Brief Story Line
In the kingdom where knights were trained in an institute to protect people from monsters, Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed - Venom, Sound of Metal etc) managed to be the first commoner in history to be knighted by the queen (Lorraine Toussaint - Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, The Equalizer TV series etc). Despite his background that made him become an outcast among the knights, one of them named Ambrosius (internet celebrity Eugene Lee Yang) was in love with Ballister and always supported him. Unfortunately due to some incident, Bal had to run away, leave everything and became fugitive.
During his hiding, a teenaged girl called Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz - The Peripheral TV series, The Addams Family etc) was somehow able to find Bal and convinced him to become his sidekick. Bal reluctantly agreed to work together with Nimona to clear his name while being pursued by the Institute Director (Frances Conroy - Joker. The Mist TV series etc), Ambrosius and other knights. Things became more complicated when it turned out that Nimona was not the typical teenager.
So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
As I said above, I was interested in watching this as it looked light and the opening scenes also gave that kind of impression especially when it was narrated in a humorous nature. The story of people fighting monsters also gave strong classic tales vibe. But apparently the time move forward to the distant future while still set in the same kingdom. So it was quite fun seeing the modern day knights going on a bit of adventure using swords, wearing armors but driving flying vehicles across skyscrappers.
Anyway, the movie became very funny when Nimona appeared. Her witty remarks were hilarious and made me laughed out loud multiple times. It was so amusing looking at her teasing Bal, leaving him no chance to argue let alone respond. And then came the most interesting part as we were shown Nimona's ability which was important to the plot (not to mention giving us additional laughter). As the story progressed, I found myself to be enjoying it more and more especially with a wonderfully done final act that was emotional at the same time.
The story was one of the factors that made me like this movie a lot. I noticed in the closing credits that it was based on graphic novel of the same title by ND Stevenson. Btw there was no mid or post end credit scene here. The film was directed by Nick Bruno and Troy Quane who directed Spies in Disguise and animator of several other films. The cast did great job here, particularly Riz Ahmed and Chloë Grace Moretz who sounded perfect in their roles. Critics have high praise to the movie's animation and vocal performance. Oh before I forgot, the film was fueled by controversy surrounding its LGBT theme which seemed to be one of the reasons it failed to finish production in the early stage (you can find out more on this in other media).
The film also had nice musical score with perfectly timed background music during various scenes. There was even the famous "Careless Whisper" song in the middle. The animation was quite good particularly the adventure scenes and the modern kingdom setting was well done. Overall I was entertained by the film and loved the story and characters of this movie, although I could also understand if some audience might avoid this one due to the controversy. So if you have no issues with it, then I am sure you would like this as much as I did.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment