Cuddly Monster

I watched Nimona (2023) as a sort of throw-away. Ms. Spenser was busy, I was at loose ends, this looked cute enough, animated, streaming on Netflix, why not?

It starts with some history: The origin story of this magical but high-tech city-state. Way back when, the kingdom was threatened by a fire-breathing monster. the heroine Gloreth defeated it. Her champions have been defending against monsters ever since. Note: The movie says "Gloreth" too much. 

In present day, a commoner, voiced by Riz Ahmed, is being elevated to knighthood, the first commoner to be so honored. His boyfriend, the nobly born and super cute Eugene Lee Yang, is there to support him, while the douchey knight bros like Beck Bennett jeer. As the queen hands him his sword, a ray zaps out of the handle, killing her. Yang cuts off his arm to end the attack, and Ahmed must go underground (and build a prosthetic arm).

A demonic little girl, the titular Nimona (Chloe Grace Moretz) decides that Ahmed is a great villain, and decides to be his sidekick. Her powers include shapeshifting, destructivity and super cuteness. She likes plans that go, "We break a lot of stuff, something, something, we win." Ahmed tries to be the voice of reason, but actually, the break stuff method seems to work better.

So, theme-wise, we have the classic evil/but not kid, the friendly monster, Lilo's pal Stitch. I have to love this trope, even while recognizing how overused it is. When we find out the trauma behind her spunk, the life of fear and hatred as a monster, well, I can't say it was a shock. Can you believe it? The message is to try to accept those who are different. 

The gay romance between Ahmed and Yang, on the other hand, is just accepted. Nobody blinks an eye at it. At worst, Yang is kidded for being in love with a dirty commoner. So you can't say they were beating us over the head with that one.

And the animation style was good - a simple, geometrical style for the character designs, some high-tech cityscapes for the backgrounds, all pink for the shapes Nimona changes into. Sometimes, the #D animation for, say, body armor contrasted with the flat simplified faces, but this was rare, and not even that bad. 

So, I enjoyed this. I wasn't knocked out, but it was - I guess. cute or charming. It's not really my thing, but I could watch more.