The Sea Beast was one of the last features to be completed by Netflix’s animation branch before it was “dramatically scaled back” as a result of falling subscriber numbers, said Robbie Collin in The Daily Telegraph. “Thank goodness it got out before the cuts bit.”
The film wears its influences on its sleeve: its “Godzilla-sized” beasts, for instance, could be straight out of How to Train Your Dragon; but for “sheer energy and invention, it more than holds its own, and boasts action scenes whose wit, vibrancy and gracefulness make Lightyear look low on batteries”.
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I liked it enormously, said Leslie Felperin in The Guardian. Directed by Chris Williams, a Disney veteran who co-directed Big Hero 6 (2014), the film achieves the perfect balance “between rollicking action scenes, the inevitable didactic anti-hunting message about respecting other species’ right to exist and family-friendly humour”. It’s a pity the monsters look “oddly bland”, but the animation is mostly “visually sumptuous”, and the story will surely delight “fans of girl-positive cartooning”.
Leaving aside “a few slightly pantomime-voice performances”, I found it rousing and “immensely enjoyable”, said Wendy Ide in The Observer. The fictional maritime kingdom has been realised “with an almost tactile level of detail”; the film will be briefly in cinemas before being streamed on Netflix, and it’s worth seeking it out “on a monster-size screen” if you can.
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