I watched Nimona on the weekend, it kind of took over my life briefly. It was a blue sky project that spent several years in development before being sold on when the studio closed, bought up by netflix, set to release during the pandemic, then delayed. Let’s say my expectations were low but a depth chage came along and blew them sky high.
I don’t think I’ve laughed as much in just under 2 hours in a very long time. Nimona herself was an absolute cherry bomb and I liked her character from minute zero. This only improved as the movie went on.
Ballister was voiced Riz Ahmed and let me say he killed it! He nailed every emotional bit, he was sincere and funny and sometimes sarcastic. Lots of spice in his character!
Ambrosious was well developed and very well voice acted. I liked his character more than I expected to honestly and although we don’t get a huge amount of him on screen, his presence made up for that.
As for supporting cast, Todd was fine. Maybe a little overstated but I never hated him more than a hateable character should be! The director was very imposing and stole every scene she was in.
Over all, I really enjoyed it. It was a super fun romp and there’s a little bit of something for almost anyone!
Just seen it, had earlier dismissed as a kids film, but really enjoyed it.
There’s a straightforward trans allegory, but it could also be applied to other situations where societies “make their own monsters”. After all, the proverb “A child that is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth” is as old as humanity itself.
Hadn’t heard of this before seeing this post the other day. I watched it the other night and really enjoyed it!
The initial dramatic moment was a surprise. Nimona stole the show from the moment she showed up. Had a ton of real laugh it loud moments (evil toddler) and her backstory was touching. Third act was pretty intense.
I personally would have liked it better without the last 3 seconds of the movie. I read up on the graphic novel, and I think I would have enjoyed that ending more. Might read that in the near future, it sounds a bit more intense/adult. The movie seemed toned down a bit for a teen audience, but that didn’t affect my enjoyment.
Overall, I’d say it was pretty high tier. I was thinking while watching it I couldn’t think of an animated movie I’d enjoyed this much since Coraline. I’d recommend it to anyone that is mature enough to see grown animated men hold hands a few times and kiss. There isn’t really any kind of romance plotline to it, it’s just shown they’re dating and that’s it, NBD.
Thank you for posting this! I watched it after reading your post and it is my favorite movie I’ve seen all year.
I’m so glad they’ve filmed it… I read the graphic novel last year completely at random (someone bought it for my daughter & I thought it looked interesting)… still, it seemed quite obscure & I couldn’t believe it when I was listening to a movie podcast and a review of it came on. It’s a great story and I can’t wait to see it on the big screen.
What was the first best movie you saw this year?
(Spiderverse, for me!)
Spiderverse is a very close first for me too! So glad I caught it in cinemas! I missed into the spiderverse in cinemas unfortunately so this was a real treat for me!
Some major spoilers below! Since there’s no markup for spoiler text yet, here’s a gap to indicate spoilers. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, skip this comment.
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Loved the movie, but found that the ending was the weakest part. I don’t mind the resolution we got, it’s just how we got that resolution that has some parts missing. How did the people suddenly go from fearing her to calling her a hero? Sure, she saved the city from getting blown up, but one act alone doesn’t easily undo a thousand years of prejudice. After all, it doesn’t seem like anyone knows the truth about what happened between Nimona and Gloreth. How did they clear Nimona’s name of the Director’s accusation? Who runs the kingdom now? Why didn’t that dudebro knight get his face punched in? The ending was fine, but they glossed over a lot of parts that would have made the ending make more sense.
Edit: Well, looks like the Lemmy spoiler code doesn’t work on Kbin.
Totally agree! Also think it’s a shame she turned into the big monster which felt it just happened so the film could have a climactic third act. It wasn’t too bad because it leaning into the “when I feel really bad, I want to let people harm me”, but it still sort of presents the antagonists actions as somewhat reasonable, when I think it was stronger to have her acting solely out of bigotry.
Enjoyed this movie far more than I thought I would. Her character by far is the best written and CGM does a great job voicing her. Really steals the show. Weakest part of it is the beginning that falls to the trope of “if the main character was simply able to form a complete sentence we probably would have a much shorter film”.
Were you aware before or after viewing that shapeshifting was an allegory for being trans?
Clearly after just reading your post 😂.
But it was a really nice movie and not preachy at al. Just a good story with good voice actors. Enjoyed it with the family.
I wasn’t aware before watching but clocked in fairly quickly! I think the allegory was done really well and as trans representation goes, it definitely one of the most positive ones without feeling “preachy” to me.
I only knew because of this thread and I felt like everything was pretty much shown or explained in a “this is just who I am” way. It wasn’t anyone’s whole personality, just one trait of who they were.
Just watched it a couple hours ago, and yea it’s really solid.
Glad you liked it too! What was your favourite scene? I’m torn between the escape scene after confronting the director and ambrosious, and the “evil ballister” subway scene. so much heart and character in just those two scenes!
