What did everyone think of Nimona? Catch up on DisneyCember 2022 - th-cam.com/video/UFzhTx5Zk5Y/w-d-xo.html Watch the new NC - th-cam.com/video/wmi7yuICrgU/w-d-xo.html Watch the new FanScription - th-cam.com/video/SCgc_yyDuW/w-d-xo.html
Fun Fact: The credits for the film has an entire section dedicated to everyone who has worked at Blue Sky, complete with Nimona shapeshifting into a squirrel. (Like their mascot, Scrat.) A bittersweet, but great note to end on. I'm glad this will always be remembered as Blue Sky's final film. It's characters and animation are great, and it's messages are exactly what the world needs right now. Blue Sky really went out with a bang in that sense.
“Exactly what the world needs right now” you’ve just lost your 🧠 privileges with that statement right there, it was literally perfect until you HAD to put that there
According to ND Stevenson, the medieval/sci fi aesthetic is representative of how while this society has advanced technologically, they're still stuck in the same, medieval mindset and prejudices. So it's a cool design choice and it serves the movie's themes.
It's doesn't works 100% though, because the people in this world are still acting like modern day people. I don't think "bro dudes" were a thing in medieval times, same for the hyperactive way they all act in some scenes. And I don't think homosexuality would have been as accepted as it is in this film. I mean, sure, Balister and Ambrosius still keep quiet about that but I mostly feel it was because Abrosius is of noble descent and Balister is a commoner, and romance between social classes was also a big no no back then.
Okay, technically this video's cheating since, while Blue Sky did a lot of the work on it, neither they nor Disney own it. But I'm just glad you're talking about it. The fact that it got picked up by Netflix and Annapurna and eventually finished will always be appreciated as Blue Sky's final "take that!" towards Disney for getting rid of it and them. And boy, it really deserves to be remembered as Blue Sky's best. The story, animation, and characters are amazing, and it's messages are exactly what the world needs to hear right now. I'm so glad it got a second chance to not only exist, but shine.
@@waterbullstudios9195To be fair, I think he's only counting this because a lot of official Disney movies were not the best this year and he probably wanted to talk about a movie he kinda likes for once. God, Disney needs to change and soon if they don't want to be forgotten next.
@@jessiefyler3751if that was true he maybe should have been more negative on his reviews. Most of them have been overall positive even for the worst movies
My one disappointment with this is that in comparison to the original book, where every character is very morally dubious, in the movie anyone who's good is 100% good and anyone bad is pretty 100% bad. Still as a fan of the book I can't help but love it just for existing after everything it went through!
Apparently that was the call of the comics creator! At least in the case of Nimona herself. Apparently the reason he made her morally good instead of morally grey was because he wanted to reinforce the fact that she was NOT the problem. She was a bit of a self insert for himself back when he wrote the comic. He hated himself and didn’t believe he deserved a happy ending. And therefore in his mind neither did Nimona. Now he’s healed he realised she DOES. So he rewrote the story accordingly!
Yeah im kinda getting sick from this Trump type of characters like seriously the villain is a bitch that vaguely sence something bad is going to happen to the wall because a half blood was going to be a knight. Yeah killing your higher ups is fine, framing others for murder is fine, believing in vague supertitions is fine, causing colateral damage because of one threat is fine, but a making a half blood a Sir? Thats a big NONO
Chloe Grace Moretz was the best choice for the voice of Nimona. I really hope that she does more animated movies. Her turn as Wednesday Addams were the only redeeming aspect of those movies.
I do find it funny that Dough criticism usually boils down to "I seen this before" and "I guess little kids who have not seen the trope as much won't mind". Like I get that criticism when seeing a bunch of movie but like personally tropes are tropes for a reason, they can often work effectively and it just about the execution. And as far as execution goes, the movie did a good job and overall really enjoy it. The style was refreshing, and the child like energy mix made the heavy moment stand out more. One of my more favorite animated movie this year.
@@highvoltage7797True. Tropes are in every movie and stories in general so it's weird that Doug goes back and forth on hating them. Unless he's biased to specific ones.
When you've seen the same tropes for over 40 years, not only can they get very tiring, but you start to notice their shortcomings and flaws. Plus there are worse tropes than others, and in my opinion there are tropes that are just not good, so it's understandable that when someone complains about a trope, it's because that particular trope is not of their liking. But any trope can re-invent itself or do something clever with it that makes things fresh, and that's what the best movies do. Still, not every movie *has* to be that ambitious, but for many people, playing it safe may not be something that makes them love a movie.
