Rating: PG | Runtime: 101 minutes
Release Date: June 23rd, 2023 (USA)
Studio: Annapurna Animation / Netflix
Director(s): Nick Bruno & Troy Quane
Writer(s): Robert L. Baird & Lloyd Taylor / Robert L. Baird, Lloyd Taylor, Pamela Ribon, Marc Haimes, Nick Bruno, Troy Quane & Keith Bunin / Nate Stevenson (graphic novel)

I was going for the hurting people version.

Animators at the now defunct Blue Sky Studios said their feature adaptation of Nate Stevenson’s Nimona was 75% complete at the time Disney (who shuttered them after acquiring their parent company Fox) pulled the plug in 2021. Not sure you can feasibly say that was an example of new Business Daddy cutting the chaff of old Business Daddy (at least not back when studios pulling and canceling projects for tax relief purposes wasn’t the norm like it is today).

Add Bob Chapek bungling his response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill (before subsequently doing an about-face that still wasn’t enough to save his job) making it seem the property’s overt LGBTQ+ themes and characters were the real reason for its demise and it’s somewhat surprising another studio was willing to resuscitate the film so quickly. But that’s exactly what directors Nick Bruno and Troy Quane, along with Annapurna and Netflix, did. In just over two years, Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz) and Ballister Boldheart’s (Riz Ahmed) adventure was officially complete.

And what an adventure it is. Cast in the mold of your usual “humans are the real monsters” tale, the film brings medieval aesthetic into a science fiction future to upgrade the usual heroics of knights with swords to laser guns and flying cars. For one thousand years this kingdom has stayed true to the values of its founder Gloreth who instituted a royal aristocracy to maintain the safety of the people from dangerous monsters outside their borders.

A queen would always sit on the throne and her knights would always be chosen from descendants of knights of old or other worthy contenders born of “royal stock.” Walls went up to surround them and cannons were built and improved as technology advanced. Soon the thinking of everyone within became insular and incestuous to the point of a populace willingly embracing oppression. Until Queen Valerin (Lorraine Toussaint) dared to cut a new path by giving a young commoner the chance to prove anyone could be a hero.

Fast-forward to the present and the young boy-turned-knight discovers just how far some will go to maintain the status quo. Framed for murder on the day of his anointment, Ballister must flee the order he’s sworn to protect (led by Frances Conroy’s Director) and the man he loves (fellow knight Ambrosius Goldenloin, voiced by Eugene Lee Yang). Lost and alone with seemingly no way to clear his name, Ballister doesn’t have a choice when the chaotically feral Nimona darkens his door.

Whether he’s a villain or not doesn’t necessarily bother her (she would actually prefer he were so she might be given the green light for destruction). She merely wants to exist somewhere where she’s welcome. Appreciated. And who better to give her that chance than someone who might be even more reviled than her? Either they vindicate him and he helps usher Nimona into respectability or they embrace their roles as villains together.

The film proves a wonderful mix of genres with things quickly moving from medieval adjacent themes to a detective story seeking evidence of Ballister’s innocence to a tragically heartfelt fairy tale that corrupts the seeds of love via our current era’s tribalistic fearmongering rather than give it what it needs to flourish. And all throughout are energetic brawls made ever more captivating by the realization that Nimona actually is a “monster.”

But where most of society equates her “otherness” (she’s a shapeshifter who can turn into any animal—always with a hot pink hue—or person—alternatively, whatever hue that person really is) as evil in need of eradication, Ballister gradually sheds such knee-jerk indoctrination to see she’s just as in need of a friend as him. It won’t be a smooth road towards that understanding (and Nimona’s desire to make it as rocky as possible is part of the charm), but it will be educational and relatable in ways both children and adults are in desperate need to remember. Because our society is falling rapidly into torch-carrying mob territory.

With stunning animation (not quite as rough and tumble as the Spider-Verse films, but still with its own unique style to set it apart from the homogeneity of Pixar/Dreamworks) and a great soundtrack (put Metric in more films challenge), there’s little to dislike (unless you’re a homophobic bigot who believes heroes can only be cis white buffoons like Beck Bennett’s Sir Thoddeus Sureblade).

Ahmed’s Ballister is a great protagonist—one who’s brainwashed enough to not see what’s right in front of his face, but smart and malleable enough to learn and recognize when he’s wrong. Yang’s Ambrosius is a perfect foil with confused allegiances pitting heart against head while Conroy’s Director proves an even better antagonist with the cold malice of an early Disney villainess. But this is Moretz’s show. Nimona’s sarcasm, rowdiness, cockiness, and vulnerability is second-to-none. She’s exactly the sort of counterculture hero we need right now. Someone to remind the world that being different than the status quo isn’t a shortcoming. It’s a strength.

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A Knight (Riz Ahmed) is framed for a crime he didn’t commit and the only person who can help him prove his innocence is Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz), a shape-shifting teen who might also be a monster he’s sworn to kill. Courtesy of Netflix.