Long ago, the sea beasts ravaged our shores. They destroyed towns, killed people and brought on the Dark Times.
But then, the hunters arose. They took to the sea and drove the beasts back into the deep. Now, civilization is safe. And the hunters make plenty of money slaying sea beasts and bringing their trophies back for the Crown to purchase.
At least, that’s how it should work.
But lately, the Crown isn’t satisfied with the work that Captain Crow and his hunters are doing. In particular, they haven’t succeeded yet in killing the Red Bluster, the most ferocious and evasive sea beast of them all.
“As long as the Bluster lives, people will still look to the seas with fear,” the queen says.
The Crown has created its own sea beast-killing ship—and decided to cut funding for the hunters. With that threat, Captain Crow’s crew offers the Crown a deal: if Crow’s crew can kill the Red Bluster first, then the alliance between the Crown and the hunters will continue. If not, then they can tear Crow’s ship apart for scraps.
And with the deal set, both crews set off to prove themselves worthy. But as Crow’s adopted son, Jacob, soon discovers, they’ve got a stowaway on board: Maisie, an orphan girl with big dreams of monster slaying. Though Jacob doesn’t think she should be on board, Crow allows her to stay.
Unfortunately for Jacob, he’ll find out just how much trouble he’s going to get the two of them in.
Captain Crow treats Jacob like a son. Crow found Jacob adrift following a sea beast attack, and he then raised the orphaned boy to succeed him in his position as captain. But when Jacob and Crow don’t see eye-to-eye on what to do with Maisie, Jacob steps up to protect her, potentially jeopardizing his chance to be the new captain.
And as Jacob and Maisie begin to discover some revealing truths, Jacob initially refuses to believe what he hears, not wanting to disrespect the lives of those who died before. However, Maisie insists, “You can be a hero and still be wrong,” helping Jacob to come around to her viewpoint. Together, though they stand against hundreds of years of falsehood, Jacob and Maisie work together to fix what was made wrong all those years ago. Along the way, others stand up to authority when they discover that the authority is undeniably corrupt.
Against personal desires, Captain Crow turns to help a struggling ship fend off a sea beast. Even though he doesn’t personally like the captain of the ship, he believes it best to adhere to “the hunter code,” sacrificing the opportunity to catch a beast he’s been chasing for 30 years.
A woman’s help is said to come with a mystical price. Maisie says that hell won’t take Captain Crow. The sea monsters are generally referred to as “devils.” A weapon is called “the Hand of God.” Captain Crow says, “The fates had brought me a son.”
Jacob is seen shirtless as his wounds are tended to.
People use cannons and swords to fight off sea beasts. The monsters lose tentacles and are impaled with spears, causing small spurts of black blood to come from them. Boats are broken by the sea beasts, and people are grabbed or knocked away by tentacles (though we never directly see anyone die).
The worst injuries that characters receive are occasional cuts and scars, which leave small blood stains on clothes (however, some amputee characters are seen, implying worse). Another ship has reportedly been sunk, and everyone on board was killed.
A sea beast battles a massive crab beast. One of the sea creatures tears a boat in half, and it unintentionally destroys a couple buildings. Maisie is knocked out by cannon fire, and when Jacob grabs hold of her, his hand is covered in blood. Jacob and another person have a swordfight. A crablike beast attempts to eat Jacob.
“H—” is heard three times, and “a–” is used once. We also hear the word “bloody” twice and “b-llocks” once. A man is called a “rum gagger.”
Hunters are seen drinking beer and other types of alcohol at various parts of the movie. Jacob purchases beer for a tavern worth of people. An island is named “Rum Pepper Island.”
Young Maisie, who’s perhaps 10 or so, breaks out of her orphanage and stows away on a hunting ship. Jacob is sneezed out of a beast’s nose.
Hunting sea beasts is no easy task. But the crew of the Inevitable makes it look like child’s play.
The ship is captained by Crow, the man who has had entire books written about his adventures. His first mate, Sarah Sharpe, is said to be the most loyal around. And Jacob Holland, the captain’s adopted son, once supposedly slayed five whole sea beasts in the span of two days!
Perhaps that’s why the life of a hunter looks so good to the orphan Maisie, who lost her own hunter parents long ago to a sea beast (which, as we discover, isn’t too uncommon). Perhaps that’s why she stows away on the Inevitable when it sails to find the Red Bluster, the most dangerous sea beast of all. And perhaps it’s why she’s wildly unprepared for the ferocity of the battle when it inevitably comes to her.
Though many deadly dangers await Maisie, she’s fortunate to have Jacob by her side to fight through them—even if his “slash first and ask questions later” attitude gets them into chaotic situations. But when the two discover a long-forgotten truth about the sea beasts, they’ll need to rely on more than just clever swordplay in order to overcome the challenges that await them.
Netflix’s animated actioner The Sea Beast offers a fresh adventure for families to potentially enjoy together. Though there’s little treasure to be dug up, the impressive battles against Kraken-sized monsters will be more than enough to get anyone desiring to swing around a ship on conveniently hanging ropes.
Of course, the big beasts require a lot of well-placed cannonballs and spears to take down. They’re also the cause of scrapes and bruises (as well as some implied offscreen deaths). And, of course, any crew on the open ocean will be found drinking a bit of beer and spouting a couple of those sailor swears.
That said, The Sea Beast provides a rollicking, swashbuckling story for children that’s engaging enough to keep them entertained while still being clever enough so that adults will enjoy it, too.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
