Ruby has always felt like the shy, odd girl at school.
I mean she’s kinda blue for one thing, and she has to always wear turtleneck tops to cover the gillson her neck. Not only that, but she has to stand up super-straight to hide the fact that, well, she doesn’t have a backbone.
OK, sure. Ruby knows that she, her mom and dad and her little brother Sam, aren’t exactly, uh, human. They’re more fish-ish than people-ish. But they’ve been hiding on land fairly well for all of Ruby’s 15 years. (Saying you’re from Canada can help cover a number of bases.) And the only rule Ruby has needed to strictly obey is her mom’s command to stay away from the ocean waters. She’s done so faithfully.
In fact, Ruby has done everything she can to simply blend in. To find her spot, her place.
Then, however, the worst thing possible happened and everything in Ruby’s life just sorta went sideways. Or maybe saying it all took a dive is a better way to put it.
You see, Ruby was right in the middle of a special “promposal” to Connor, the skateboarding hottie she tutors in math. And between awkwardly calling him her “alga-bae” and accidentally hitting him in the face with a confetti blaster, she knocked him off the pier and into the ocean. (While also knocking him out cold, I might add.)
Then she jumped into the sea to save him, and the weirdest thing happened. Her body hit the water and started to glow. And grow. She turned into a gigantic monster.
Now, after saving Connor, Ruby’s mom and dad talked her through what was actually going on. She’s not a scary monster, they tell her. (Though hearing her dad say her body was just going through changes was probably the most embarrassing thing she ever heard him say.) But they explain that she’s actually from a long, royal line of Kraken. The women of the family grow huge, with super-tough skin and laser beam eyes. They are the protectors of the oceans. And they protect the sea depths from, of all things, mermaids!
Yeah. Turns out mermaids don’t just sing songs with crabs and sea animals. They’re kinda awful and mean.
Oh, and Ruby finds out that there’s something else that her mom has been hiding from her: she has a grandmother. And Grandmamah just happens to be the Queen of the whole Kraken kingdom.
Ugh! It was tough enough just being a little weird, but this! It’s not easy having a legendary destiny.
Ruby wrestles with overcoming peer pressure and dealing with the stereotypes people layer on her. Kids and townspeople initially think she’s every bit the monster that she kind of feels like. But she proves to be the upright and, yes, heroic person that she was raised to be.
And even though Ruby does clash with her mom and break the rules in a teen-rebellion sort of way, she and mom are eventually able to come to a place of forgiveness and understanding. For one thing, Ruby comes to understand that her mom was doing her best to protect her.
In fact, Ruby is eventually instrumental in healing a long-standing rift between Mom, Ruby’s Uncle Brill and Grandmamah. Grandmamah is initially a bit manipulative, but she eventually expresses her love and respect for her family members.
Ruby becomes friendly with a mermaid who seems like a good friend but who is actually using Ruby’s innocence and trust against her. But the mermaid’s evil deeds are found out and things are set right. Ruby puts herself on the line to protect her family members and teens from a powerful danger.
The movie obviously features mythological creatures, and one seems to wield a magic trident.
While talking about the upcoming prom, Ruby’s besty Margo says she is going to ask someone named Kayla to go with her. We later see the prom celebration, and there’s only a hint that some same-sex couples may be in the gathering. In two separate scenes, a girl holds a sign that says “Marry Me” in groups of people cheering Ruby and another girl.
It’s quite evident that Ruby has a crush on Connor, the student she’s tutoring. She awkwardly fumbles with a joke about him being her “alga-bae,” and quickly corrects herself, saying “I meant ‘alga-bro.’” But he says that he prefers the first one.
Ruby’s dad embarrasses her with talk about the changes she’s going through, using metaphoric references to “flowers” and “blossoming.” Several people hug.
All of the “monstery” Kraken and mermaid creatures are very cartoony and colorful, so not particularly scary. But the mermaid villain does wield a large trident that she swings and stabs at people with, and she then uses it to shoot power blasts. A kooky sea captain tries to capture Ruby, tangling her in wires and shooting harpoons at her. Someone comically shoots a harpoon into his own head (non-bloody). There are moments of light peril and hand-to-hand combat between huge sea creatures that bash around smaller humans on a yacht and on land.
Ruby must make her way through a volcano-like power source that batters her around and initially sends her flying. She grows uncontrollably and accidentally destroys a small library.
No crude language in the mix here, but there are a few winking plays on phrases such as “mother-flipping” and “son of an angler fish.” There’s also an O-M-G spelled out and a called-out “Holy McGoly.”
In other situations, people are called “weird,” “dumb,” “a freak” and “stupid.” Someone says they’re “freaking out.”
None.
Ruby breaks her mom’s rules and lightly lies to get her way. (But eventually she’s caught out and admits her wrongdoing.) Another teen girl, Chelsea, lies repeatedly.
We live in an age when kids’ movie creators tend to pack their films with subtle and not-so-subtle messages about gender, sexuality, racism and identity. Those can often leave parents feeling understandably defensive, and it motivates us at Plugged In to hold up a magnifying glass to see what a kid’s pic is really trying to say.
But sometimes an ocean-protecting Kraken girl is just an ocean-protecting Kraken girl. Sometimes the story is just a broad fantasy about fitting in when you feel like an oddball, finding strength in the things that you’re good at. Sometimes the message is simply that school and life can have as many turbulent undercurrents as the ocean deep. And navigating the churning waters of growing up can be a little smoother with the help of good friends and a loving family.
At least, that’s what most kids will see and hear with Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken.
This movie is indeed about identity, in that Ruby Gillman is trying to find hers—just as every boy and girl does at some point in their lives. Who is she? And where does she belong?
According to Ruby Gillman director Kirk DeMicco (as quoted in Animation World Network), that was in part inspired by the personal story of one of the film’s writers, whose family came from Cuba and was, like Ruby, trying to make its way in an unfamiliar world.
“What we focused on is the difference between ‘fitting in’ and ‘belonging,’” DeMicco said.
Are there other things that someone can point at and scream Ah-ha about? Sure. And we point to those things in our review. But there’s a lot of color, fun, sweet moments and broad fantasy silliness, too. You know, the stuff that kids’ movies are supposed to be filled with.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
