The Monster of the Seas, the review of the beautiful animated seafaring adventure Netflix

 In a fairy tale reinvention of the period between the 17th and 18th centuries, large galleons and great hunters sail the oceans to kill the sea monsters that inhabit the waters: the second Jacob is about to inherit the ship "Inevitable" from Captain Crow, his obsessed mentor from one last mission, the elimination of the Red Fury, which cost him his eye decades ago. Hunters are a myth to everyone, including the orphan Maisie, who lost her mom and dad on that front. The little girl sneaks up on the Inevitable as a stowaway, putting Jacob in a very uncomfortable position ...

What a pleasant, delicate and convinced surprise this The Monster of the Seas. Made for Netflix with no particular graphic flair, but with a great technical wealth of realism and credibility by Sony Pictures Imageworks, it is an animated film with a rare breath and an irresistible adventurous flavor. He directs and partly writes Chris Williams, one of the pillars of the Disney Renaissance, since the late nineties as a story artist, then co-director of Bolt, Big Hero 6 and Oceania. Even if the subject is original, there is nothing that can be defined as such in the Monster of the seas, we admit it: the echoes of classics such as Moby Dick and Treasure Island are evident, and the atmosphere that reigns on board. of the Inevitable has the charm of pirate raids, it carries the echo of that legendary alternative world, with the foundations planted in the law of the abyss and not in the mainland.

Williams, however, holds high the flag of the best Disney tradition, in a calibrated, precise and flawless construction of the protagonists, whose private events reflect the passage of an era, an awareness, a watershed between an ancient way of conceiving the world and a destabilizing horizon, yet full of hope. And stereotypes, in very good faith, become a way to communicate, rather than lazy habits. Crow is the past: generous and fond of the youngest, but without the ability to reinvent himself. Maisie is the new, through and through, ready to question the rules of the game. Jacob is the middle generation, called to the most difficult test: mature enough to know that he owes so much to the elderly, that he cannot disrespect them, but young enough to understand that Maisie's gaze is precious.

The three main pawns in the game thus become the guides for an engaging discourse on change and acceptance, where sea monsters have a double reading: one is the most obvious, ecological one. Swapping monsters for whales, the film and its message would hold perfectly, also because the register is generally realistic and does not abuse cartoon tenderness (although Red Fury may seem like a Toothless Dragon Trainer on an enlarged scale!). The monster of the seas, however, is also, and particularly striking in these times, a reflection on every bloody war, carried out with the sacrifice of many for the interest of a few. An opportunity to involve the little ones to reflect on many issues, through an adventure that has the wisdom not to play all its cards too soon.

Perhaps we could have expected a more refined design in the CGI of characters and environments, a little generic, and leaves a minimum bitterness in the mouth at the end of the overlook on an element of the story, which shortly before had been presented to us as quite important. However, they are venial sins, because the belief of the Sea Monster in the eternal value of such an ancient narrative tradition arouses considerable admiration in 2022.