I *love* the art style. You can tell that it was an intentional choice to have things stylized like they are and for being stylized, it's incredibly detailed. Plus, they're able to get *so* much emotion across in the expressions. Nimona and The Mitchells Vs The Machines are two of my favorite recent animated movies. And they both just look so *nifty!* And the part where Nimona is about to kill herself makes me cry. Every time. You can *feel* the pain and loneliness and exhaustion and it breaks my heart.
I WISH I had this movie when I was a kid. Doug, sometimes you just have to SAY THE THING. Kids (and a lot of adults) need that direction and moral focus. So, when you're a kid, who feels like a monster, for feeling the way you do, or loving who you love, it's nice to hear SOMEONE say that you're not a monster, out loud.
thats one of the things i appreciated from steven universe future where they are so focused on themselves, it took connies words saying its not about you, its him! Moments like that and here in nimona are moments that either give young people that slight feeling of hope from art or even just hearing the words they needed to hear. WE NEED MOVIES & SHOWS LIKE THAT
On the Eleventh day of Disneycember. The critic gave to me Eleven Shape-Shifters Ten Boring Mansions Nine Canceled Spideys Eight Seeing Spirits Seven Dull Adventures Six Tempers Blowing Five Salty Sloths Four Kings To Vent To Three Cartoon Epics Two Singing Planets And a plumber from the 90's
I will dissagree on the style, I love the flat look to this movie, that being said: I love 3D cel shading in general and this film is one of the best examples I've seen off it. Plus, a lot of the time more textured visuals in animated films don't work for me, Like say, Onward, the super detailed skin and lighting is fine... but like, they're blue cartoon elves, it felt out of place which is not an issue I ever had with this film.
Yeah exactly. I definitely wouldn't say it looked unfinished either, the strong contrasts and simple colouring gives the movie a very nice looking visual identity. I mean other mediums have already proven how good celshading can look, I mean just look at Nintendos recent Legend of Zelda games with Breath of the Wild, and Tears of the Kingdom. Even Wind Waker 20 years ago.
Definitely one of the most mature Disney works that I've had the pleasure of watching in recent years. It was all but stated that Nimona was about to end her own life, which was both a stressful and powerful moment.
Agreed and that scream she does when she is about to do it you can tell she is letting out all of her pain and anger she has had in her life in that scream.
Just wanted you to know this isn't actually a Disney film, nor should it be remembered as one after they canceled it for stupid reasons. But even though it's not technically a Blue Sky film anymore, it should be remembered as they're last laugh against Disney for doing them dirty.
I actually cried during the ending. The "I dont know whats scarier, that everyone in this kindom wants to drive a sword through my heart? Or that sometimes, I just wanna let em" gets me everytime. As someone who struggled a lot with suicidal ideation as a trans person, it just hit so hard. Both times.
41% Also do not feel bad for her. She is an innately evil creature. It is literally shown throughout the entire movie that she goes out of her way to cause as much trouble as she wants to. She is selfish, anti-social, and a massive jerk that likes to manipulate people. Oh, and of course as is tradition. ahem. 🤡🤡🤡
4:14 If I had to guess on budget, beyond being passed around, *her shapeshifting.* Watching the Behind the Scenes and slowing the film down you can see that they don't do the same style each time, but her transformations pacing and approach is tailored to fit the scene, from slow transitions to one where she swirls into a play-doh ball and rolls out into another animal. It goes by quick but it's part of what makes those scenes so fun to watch.
To your point on the animation, I implore you to look up the leaked footage from the original Blue Sky cut. The lighting and rendering are a lot better because they had that Disney backing at first. That being said, I still think the animation is pretty damn gorgeous and it's a miracle that this movie even saw the light of day. And while yes I also felt kinda frustrated by THAT trope, I felt like the gravity of it in this movie was definitely the best I've ever seen it. While there is a misunderstanding between the characters, what I like about it is that it focuses less on that and more on Nimona sort of suffering PTSD from the situation. It brings her back to all the times that she wasn't trusted even when she has the best of intentions, and I got so emotionally invested that when the marquee shot of the movie came I actually teared up a bit. It's a little by-the-numbers on paper but I think the execution was just fantastic.
