Director: Nick Bruno, Troy Quane | Writer: Robert Baird, Lloyd Taylor
Starring: Riz Ahmed, Chloe Grace Moretz, Francis Conroy, Eugene Lee Yang
Nimona is a graphic novel turned animated movie, and from what I’ve gathered the two are fairly dissimilar. Baird & Lloyd took some poetic license when they adapted the screenplay, but that’s OK, we understand that sometimes it’s necessary, and if Big Hero 6 could work, so could Nimona. In fact, it does work, on many levels, despite diverging from the book, and despite competing with an awful lot of great animated films this year, some of which are better, but perhaps none so colorful and unique.
Many generations ago, in a medieval world, a hero defeated a monster, and since then, the entire civilization has grown and evolved and modernized around the idea that her example should be followed, that all should stand ready to guard the kingdom from evil. Year and years later, the first “peasant” to become a hero is about to be promoted to the ranks, when disaster strikes. Knowing that he did nothing wrong, Ballister Boldheart attempts to clear his name, only to be approached by a young girl named Nimona, who wants to be a sidekick to his villainy. But Boldheart isn’t actually a villain, and Nimona isn’t actually a girl, so they’ll begin a journey together to find themselves, learn the truth, and confront a world that isn’t as it seems.
My kids told me the story of the graphic novel, and honestly, it sounds conflated. The movie version might be very different, but it’s more succinct, and I think that’s an improvement, and definitely necessary for a 95 minute movie instead of a however-long-it-is book. The story was nice, it made sense, it left out some stuff that could have been a little confusing perhaps, but it made its point, and we all moved on. It wasn’t perfect, sometimes there were muddled moments, but generally the animation and the voice acting made up for any small problems. The film looked great, I loved the style, and I could listen to Riz Ahmed talk for literally hours and hours. Nimona isn’t quite as solid as, say, Mutant Mayhem or Across the Spider-Verse, but it’s a nice addition to the year, and should be well-received.
My rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