Dive into the turbulent waters of high school with this heartwarming action comedy about a shy teenager who discovers that she’s part of a legendary royal lineage of mythical sea krakens and that her destiny, in the depths of the oceans, is bigger than she ever dreamed. Learning to be an all-powerful sea creature while hiding among humans is hard enough for Ruby, but to make matters worse, her super popular new bestie, Chelsea, is secretly a mermaid! Mermaids have been battling the Krakens for eons to rule the ocean, but Chelsea has come to land to finally put an end to that conflict. However, when Chelsea double-crosses her, Ruby will ultimately need to embrace who she is and GO BIG to protect those she loves most.
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Video Quality
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken comes to Blu-Ray with a magnificent, detailed 1080p transfer. The level of nuance these animators put into each environment is truly unbelievable, especially when you consider the number of characters and intricacy of the background in certain sequences. The digital animation feels very carefully rendered to provide some amount of texture to the world on display. Different facets of the character designs and the environments are extremely impressive and give the film a real sense of depth.
The colors that saturate the frame are very vibrant and bold with an incredible range of hues. Black levels are strong with no hint of compression artifacts or digital anomalies of the sort. The fluid nature of the character designs stands out as each individual provides subtle elements you may take for granted if you are not paying close attention. We would have loved to have seen this one on 4K UHD Blu-Ray, but this high definition represents this film beautifully.
Audio Quality
This Blu-Ray provides a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio track that gives this larger-than-life film immense presence. There is an emphasis on the front channels for a good portion of the sounds such as dialogue, but activity extends into the surrounds and rears when fleshing out the environment on land and underwater. The low end effects from the subwoofer give certain moments extra weight to completely capture the stakes. Atmospheric sound effects are implemented carefully within the mix so that directionality is never an issue. The film impresses when it comes to the music, and this track pumps the score throughout the room in a really satisfying, enveloping way. Dialogue is crisp and clear without ever getting lost in the music or sound effects. This film is a surprising powerhouse. There are optional English SDH, Spanish and French subtitles provided.
Special Features
- Audio Commentary: Director Kirk DeMicco, Co-Director Faryn Pearl, Producer Kelly Cooney Cilella, Head of Character Animation Carlos Fernandez Puertolas, and Head of Cinematography, Layout Jon Gutman provide a lively and informative commentary track in which they delve into the production of the film, the complicated elements within the extended tracking shots, trying to find the right balance within the animation style, the easter eggs peppered throughout, the changes from the initial ideas and more. This is a fun listen if you want to get even more from the experience.
- Deleted Scenes with Intros by Co-Director Faryn Pearl: Three scenes of unused and unfinished material totaling 10 minutes are provided here including an alternate opening. Each scene is given on-camera context by Pearl.
- Squad Solidarity – Adventures In ADR: A three-minute look at fun moments in the recording booth with the performers.
- The Kraken – Myth or Monster: A nearly four-minute animated piece narrated by Lana Condor and Annie Murphy that explores the ancient lore of the Kraken and how it has evolved over hundreds of years.
- Meet The Gillman Cast: A nine-minute featurette that gives you a look at the talented performers who lend their voices to these characters, the characteristics of their characters, what they love about voiceover and more.
- The Kraken Krew – Meet The Humans Behind The Gillmans: A 10-minute dive into the performers that treads much of the same ground as the previous featurette.
- Prom Stories: A nearly five-minute piece in which the cast and creative team share their personal experiences with prom, many of which are very amusing.
- Super Sea Girl Besties: A five-minute look at the female empowerment angle of this film and the creative women behind the scenes.
- Oceanside Drawing Guide: This offers brief guides to drawing Ruby Gillman (3:06), Kraken Ruby (3:08), Grandmamah (2:28), Chelsea van der Zee (2:03) and Mermaid Chelsea (3:42).
- Make Your Own Aquarium: A helpful tutorial that guides you through how to make your own Krakenarium (7:47) and Well of Seas (2:49).
Final Thoughts
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is a pretty decent family film that has its heart in the right place, but it suffers in the wake of Turning Red. Many of the themes and plot points are very similar, but Ruby Gillman feels a bit inferior when it comes to the script, especially in the way it handles its antagonist. Having more female-driven stories in animation is terrific, but this one never transcends into greatness. The film is still well worth a watch for its generally positive message, its incredible voice cast, and its gorgeous animation. Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has provided a Blu-Ray for this film that is stellar in the A/V department with fun special features. This will entertain if you put it on for a family movie night. Recommended
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.