My favorite line in the movie and the one I connected with the most is when Bal says “And now you’re a boy” and she says “I am today” like that just resonated with me
Glad you covered this movie! I absolutely loved it, the animation and characters were beautiful, and the ending made me cry; I hope more people see it!
The graphic novel was originally the artist’s student project. He wrote it before he came out as trans. The shapeshifting girl was his fantasy of being able to change into the body he wanted at will. I understand wanting commentary that has more room for interpretation, but this was always meant to be a trans story even before the writer knew thats what it was
I love this film and I think it dives into deep themes very well. Also I love how casually Doug mentions Balister and Goldenloin’s relationship because the movie does it so casually I just want more movies and shows to do that more than making it a big deal
Honestly, that's what everyone wants. There's a reason I separate LGBT from Pride. Every single LGBT person I've met has shared the same, universal desire: To just be allowed to live their lives and be left alone, same as everyone else. And the way you show that is by having these people just...exist. There's no trumpet blaring how progressive and wonderful they are, they don't sit anyone down and slowly spell out 'I'M GAY, HE'S GAY, WE LOVE MEN NOT WOMEN', and they don't treat it as anything special or unique. They're just a loving, healthy couple (until they aren't, until they are), and that's all there is to say about the situation. All of that is what 'Pride' folk do. Because they don't want to be left alone, or treated like everyone else. They want to be special, and if that means they have to sink an entire group of peoples reputation, and ruin interpersonal relationships for decades to come, then by god, they'll be first in line with the torch.
If it wasn’t for the pandemic, this movie would’ve been blue sky studios’ Spiderverse moment and it probably would’ve been a solid hit in theaters. But I’m glad the studio actually got to go out on a high note with Nimona. Also, anyone see any parallels between this and the iron giant? Think about it: . The title character is this powerful supernatural being who’s learning to become more human. . Theres an outcast type human who acts as the moral compass of the title character. . It’s themes of being of acceptance, being who you want to be, and friendship. . The antagonist is this close minded authority figure, who’s filled with prejudice and fear. . Even the ending is directly the same where the title character sacrifice themselves but comeback at the final scene of the movie. Nimona can be seen as spiritual successor to the iron Giant.
Yeah sadly I don’t think this film would’ve been a huge success if it was released theatrically. Many countries in the Middle East and elsewhere would’ve banned it for the queer representation... 😕
I really like the subversion of expectation with Ballister and Ambrosius. They could have easily just been rivals with Ambrosius being a direct descendant and always trying to one up Ballister, but they went the rout of love interest. It makes the conflict more interesting with there dynamic.
I really liked nimona it felt like the film that modern Disney and Pixar have been trying to make but have failed miserably but with nimona it works so well! I will admit the pacing did feel abit too fast near the beginning but near the second act everything felt very nicely paced I will admit I did get kinda choked up near the end and if you think about it this feels like a farewell card from blue sky before they would be shut down so yeah i absolutely adored nimona! if your a fan of the works from ND Stevenson or even a blue sky fan then you’ll love this movie
I actually really liked this movie and while it does have some cliches in it I still think it was good I especially like it's humor particularly from nimona themselves. I also like how serious at times especially with the character of nimona themselves and their past and why they are the way they are. Overall i would give this movie a positive review and would recommend it.
@@flixchix95 and Disney Reject the production of the movie becouse of it lgtb elements. Nimona is 100% a netflix movie. and claiming that its an honor addition to disney movie library is a kick to face of the creator of the comic.. and the people that actually made this movie happen,
I feel like Nimona should win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature! I’m not sure if this should count as an addition for “Disneycember”, though it was mostly done by Blue Sky when Disney claimed 20th Century Fox. It’s still a good thing that Annapurna is giving work to the animators from Blue Sky.
On the eleventh day of Disneycember the Critic gave to me, eleven one-ups against Disney, ten not-scary ghosts, nine radioactive spiders, eight dead people, seven Lost Boys(?), six emotional waters. Five Ice Age movies~! Forgettable songs and characters, three amazing finale specials, two quantum bands, and a crappy video game movie. I read the graphic novel this was based on. I loved this adaptation.
This definitely sounds like one of Blue Sky's better films. Gotta be honest though, the one I am really looking forward to hearing Doug talk about this year is The Peanuts Movie.
I find it strange that Doug NEVER mentions how, while this is technically Blue Sky Studios final film, neither Disney or Fox owns the film. Not anymore. Plus, how Blue Sky shut down a few years ago. That's a bit dumb.
