long raved about sea monsters and is unable to catch them. For all that the female characters do, none of the male characters add much to the story other than providing plot points like Ruby's quest for a prom date, or comic relief.

Bringing a mermaid into the story and adding the history that Krakens are heroes and mermaids are villains is an interesting subversion of the audience's expectations. It also creates a problem that could easily have been avoided if they had chosen to make the villain a siren, a leviathan, or even a hydra - anything but a mermaid. But choosing a mermaid and making that mermaid a redhead who bears at least a passing resemblance to Ariel from The Little Mermaid quickly calls to mind comparisons between these two stories, one of which is an undeniable classic. Both Ariel and Ruby want to make life on land work all for the love of a young man. Both are underwater royalty, but neither really wants that life. Ariel is forbidden to go into the human world, while Ruby is forbidden to go into (or even read about) the undersea world. Also, Ruby and Ariel each have to undergo a physical transformation in order to get what they want. Ariel gains human legs after saving her love's life as a mermaid. Ruby becomes a towering Kraken to save her love's life after failing to do so as a "human". Lastly, of course, it's a powerful trident that their respective female villains are after so that they can rule the sea. It's the accumulated weight of all of these similarities between the two stories that do Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken the greatest disservice. Constantly reminding me of The Little Mermaid made me wonder at times why I just wasn't watching that film instead. Indeed, the film would likely have been more successful had it thrown the mermaid back.

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken's 1080p transfer is very good. Textures of fabrics are richly fibrous and Ruby's sweater, in particular, has a realistic and highly detailed level of pilling, adding an extra layer of reality to the animated character. Hair is also rendered with a high level of detail, and Connor's frizzy mane is especially well done. This level of visible detail can be found in virtually every setting, whether it be the street, the school, or old Gordon Lighthouse's boat. In the surface world, colors are well-saturated and deep and Ruby's adopted hometown is a veritable riot of color. Reds, blues, and greens all pop and the town itself possesses a satisfying amount of depth. But it's underwater where the film really gets a chance to show off. There is a fair amount of bioluminescence in the aquatic environment and in Ruby herself when she transforms into the Kraken, and the effect is quite dazzling. The image is ablaze with bright purples, yellows and pinks. Once we get into the depths of the bottomless blue, we are presented with the film's darkest shots and the black levels are pleasantly inky and enveloping. Happily, I did not notice any banding or compression artifacts. It's sure to satisfy fan's of DreamWork's style of animation.

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

If Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken has a legitimate technical shortcoming, it is unfortunately found in the English Dolby TrueHD 7.1 soundtrack. In a word, the whole affair sounds rather thin. The audio presentation is decidedly front and center focused with a few chances to push into the right or left front speakers, but there is very little involvement from the surrounds. Crowd scenes should cause them to spring to life, and sound effects should bubble out from all around us during the underwater scenes, but in both, they add very little depth and immersion. Music is also problematic. By now, we've all seen enough animated features and we know the drill - there's going to be some big punchy musical interludes, whether they be training montages, dance scenes, or what have you. Here, while there is decent clarity and precision, there is a noticeable lack of "oomph" as the bottom end is nowhere near what it should be. Special effects like crashing tentacles and crunching buildings are likewise anemic. For as visually appealing as the film is, it is disappointing that the soundtrack cannot offer more than it does. That said, voices are effectively rendered and prioritized, and directionality is adequate when present.

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is packed to the gills with extra content as follows:

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Jane Fonda's presence adds a bit of gravitas to this fish-out-of-water coming-of-age story. Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is a very visually appealing story that, at least in my eyes, can't quite live up to the other, classic animated films that it evokes either by name via the promotional tag on the cover (Shrek and How to Train Your Dragon), or by allusion due to a preponderance of story elements (The Little Mermaid). If one keeps that in mind, the film is entertaining enough and is likely best suited to a pre-teen audience who should enjoy the film and, once the credits roll, the more "arts and craftsy" special features that are included on the disc. Boasting a strong video presentation and an adequate but disappointing audio track, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is Recommended to fans of family-friendly animated fare.