Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken Is Fun but Predictable, We Land on a Three

Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken turned out to be a movie we liked without loving. Our main issue watching it for the first time was how predictable it felt from start to finish. "I didn't love it. I liked it. I had fun with it, but I think my issue is it was very predictable." We agreed that was the case, calling it very predictable more than once.

We said we generally like DreamWorks movies, but this one felt younger than some of the studio's other films, more teenage or even pre-teen focused. We agreed that was fine, and it did not stop either of us from enjoying the watch. We said we were never bored and that we liked Ruby as a character, along with how pretty the animation looked throughout.

The animation gets more attention than the characters

One of our bigger notes was that the film leans too far into showing off its animation at the expense of character work. "I think they actually lean too much into just showcasing the animation," and Chelsea's friendship with Ruby is a case in point. We noticed Chelsea is kind of thrown into the story, then disappears for a stretch before coming back, without the film spending time building that relationship at school the way it spends time following Ruby through the ocean.

We also felt that shortchanged the villain reveal later on. Building a good villain takes the same kind of setup, and once the twist landed we said the character just did not feel fully built up. On a smaller note, one animation detail was a sore spot: "don't get me started about how wrong they got the crystal jellyfish."

Where we landed on a rating

When it came to giving the film a score, we settled on the same number. "Uh, probably about a three. I mean, it was fine. It was a movie," and then, in agreement, "Yeah, that's where I'm at. Three." That summed up our overall feeling: a movie we had fun with, liked the look of, but one whose story beats we could see coming well before they arrived.

We are still curious about Ruby's mom and why she really left the ocean all those years ago. What do you think the real reason was?