@@nine_tails137Disney bought Fox and then shut down Blue Sky in 2020 for Covid-19 (So they say, seeing as how they were big competitors I think it was a scapegoat)
@@merlinandmurdoch7837 Wait, I know Disney bought Fox(like the greedy monopoly bastards they are), but do you mean they "forced" Blue Sky to shut down? Or did Blue Sky shut down on their own accord because of the buyout?
@nine_tails137 Well, Disney did force Blue Sky Studios to shut down on April of 2021. And now, aside from Nimona, any and all projects Blue Sky were working on have been cancelled.
I kinda disagree on the liar reveal part, because it was trying to represent a certain type of people that go through misunderstanding like that every single day. The fact it annoys the viewer is the point. Yeah, it might be lines you’ve heard a million different times before but they’re talking about something different, that animated movies haven’t really been talking about, and not to this extent of profoundness. There’s a reason we keep watching cliches, it’s because every time that they’re done, they’re done for different reasons, and have different outcomes and a different influence on us as viewers and as people.
I LOVE this movie. Was watching Corridor Crew when they mentioned it, decided to check it out and had a blast. I laughed so hard I think my neighbors heard me. I honestly never noticed the clichés until Doug now mentioned them, I had that much fun with this movie. The voice acting is stellar, they characters are great, the humor is top notch, I honestly think it's a great film. Chloe Grace Moretz must've had her time of her life voicing Nimona, you can tell by just watching it
I find it hilarious that Disney tried so hard to push Nimona down the toilet while they already have so many projects stuck in development hell: the Darkwing Duck reboot, the threequels for National Treasure, Tron and The Princess Diaries, every Star Wars movie, a Pirates of the Caribbean movie, the live action African princess movie, Sade, which I'm convinced at this point they turned it into the live action Little Mermaid movie. And at the same time, Nimona has gotten so much critical acclaim, Disney's neverending sabotage of their animated movies is biting them in the ass with a counting number of blox office flops! It's like poetry, it rhymes! They also sabotaged every live action movie that isn't part of the brands they bought or studio they own. I mean, I'd love to see another ORIGINAL PG 13 live action franchise but they don't care. Wish I would've gotten to see Nimona in theaters. We don't see many queer leads in kids/family movies or animated movies on the big screen.
Honestly the ending ruined it for me. Yes it was the gay part. But not because they showed 2 dudes kissing..... well maybe a little 😂. It was how they started acting at the end. Holding hands and skipping around. It didn't match anything of there character and it basically hints that if you're gay you will suddenly act more feminine and skipping around etc. Even real gays have said this isn't how all gays act.
@@Dante84-t6w What? They were shown holding hands since the beginning of the movie and they didnt skip around. They're in a more peaceful environment together, happier than before. It didnt feel like it was against their characters at all 😕
But sadly its banned in china, russia, the middle east because the film is an lgbtq film and most other countries banned gay content and refuses to support gay people.
Nimona was honestly great. Sure, it can be tropey and yeah, the dance sequence could've definitely been cut for more development, but overall I think we do need more films like Nimona. For as often as Doug has seen the messages here, I think that a lot of similar projects are often put down, cancelled, or reshaped into something they aren't. Despite its hectic production I feel like Nimona managed to keep its heart, and because it did Nimona touches on a lot of points through characters that I think too many companies are afraid to get into. I appreciate the new perspective of the struggle that comes with these characters. Maybe they do get a little tropey at times, but I think it's important that we get to see that yeah, other people can have the same experience, and they're just as much people as anyone else. Sure, maybe the basic story structure is recognizable, but I think it's still well applied and executed, especially despite the production. Nimona is a lot of fun, and I'm glad this movie managed to get out there at all. It has a good message, it's a fun ride, and it gives me hope that we're steadily heading in a better direction for society.
This is Blue Sky's last film and they went out with a bang with Nimona. Completely a turn around from the Disney formula despite the Disney style animation.
Wait this is under the Disney flag? What?! My goodness they’re like a hydra. They have so many heads it’s nuts. Which is honestly fitting given the film. The real monster all along was the billion dollar mega corp.
Yeah technically. Disney cancelled the movie when it was around 75% complete. It kinda infamously was the one animated movie the corporation's leadership thought was "Too woke" and wanted several changes to it, including removing basically all mentions of homosexuality and LGBT+ themes, which were pretty central with many of the allegories in the film. Thankfully Netflix saw its potential and managed to buy the movie and the rights to it from the Disney behemoth and finish the movie with Annapurna pictures, including several former Blue Sky animators who jumped ship with the movie.
