Rating: 3.5/5
A peaceful land destroyed by an evil monster. Gloreth sends the creature into the shadows. She built a wall and trained a knight brigade to protect the village.
Or so the legend goes.
Cut to the present day. The news covers two recruits to be knighted, Ballister and Ambrosius. The people love Ambrosius because he is a direct descendant of Gloreth. Ballister is controversial for coming from a commoner background.
Also, Ballister and Ambrosius are in love.
Everything isn’t peachy. When the queen knights Ballister, she hands him a sword. The sword turns into a gun of its own accord, killing the queen. Ambrosius cuts off Ballister’s arm to stop the shooting. Ballister goes into hiding, with everyone (including Ambrosius) believing Ballister murdered the queen.
In hiding, a bloodthirsty girl named Nimona finds him to be his sidekick. She believes Ballister is a villain out to exact revenge. Ballister is on a mission to uncover the true villain.
Ballister gets caught, but Nimona easily breaks in and frees him. Nimona can change shape. So, she uses assorted animal forms to fight and escape.
Nimona doesn’t accept categorization. She isn’t a girl. She isn’t a shapeshifter or a monster. She’s Nimona.
The Director of the knight brigade used Ballister to prove that knights shouldn’t come from a commoner’s bloodline. Thankfully, the movie doesn’t wait long for Ballister and Nimona to learn that.
Nimona believes the Director’s deception is a smaller piece of a bigger problem with the system at large.
Ballister and Nimona also play a version of Monopoly designed after the kingdom.
The movie never says, “Capitalism breeds the monsters it claims to fight.” but it puts all the pieces in place for the attentive movie-watcher to piece together.
The conflict is more nuanced than your standard animated film. It has room for sides and opinions to shift, maintaining story tension.
Like a Marvel film, though, it exaggerates the villain’s wickedness and simplifies everything for the finale.
I don’t love the character design — the eyes are even bigger than the standard Disney size.
The world design is a blend of futuristic and medieval. It doesn’t always fit together, but it works.
The film rules for having two gay main characters. The actual achievement, however, is letting them have conflict and learn from one another.
Overall, the movie isn’t groundbreaking, but it is a thoughtful and entertaining kids’ movie.