Once upon a time, animated movies made it easy to tell the heroes apart from the villains. Now, the trend is for princesses to remain happily unmarried (Frozen), for kids to know better than their elders (Encanto) and for monsters to be revealed as misunderstood allies (Luca). For a while, those twists on the Disney fairy-tale formula felt surprising to audiences, aligning nicely with where the cultural conversation was headed. Through repetition, however, such enlightenment has become its own clich.
Enter Nimona, who brings a fresh dose of attitude to such inclusive messaging. Shes a monster, but doesnt like to be called that. (And who can blame her?) Apparently the only one of her kind in a fictional kingdom where medieval customs and flying cars arent mutually exclusive, Nimona is capable of shape-shifting into practically any species be it a shark, a rhinoceros or a ginormous dragon though her hot pink hair/fur/skin makes it kind of hard to blend in. When she first appears in the rowdy Netflix animated feature that bears her name, Nimona is sporting a pixie-punk haircut, piercings and an insatiable desire to do maximum damage to the society thats been demonizing her for roughly a millennium. She is not what anyone would call a good girl, and that makes her a far more interesting character than practically any princess.
Not since Shrek has an animated feature had such subversive fun with the happily ever after formula, although theres no way the films punchy personality would have turned out the same if Nimona had remained a studio toon. The project originated with Fox-owned Blue Sky (specifically, the duo behind Spies in Disguise, Nick Bruno and Troy Quane), only to be orphaned in the Disney acquisition. Luckily, Annapurna stepped in to see it through, leaning into the antiheroines nonconformist personality the very thing that made ND Stevensons graphic novel so original. While the result is hardly subtle in its progressive agenda (cramming in diverse characters, a judgment-free gay couple and someone who asks, What if weve always been wrong? about the anti-monster matriarchy), the irreverent tone keeps it from feeling sanctimonious. If anything, the movie seems to have sprung from the head of a 21st-century teen.
Voiced with a delicious sense of anarchy by Chlo Grace Moretz who sounds like a Goth kid scheming to burn down the school Nimona figures her best shot at inflicting vengeance would be pledging allegiance to someone who wants the same thing. Thats why, 10 long minutes into a movie that could really use her tude from the get-go, Nimona bangs on the door of wanted villain Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed), a kinda pathetic would-be hero who was primed for greatness until he killed the queen during his knighting ceremony. Yeah, oops. Ballister insists hes innocent, which is sort of a bummer for his new sidekick, who thought shed found a kindred spirit someone truly evil who might appreciate her capacity for mayhem when in fact, hes more of an excommunicated Boy Scout trying to find his way back to the troop.
Nimona takes a few minutes to kick in, unsure quite how to treat Ballister. Hes a lower-caste queer kid who was the first person from humble origins to be selected for the conservative-minded Institutes (co-ed) knight program, which ought to be empowering. Since this isnt Earth exactly, but a mashup realm where swords and armor coexist with laser cannons and Jumbotrons, its not entirely clear whether the humans here have the same hang-ups that American society does. For instance, it looks like no big deal that Ballister and fellow knight Ambrosius Goldenloin (Saturday Night Live vet Beck Bennett) are a couple at least, they were until the latter lopped off his boyfriends arm in the melee surrounding the queens assassination.
After the incident, Nimona finds Ballister sulking alone and suggests they team up. The ex-knight (now sporting a bionic limb) wants to clear his name, while Nimona hopes she can convince him to just tear it all down. In a sense and this is whats smart about the movie she sounds the way Generation Alpha must to most adults: Nimonas hip and impulsive. She doesnt seem to respect anything about society or its traditions. And while thats threatening on the surface, shes not entirely wrong (which is why, back in the real world, theres so much pushback today against kids who are horrified to learn the hierarchies theyve inherited). Since Nimona also happens to be a fluorescent pink shape-shifter, shes the literal embodiment of a bull in a china shop, smashing everything as she morphs between animals. Ballisters relatively lame by comparison, and while its cool that hes gay, the movie doesnt know how to deal with his ex being top soldier to the Institutes conniving headmistress (Frances Conroy).
Not all the story points work, but the films humor and heart are in the right place. Easily the most appealing thing about Nimona is the outside-the-box animation style. How often have you flipped through the art of book for some big-budget animated feature and wondered why the movie didnt match the brilliant concept art that went into its making? Well, Nimona wont leave you feeling that way, as it belongs to a new trend of bending computer animation to look more like human drawings. The characters are computer-rendered in 3D, but gone are the lines and photoreal surfaces, rendered like dynamic comic book panels instead. The camera work and editing have loosened up, too, combining with Christophe Becks thrash-metal score to yield a distinctly teen-friendly toon.
The style blends details from the bare-bones graphic novel with medieval designs that recall former Disney animator Don Bluths work on the Dragons Lair game and The Sword and the Stone, whose charming shape-shifting sequence surely inspired the films standout scene: a montage where Nimonas lonely backstory is revealed. As for the message, Nimona isnt saying that monsters dont exist. Its just that if you call someone a monster, theyre liable to wind up behaving like one a phenomenon that any number of outsiders can identify with. Stevensons lightning-bolt breakthrough came in demolishing the fairy-tale tropes, and screenwriters Robert L. Baird and Lloyd Taylor build on that impulse, recognizing that most people find Maleficent far more interesting than Sleeping Beauty. Give her pink hair and piercings, and shes practically irresistible.