Again, work the three Hercule Poirot movies done by Kenneth Branagh into Disneycember in the future too since they're all 20th Century. Here's the thing though about covering recent stuff you already talked about though: it's something we already got you sharing your opinion on. For the sake of variety, be nice to see you covering way more things you haven't seen before too-and I'm admittedly way more partial to the movie reviews than I am to the TV and games reviews too.
This movie was honestly such a nice suprise and frankly its a miracle it was even made to begin with. Props to Netflix for picking it up when seemingly nobody else wanted to.
I love the vibe that they went with of the "medieval future" to reflect a world with advanced technology still held back by some antiquated ideas. It really fits. The top comment goes into the comic (which is also awesome) being more morally grey which I can agree but I also feel like this movie benefits from having an idea of the story's core themes they want to express and how that shaped aspects like Nimona's and Ballister's backstories. I could compare some aspects of it to Zootopia in that it addresses ways in which you can still hurt someone without intending to as biases you grew up with impact how you treat people.
1. Blue Sky was not involved in this final version of the film. Blue Sky completed 75% of it, then it was bought by Disney when Disney bought FOX, then they closed the studio when they didn't know what to do with it, and then a year later, Netflix picked it up and enlisted a third-party studio to finish it. This is why every Blue Sky employee is credited at the end. This is why everyone in animation is praising Netflix for this. So no, the final version that eventually came is NOT a Blue Sky movie. 2. The flat-colored style was intentional. It was used back when Blue Sky was producing it.
that thing is talked about how its talked about because its based on the authors personal journey of self discovery. the original story the movie is based on is quite a few years old at this point.
Hey look at that, a Netflix movie that's apart of this year's Disneycember!!! In all seriousness, Nimona is hands down my favorite film of the year and definitely proved to the world that Blue sky studios made an epic finale before shutting down in early 2021. Then again, the film is the debut for Annapurna feature animation and cannot wait on what the future holds for that studio alongside collaborating with visual effects studio, Double Negative!!! 😎😎😎🔥
I just really loved the animation in the movie,. Also since Allaster is Gay, I knew that Disney would try to censor it. So I am glad that Netflix got their hands on it. And it’s a great story. Very well done
It was so refreshing for there to be openly LGBTQA Plus characters, without any of them being stereotypical. They understand that you have to have character traits outside of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Also the movie doesn't go and point at it like certain movies do... or make it brief so it can be changed or removed like.. CERTAIN movies do. It felt like two charaters that happen to be gay having a cute romance. In my opinion... good charater traits aren't driven by their sexuality/gender. Good charaters are driven by their morals , upbringing and their dreams. Wich can be part of their sexuality, just not the main part.
Or... I don't know... it isn't a human being and as such isn't bound by the biological duality that exists in humanity. The only one who halfway fits that description is the openly gay and minority knight that they had to cram in there for brownie points... though, I will give credit where credit is due, at least they didn't make the blond, fair-skinned dude a evil prick as I first assumed they would do. Though it was still pretty formulaic, but hey, they broke one trope so, hats off, baby steps. Also the fact that the both of them weren't perfect and had flaws and actually had personalities beyond just being gay.
As far as the film itself, I already explained my thoughts under Animat's review. Nimona was the movie that Wish should've been, with a unique artstyle, a heartfelt story, and some bold choices. I do think the source material was better in some ways. I recently read the graphic novel on ReadComicsOnline, and it has changes I liked, such as the Director more being involved in an underground weapons project and manufacturing an illegal substance instead of creating a murderous conspiracy that offered no benefit to anyone. I also admired that there was an antagonistic relationship between Ballister and Ambrosia even before the former was forced to be a villain. However, Nimona's backstory in the adaptation made more sense, the climax was more tearjerking, and her avoidence of murder despite her obvious bloodlust made her a more interesting character.
