Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken Review: Adolescence is a Monster

As the Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) hangover persists, the latest addition to the animated oceans oeuvre is Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (2023). Directed by Kirk DeMicco, the film is about the 15-year-old titular character (Lana Condor of To All The Boys fame) who learns that her overprotective mother, Agatha (Toni Collette), has been hiding the truth about who they really are. When Ruby’s crush Connor (Jaboukie Young-White) falls into the ocean, she jumps in to save him. The contact with salt water, which her mother has forbidden, triggers a reaction that transforms her into a kraken, a sea monster. What follows is a film that, despite being rooted in a clever analogy, only treads shallow waters.  

A misfit in high school, Ruby mentions she is sick of hiding her gills and pretending to have a spine. You’d think their smurf-like complexion would be enough to raise eyebrows. Nevertheless, being a kraken does the trick. It becomes impossible to keep her head down, or in fact, keep it above water. This mutation hits Ruby much like puberty does, and leaves her not only despising her appearance, but also her mother for concealing the truth. But with Ruby’s internal conflict being resolved over the course of a song, the film offers only a skin-deep perspective on growing up. Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, akin to an adolescent, is afraid of feeling too much. It dips its toes in every emotion but never takes the plunge. 

Few as they may be, there are two things about Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken that are intriguing. Firstly, the men in the Gillman family don’t morph into Kraken, which is hilarious if it really is a metaphor for growing up. The movie also accurately captures the awkwardness of adolescence, especially when showing the nerves that assail someone when they speak to a crush. Unfortunately, the vivid colours, gigantic monsters and Jane Fonda’s voice are just not enough to keep you invested in the story, which feels oddly formulaic. 

Generational conflict has been a favourite for recent animated movies (think Coco, 2017, and Encanto, 2021), but the film with which Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken has the most similarities is Turning Red (2022), directed by Domee Shi. Disney and Pixar’s first full-length feature film about an Asian immigrant family is centred around the experiences of 13-year-old Mei, who discovers she can turn into a giant red panda. It turns out the women in Mei’s family can all turn into red pandas and this superpower is a legacy of their Chinese roots. Much like in Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken,  where Ruby’s mother flees from her home in the ocean to escape the clutches of the Warrior Queen (Jane Fonda), her domineering mother who turns out to be an ally for the granddaughter is used to great effect in Turning Red. The sight of multiple ginormous red pandas trashing a concert venue in Toronto is as spectacular as you can hope for a climax. 

Adding the twist to Ruby’s tale is the quintessential It girl, Chelsea, later revealed to be a mermaid, who is voiced by Annie Murphy. Murphy seems to be channelling Alexis from Schitt’s Creek into this role and like Alexis, Chelsea is kinder than she seems. In a world where Kraken and mermaids are enemies, Chelsea and Ruby find a friend in each other. This salute to the power of female friendships is all very well until — spoiler alert — Chelsea reveals herself to be Agatha’s arch-nemesis. *Sigh* Mermaids will be mermaids, I guess. 

At the heart of Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, is the idea of legacy and the importance of solidarity between women. The life Agatha chooses for herself when she rebels against her mother causes a rift and eventually surrounds her daughter Ruby with insecurities. It takes Ruby’s longing for her roots to bring the family together again when she turns to her grandmother, who begins training Ruby to take over the throne (this scene strangely appears like an ode to The Princess Diaries, 2001). The past and the future generations uniting in this way compels Agatha to confront her mother and eventually unite. Yet unlike Turning Red, where Mei, her mother and her grandmother all undergo a transformation that’s deeper than the physical, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken feels strangely suspended in stasis as the characters barely change. The film treats generational conflict simply as a device to arrive at a happily ever after, especially since it concludes with the same belief it has harboured from the beginning: Mother (or grandmother) knows best.