Another teenage monster movie – Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken review

Sequels, remakes, and spin-offs have dominated box office charts for decades. But all hit franchises need to start somewhere.

So, after exhausting the Shrek and How To Train Your Dragon franchises, DreamWorks is taking the plunge with their first batch of original characters since 2019’s Abominable.

The story of the Kraken – giant multi-tentacled sea creatures famed for dragging galleons to the ocean floor – isn’t an obvious source for a cutesy family comedy.

But if you saw last year’s Turning Red or remember Michael J Fox’s Teen Wolf, you’ll know where this teenage monster movie is heading.

Fifteen years ago, wobbly squid-like couple Agatha (voiced by Toni Collette) and Peter (Colman Domingo) Gillman abandoned the ocean to raise their two kids in a seaside town.

Despite having blue skin and no backbones, they pass as human. Whenever eyebrows are raised, they simply say they are from Canada.

But 15-year-old maths whizz Ruby Gillman (Lana Condor) just wants to fit in. Her school prom is coming up and she wants to ask her crush Connor (Jaboukie Young-White) to be her date.

Unfortunately, Ruby’s life has been defined by what her mates call her “mum’s irrational anti-ocean rule”. As the bash is on a boat, and Ruby is forbidden to go near the sea, she looks set to remain the school oddball.

But on the day before the bash, Connor falls into the surf, Ruby dives in to rescue him and the inevitable happens. Ruby doesn’t just turn into any old kraken though, she turns into a kraken princess. And after meeting her grandmother, the kraken queen (Jane Fonda), she discovers she’s heir to the kraken throne.

Torn between water and land, she also learns that the tentacled giants are selfless protectors of the oceans. I’m not sure Ruby has the legs for a franchise but witty dialogue and peppy animation keep this coming-of-age comedy afloat.

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, Cert PG, In cinemas now