4:01 That’s the thing, Doug: The movie was trying to go for a cel shaded look. It was literally confirmed that. And to be honest, while a couple of Spider-Verse’s animators helped with this film, the style wasn’t really inspired by Spider-Verse, even though Spider-Verse started development back in 2014 and this originally started development back in 2015. I heard the style they were trying to go for was more of a “Sleeping Beauty” style with the cel shading inspired by Disney shorts such as “Paperman” and “Feast”. Also, the animation for the movie ended up getting done by DNEG when it got revived, and a lot of animators that worked at Blue Sky, Sony, Skydance Animation, and even an animator from Reel FX helped with the film. Heck, I learned from IMDB that one of the storyboard artists from “Spark: A Space Tail” was also one of the storyboard artists for “Nimona”. Awesome.😁 Also, while I’m at it, I might as well give a shout-out to animator Maria Montes, who, according to Wikipedia, helped with “Justin and the Knights of Valour”, “Mortadelo & Filemon: Mission Impossible”, a Seven Dwarves movie from 2015 (I think, and even “Nimona”. She’s an amazing animator and I hope to meet her one day.😁👍🏻
"This has been talked about over and over again in animated movies" Actually, no. Not at all. Because Disney never had the balls to do it that obviously.
I honestly enjoyed the freshness of the simple yet clean cell shade style as you are not over loaded with texture in a movie that has quite a bit of fast stretch and squish animation style. It plays well into its goofy story nature.
It's a real shame blue sky closed down cuz nimona is deffinatly their spider-verse and could have really turned their whole reputation around. Least we can take comfort that disney is kicking themselves for scrapping it especially with the year they've been having
On the 11th day of disneycember, the critic gave to me. 11 Sci-Fi Knights, 10 Haunted Houses, 9 Spider Battles, 8 Ghosts observing, 7 magical pixies, 6 Fire and water Love Stories, 5 SPITING CONTINENTS, 4 wishing stars, 3 palisman, 2 marvelous disappointments And a goomba with a Human body!
Sometimes when you say you’ve seen something “a million times” and that it’s “cliche” I wish you’d give examples. I don’t think it a lot of things you touch on are as overdone as you make them out to be. The ending sequence was pretty surprising to me, I didn’t expect it to go to the places it did. Besides the reveal of the “villain” I guess, both times 😂 Great review as always!
(tw, mentions of attempted suicide) I don't agree with Doug calling the climax tropey or cliche, tbh. Yes, Nimona shapeshifting can be seen as an allegory for a number of different things, but lets be real, it's supposed to be a trans allegory. a trans flag appears in the scene when nimona is talking about how shapeshifting is what's natural, for christ's sake. To me, the climax was a trans kid, already not accepted by the majority of their community and losing acceptance of the one person previously on their side, attempting suicide and being stopped. that's some intense shit. the entire scene of her walking to the statue was so powerful to me bc its literally a kid walking to the place they intend to commit public suicide. I'm glad the movie could have such a powerful depiction of the cost of not accepting trans children while also allowing its trans child character to actually live and have a happy ending. i don't think i've ever seen a movie that's had such an intensely dark climax
Nimona was obviously incredibly punk and trans and a critique of modern society and it's insane to bitch that the character isn't more generic, we've literally never had a genderqueer/fluid character like this in anything before, so to bitch they go so hard in that direction at the expense of people who like wearing slightly different clothing styles? Insane.
I can forgive any and all negative parts of this film for my personal connection with Nimona. As a genderfluid individual with deep seated depression, Nimona spoke to how I felt so much that I can forgive any of the movies flaws (which are few and far between).
I enjoyed this despite disagreements I have, which is testament to how well they did on this. Nimona is quotable as hell and I love the jokes, especially….”Metalllllllll”
Exactly. The mark of a good artist is the ability to transcend arguments. I shouldn't need to be drinking your brand of kool-aid to be able to enjoy your work, or identify with your character.
My favorite Nimona fact is that Ballister and Ambrosius aren’t a couple in the book, but they were so clearly in love that they actually became an explicit couple in the movie 👀
I’ve read both the graphic novel + seen the movie and ND Stevenson stated (before the production of the movie) that they were implied to be a couple in the story, they were technically canon basically
I saw this with my little ones and they both loved it. we enjoyed it and the oldest one managed to get the messages that the film was giving out. I will suggest this for a good film to watch.
Also, why did you assume the visuals were literally unfinished? It's meant to look that way. Have you ever seen footage of Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker? Removing texture is meant to put more emphasis on the lighting and animation. There's nothing wrong with Nimona's aesthetics.
Doesn't mean he has to like it. I personally hate Windwaker's style. Never playing that game😂although it's more about how stupid-looking they made Link look...
I more or less stumbled across this one, and I have to admit, it suprised me. Not in that it has that many new ideas or things in it. I liked the look honestly, I liked the humor and the story was good enough to see it till the end. Moretz brings alot of energy to the character and I love the choice here.
