Movie Review: The Sea Beast

The Sea Beasts is an entertaining movie. Easy to watch, funny in some parts, and appropriate to view with kids of most ages

Maybe you can be the hero and still be wrong.

This is the simple message delivered by the creators of this animation. There is a more subtle message, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

It was a pleasure watching The Sea Beast. The movie features four main characters: Jacob Holland (Karl Urban), Captain Crow (Jared Harris); sea beast hunters on the ship The Inevitable, Maisie Brumble (Zaris-Angel Gator); a runaway orphan, and Red the Bluster. Plus, they all sound British. Bonus points if you’re into that sort of thing, like me. Together, they tell the story that not everything is as we are told.

In the movie, Maisie, a feisty and intelligent orphan, runs away to join the famous sea beast hunters, particularly the crew of The Inevitable, captained by Captain Crow. An incident at sea leaves her and Jacob Holland stranded on an island with the most dreaded sea monster, the Bluster. Together, they question a fact that has defined their lives.

I like how animated movies in recent years have steered away from the typical single villain to telling simple stories; stories where people are not villains but instead victims of circumstances. The Sea Beast toes the same line. There is no bad guy. Although this didn’t make it any less predictable, the movie wasn’t over-the-top. The plot is easy to decipher, well developed (most of it), and effectively delivered.

The animation style is realistic. The human characters look very human with no or few exaggerated features. I particularly liked the skin tone of the black characters.

In addition, the sea beasts were beautifully drawn with bright colors—all in all, very appealing animation.

The Sea Beast is an entertaining movie. Easy to watch, funny in some parts, and appropriate to view with kids of most ages. You can watch it on Netflix or get it from You-know-where.

Have you watched it? Drop your thoughts in the comment section.