The Sea Beast

The robust family adventure “The Sea Beast,” appearing today on Netflix, is one of the biggest movie surprises of the year so far. Fun, smart, and sneakily ...

I wanted to tighten it up in a few places, and I do wish the world-building was a little stronger. “The Sea Beast” takes place in the middle of a great war between monsters and men, the latter funded by a King ( Jim Carter) and Queen (Doon Mackichan) who clearly don’t mind putting people in harm’s way but would never risk their own safety. Chris Williams (who co-directed “ Big Hero 6” and “Moana”) makes his confident solo debut with a script he co-wrote with Nell Benjamin that subverts classic seafaring adventure mythology.

Hailing from Netflix Animation, the film tackles well-traveled themes but the gentle genre mix here, of pirates vs. ocean monsters, as well as some nicely ...

And as both Maisie and Jacob learn to love Red, and empathize with sea monsters in general, The Sea Beast still allows the monsters to keep their fangs. Karl Urban, currently starring on The Boys (and known for other wonderful sci-fi grumpiness in Dread, Star Trek, and Almost Human), gets to engage in some kindness here, as Jacob blossoms from narrow-minded to protective and compassionate. The set up, establishing both Maisie and one of her heroes, Karl Urban's beast-slayer sailor Jacob, gets a little lengthy -- as there's most definitely a shorter, tighter (better?) movie in here -- but the best, most effective parts of The Sea Beast make up for the chewier parts.

Chris Williams left Disney after 20 years to make a retro seafaring adventure that didn't have to lean on comedy.

For animation, we wanted to design a more stable, fast light measurement tool, and for the simulation team we wanted to better clarify the regions for them to take over.” “It had to be streamlined so that it made sense under water,” Williams added. This was called the Buoy System. “One of the first things we needed to figure out was how to float on the water without going back and forth with the effects team,” said Joshua Beveridge, head of animation. “Sony provided the believability and scale, and I told them not to be afraid of letting the effect take over the shot because that’s what makes it feel so big.” But I just wanted to disrupt myself and it was the idea that Netflix was a brand new [place] and could go in many directions.” “I wound up at Netflix because it was the antithesis of Disney,” Williams said.

Starring Karl Urban and Jared Harris, The Sea Beast feels like the beginning of a quality shift for Netflix Animation.

The Sea Beast might not become the gigantic animation success Netflix is hoping for, but it definitely looks like the tides are starting to change in their favor. As Maisie goes on this adventure with her heroes, she starts to see how the tales she’s read all these years might not be the whole truth, and that maybe these sea monsters aren’t actually monsters at all. Especially with Netflix canceling animation projects earlier this year, it seemed like the great Netflix animated original might never come to pass.

The scoop on 'Big Hero 6' director Chris Williams, his move to Netflix with 'The Sea Beast' and the animated film's timely messages.

These stories Maisie has pored over are “very powerful tools of propaganda” that present just one point of view about what has been happening out in the ocean. Partly inspired by old nautical maps that feature illustrations of sea monsters, “The Sea Beast” channels the spirit of the types of films that Willams loved most as a kid. In some ways, “The Sea Beast” was also an adventure into the unknown for Williams (beyond the fact that production took place during a pandemic). The Netflix film is the veteran filmmaker’s first feature outside of Walt Disney Animation, where he worked for 25 years. Williams describes Jacob as “the prototypical action hero” — he’s capable, courageous, respected by his fellow hunters and has a good heart. Maisie’s goal is to join the crew of a hunting ship in order to “live a great life” fighting these giant sea beasts, much like her parents did before they died. Maisie “is just a force of nature,” said “The Sea Beast” director Chris Williams during a recent phone call.

What new movies to watch are on Netflix and other streaming platforms? The animated adventure Sea Beast, Everything Everywhere All at Once, and much more.

