The Sea Beast

MustachedMovieMan 10/23/2023 4:55:18PM 8.4

Wow! This is right up there with the Spider-Verse films as some of the best animation I've ever seen! I didn't want to look away from the screen lest I miss some of the amazing visuals. Absolutely beautiful animation. Water is notoriously one of the most difficult things to animate well, and the animators of this film make it look easy, like a cakewalk. Right from the get-go I was swept up into the world, and I absolutely loved the pirate-esque adventure the film starts with. Great world-building, and great characters – especially of the three leads. Jared Harris absolutely knocks it out of the park as Captain Crow, Karl Urban is excellent as Jacob, and Zaris-Angel Hator does an incredible job as the young Maisie. I've seen some comparisons being made to other films, and while that's warranted, I look at it as a compliment. _The Sea Beast_ combines some of the best elements of those films and yet still manages to have a fresh and engaging tale. This film is a whole lot of fun, it's visually beautiful, has likeable characters, and it's got humor to boot. – And, it has a great score by Mark Mancina. I definitely recommend this film. Also, I can tell you from experience that this is great chaser to Netflix's _One Piece_ 😊 ⚠️ It's a "blink and you'll miss it" line of dialogue, but a crewmember tells a child that it would be better to fall on the knife the child was just given than to disobey an order from the captain. If it was an adult talking to an adult, it would have been fine. It was just that the adult was telling a child this that it felt odd and like, "Uh, wait a minute." Now, in context, it's a pirate-y threat, which blankets it a little. But it's still problematic and something someone should not be talking to a child about. Find more reviews on my Letterboxd, as well as more movie-related content here: https://solo.to/mustachedmovieman

Manuel São Bento 7/17/2022 6:43:47PM 8.4

MORE REVIEWS @ https://www.msbreviews.com/ "The Sea Beast may follow familiar story beats, but Chris Williams still delivers one of the best animated movies of the year. The genuinely impressive animation stands out from the other technical elements, especially considering that virtually every scene includes water. Accompanied by an adventurous epic score, characters receive efficient, thought-provoking arcs, conveying essential life lessons about understanding other perspectives and shamelessly accepting changes in our personal opinion, in addition to the evident premise of not judging a book by its cover. Excellent voice work by the entire cast, namely Zaris-Angel Hator. Monster action is immensely entertaining for all types of viewers. Couldn't recommend it more for a family watch." Rating: B+

CinemaSerf 7/20/2026 6:12:31PM 8.4

OK, so it's a bit of an hybrid of "How To Train Your Dragon" meets "Moby Dick", but this is still quite an enjoyable maritime adventure that follows the adventures of "Captain Crow" as he tries to track down the mighty "Red Bluster" that robbed him of his eye. Aided by his stalwart "Jacob", he and his crew are honing in on this great beast when the code of the sea compels them to go and rescue another ship that's under attack. They take quite a beating in that contest and so have to return to port where the King and Queen are less than impressed by their lack of progress. In order to stop them being sacked and replaced by an admiral in an huge great warship, they plead for one last try and set off to sea once more. This time, though, they have an extra crew member. Escaped orphan "Maisie" has joined the ship's company and is soon rather fearlessly making her presence felt as she exhibits an independence of spirit that impresses both the captain and his mate. That unanimity doesn't last for long though when they encounter their nemesis and the ensuing scrap finds "Jacob" and "Maisie" in altogther new, shall we say more humid, surroundings and then having to come to new terms with their monster. Pretty swiftly though, it becomes clear that the basis for the fearsome reputation of this beastie might not be quite as deserved as they'd thought - but with the navy and the captain on the hunt for them and the "bluster", what chance they can all make it back home and clear up some fairly fundamental misunderstandings? There's not much hanging about here, with the story racing along and with "Maisie" proving to be a mischieviously ingenious heroine - certainly one of the few with her thinking cap on - as the scenarios give any of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" action scenes a run for their money. This also benefits from a delightful absence of power ballads, and with a few toe-tapping sea-shanties adding a bit of spice to the proceedings, this is one of my more enjoyable and swashbuckling CGI animations of recent years.