Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken

2023

90 mins

DreamWorks Animation teen fantasy adventure set in a world where krakens are noble creatures and mermaids are self-absorbed villains. Features... More

DreamWorks Animation teen fantasy adventure set in a world where krakens are noble creatures and mermaids are self-absorbed villains. Features the voices of Lana Condor (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before), Jaboukie Young-White (Ralph Breaks the Internet), Oscar nominee Toni Collette and Academy Award winner Jane Fonda.

Sweet, awkward 16-year-old Ruby Gillman (Condor) is desperate to fit in at Oceanside High, but she mostly just feels invisible. She’s math-tutoring her skater-boy crush (Young-White), who only seems to admire her for her fractals, and she’s prevented from hanging out with the cool kids at the beach because her over-protective supermom (Collette), has forbade Ruby from ever getting in the water. But when she breaks her mom’s #1 rule, Ruby will discover that she is a direct descendant of the warrior Kraken queens and is destined to inherit the throne from her commanding grandmother (Fonda), the Warrior Queen of the Seven Seas.

The film comes from Kirk De Micco, best known for directing 2021's Vivo, and Pam Brady, best known for... *checks notes*... 1999's South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.

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Where to watch Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is available to stream in New... More Zealand now on YouTube and Netflix and Google TV and Apple TV Store and Neon and Neon Rentals and Prime Video Store.

There is no screening information for this title.

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken | Ratings & Reviews

9+Age suitability
Children & Media rating

"Sweet but conventional..."

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Hollywood Reporter

"Reasonably clever..."

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Variety

"Cute, frequently funny and very likeable..."

"Adequate..."

"Funny but not entirely fresh..."

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IndieWire

"One of the best family films of the year..."

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RogerEbert.com

"Great opening 30 mins, but settles into a bit of dull groove."

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Little White Lies

"In lieu of originality this movie boasts some attractively tactile animation... and an excellent voice cast."

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The Guardian

"Sweet but narratively thin and didactic..."

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Slant Magazine

"Plays things so down-the-middle as to become perfectly forgettable."

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Austin Chronicle

"Fun family entertainment."

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The Straits Times

"It’s never quite sharp enough to work as a parody, nor sincere enough to make its adolescent insecurities relatable."

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Independent

"Not even the matriarchal link at the story’s centre feels satisfying, its good intention strangled by the plotty chaos."

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The New York Times

"Struggles to find its footing — on land or sea."

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A.V. Club

"Turning Red has been repurposed here as a charmless tale about yet another teenage girl who is secretly a monster..."

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The Times

"Its frames are cluttered with all manner of objects and elements of odd design, almost as if the filmmakers hope we won’t notice how basic and uninspired everything looks."

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