Liam Neeson stars in the 2022 action thriller Memory as Alex Lewis, an expert assassin with a reputation for surgical precision. Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix Where to watch: Available to stream on Shudder High school sweethearts Clare (Talia Ryder) and Aidan (Jordan Fisher) make a pact to break up before college, spending their last evening together on one final date. Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix Where to watch: Available to stream on Mubi Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix The movie’s heady deconstructive philosophy of the universe feels as ambitious and radical as The Matrix’s Gnostic take on reality did back then. Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix (“Awkward!” “Well, that happened,” and the like.) Similarly, the grandeur of the movie’s strongest visuals is allowed to stand on its own, favoring painterly compositions of the ocean’s frightening vastness over busy, desperate-to-please antics. Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

Suitable for young and old, the Netflix saga thrills and never dumbs itself down.

But it does ensure that the monsters won’t immediately be the stuff of nightmares for the youngest viewers, which seems to be a fair tradeoff. The monsters themselves, though the size of Godzilla and packing Godzilla’s destructive power, are exaggeratedly cartoonish (comparisons to “How to Train Your Dragon” are inevitable). This might seem like a silly thing to say considering it is a cartoon, but it’s an interesting choice when everything else is so painstakingly rendered with realistic, tactile details. For anyone who felt let down by the girl-mentor relationship in the recent “Obi-Wan Kenobi” series, “The Sea Beast” features a much more compelling version of that dynamic. And with “The Sea Beast,” an animated fantasy adventure which debuts on Netflix on Friday, Williams, who directed and co-wrote, has made something quite winning for all ages. “The Sea Beast” is notable for its refusal to dumb itself down for a young audience. Monster hunting has become a full-time job for brave seafarers, many of whom are essentially celebrities whose adventures and daring are written about in books cherished by children.

The fight scene in The Sea Beast on Netflix is the best movie monster battle of the year.

When the crab escapes to the land, Red viscerally drags her giant horn through the side of a cliff. Sorry to Jurassic World: Dominion, but Netflix’s The Sea Beast—which began streaming yesterday—has the best monster battle scene of 2022. Directed by Chris Williams, The Sea Beast tells the tale of a legendary sea monster hunter named Jacob Holland (voiced by Karl Urban) who, much to his annoyance, ends up caring for a stowaway girl named Maisie (voiced by Zaris-Angel Hator). Maisie is an orphan of sea monster hunters, and she yearns for her own adventure.

The score to Netflix animated film The Sea Beast is now available to stream, as is the excellent film. You should give both a shot.

The Sea Beast is now streaming on Netflix and is a great family watch. Mancina had this to say about working on the film: "How grateful I am for the opportunity to have composed The Sea Beast's original score. Part of the film's charm is the score from composer Mark Mancina. He previously worked with the film's director, Chris Williams, on the Disney film Moana. Milan Records has put out the soundtrack as of this weekend, available on all streaming services.

The Sea Beast urges audiences to always question received wisdom, counters the romanticised notion of death as an act of heroism, and reminds them that to ...

As most of the action is set in the high seas, Williams brings all his CG animation expertise to get the background details and textures to precision: be it how the water reacts in the presence of monsters, or how the ropes on a ship react to the wind. That giving the public an adversary overseas to villainize is a time-tested strategy to distract them from domestic failures. In a spectacular sequence of combat choreography, the Inevitable crew hang from the side of the ship to fire harpoons at a beast. For young Maisie Brumble (Hator), her hero is Crow’s right-hand and heir apparent Jacob Holland (Urban). There is one beast that still eludes the Inevitable: the Red Bluster, the White Whale to Crow’s vengeance-fueled Ahab. When Crow and crew embark on a fresh voyage to kill the sea beast, Maisie stows away on the ship. As befits a kid-friendly medium, the design for a lot of these beasts prize adorability over functionality. In an era dubbed the “Dark Times,” two ecosystems collide as beasts of all shapes and sizes are said to stalk the coast of a human kingdom.