The Stream: A little too How to Train Your Dragon

The Big Screen: Cute kid and fun adventure

The Final Bill: Uncreative storyline with the cutest kid ever and nice sea monsters and animation

– S2S: Movie Review
Director: Chris Williams
Writers: Chris Williams (screenplay by), Nell Benjamin (screenplay by), Mattson Tomlin (story consultant)
Stars: Karl Urban (voice), Zaris-Angel Hator (voice), Jared Harris (voice)
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Rating: PG
Runtime: 1 hour 47 minutes
Production Companies: Netflix Animation, Netflix
Platform: Netflix
Notable Trailers: Released July 8, 2022
Coming Soon to Netflix: Wedding Season (Aug. 4), Day Shift (Aug. 12), Me Time (Aug. 26)

Arrrg matey! This weekend we were able to shiver me timbers and watch the Netflix movie, The Sea Beast. This animated feature follows a young girl who stows away on the ship of legendary sea monster hunters trying to be just like them. Of course, this launches our cast on an epic journey into uncharted waters hoping to make history by taking down the Red Bluster that’s plagued so many before them. Will they make history or does history have other plans? Let’s see how the crew does.

Now, you know Netflix will Netflick. The Sea Beast features The Boys’ own Billy Butcher, Karl Urban. For me, it’s a bit hard to separate that voices, Butcher’s actions on the show and now he’s a family cartoon? Anyway, Urban does a pretty good job. Now, the real star is voice actor, Zaris-Angel Hator. Hator’s character, Maisie, is the life of the movie. Who wouldn’t want to have Maisie as their daughter? She’s rambunctious, smart, driven, reckless but careful, caring, empathetic, and brave. Yep, that’s definitely the type of child I want to raise. There’s no way you can dislike this character. A little annoying here and there, but what little kid isn’t?! Am I right or am I right? Either way, Hator’s voice work is quite perfect for this role. Urban and Hator make for a nice and sometimes funny pairing.

Of course, the piece de resistance is the animation. Animation recently has become very in-depth, and dare I say overly complex, in some movies. Here, the animation was tapered back, especially around the monsters, but for some reason the characters feel more real than your typical cartoon movie. You can feel The Red Bluster rolling her eyes at you or thinking Urban is an idiot. The biggest problem with that and the storyline as a whole is it feels way too close to How to Train Your Dragon, and I loved that series. The writers and producers barely tried to change up anything. “If it worked for them, then it’ll work for us?” Yes and no. This movie lacks a cast to keep the laughs going, gives us a good sea monster but not a whole dragon lifestyle like in How To, which is why I say Netflix will Netflick. They threw money to make their own but rushed the originality.

Long story short, The Sea Beast is a good family streaming flick. Yes, it’s a bit too close to How to Train Your Dragon but it’s still a good time. The animation and the characters are well done. You can do far, far worse than by checking out The Sea Beast on Netflix. Families with young kids should absolutely grab a big box of popcorn and check it out.