I actually thought you were going to wait until the end of December to review this, as it would’ve been fitting for the last “Disneycember” review of 2023, like how “Nimona” was Blue Sky’s last movie. Speaking of animated movies with a troubled production that were saved by Netflix & became huge hits for them, please review “Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio”. I’M SO CONFIDENT YOU’LL LIKE IT DOUG! 😊
Essentially, it was the film Blue Sky was working on when it got shuttered. It was taken over by Netflix and Annapurna Pictures (the first project by their new animation division, though they also worked on Sausage Party and Missing Link). The animation that wasn't finished by Blue Sky was done by DNeg Animation, the company behind Ron's Gone Wrong and The Garfield Movie.
What did everyone think of Nimona?
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I really enjoyed it, and loved the LGBTQA Plus representation.
It feel ok and Nimona is cool
Rubbish and nothing but a conveyance for "the message"
𝔸𝕨𝕖𝕤𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕧𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕠!
Rather enjoyed
Fun Fact: The credits for the film has an entire section dedicated to everyone who has worked at Blue Sky, complete with Nimona shapeshifting into a squirrel. (Like their mascot, Scrat.) A bittersweet, but great note to end on. I'm glad this will always be remembered as Blue Sky's final film. It's characters and animation are great, and it's messages are exactly what the world needs right now. Blue Sky really went out with a bang in that sense.
Now that's what I call an homage.
We need more like this.
They finally made something other than an Ice Age sequel, and it was not just amazing, but METAL!
“Exactly what the world needs right now” you’ve just lost your 🧠 privileges with that statement right there, it was literally perfect until you HAD to put that there
Yeah but then bitchass Disney had to go and ruin them.
According to ND Stevenson, the medieval/sci fi aesthetic is representative of how while this society has advanced technologically, they're still stuck in the same, medieval mindset and prejudices. So it's a cool design choice and it serves the movie's themes.
I feel it is like many things in the film. A good idea but one which is underexploded in the film.
Sadly, pretty accurate
It's doesn't works 100% though, because the people in this world are still acting like modern day people. I don't think "bro dudes" were a thing in medieval times, same for the hyperactive way they all act in some scenes. And I don't think homosexuality would have been as accepted as it is in this film. I mean, sure, Balister and Ambrosius still keep quiet about that but I mostly feel it was because Abrosius is of noble descent and Balister is a commoner, and romance between social classes was also a big no no back then.
There still holding onto 1,000 old traditions
Okay, technically this video's cheating since, while Blue Sky did a lot of the work on it, neither they nor Disney own it. But I'm just glad you're talking about it. The fact that it got picked up by Netflix and Annapurna and eventually finished will always be appreciated as Blue Sky's final "take that!" towards Disney for getting rid of it and them. And boy, it really deserves to be remembered as Blue Sky's best. The story, animation, and characters are amazing, and it's messages are exactly what the world needs to hear right now. I'm so glad it got a second chance to not only exist, but shine.
Very much agreed
Yeah, I'm surprised he included this. I thought everyone knew it wasn't Disney. Quite the opposite.
@@waterbullstudios9195To be fair, I think he's only counting this because a lot of official Disney movies were not the best this year and he probably wanted to talk about a movie he kinda likes for once. God, Disney needs to change and soon if they don't want to be forgotten next.
Totally. Not since Blue Sky’s released that video of Scrat eating the acorn have we ever seen another blue skys production.
@@jessiefyler3751if that was true he maybe should have been more negative on his reviews. Most of them have been overall positive even for the worst movies
My one disappointment with this is that in comparison to the original book, where every character is very morally dubious, in the movie anyone who's good is 100% good and anyone bad is pretty 100% bad. Still as a fan of the book I can't help but love it just for existing after everything it went through!
That may have been done because of the target audience
Apparently that was the call of the comics creator! At least in the case of Nimona herself. Apparently the reason he made her morally good instead of morally grey was because he wanted to reinforce the fact that she was NOT the problem. She was a bit of a self insert for himself back when he wrote the comic. He hated himself and didn’t believe he deserved a happy ending. And therefore in his mind neither did Nimona. Now he’s healed he realised she DOES. So he rewrote the story accordingly!
@@Crazygamergal For herself.
@@LordRezo he’s trans masculine. His pronouns are he/him you pathetic brick.
Yeah im kinda getting sick from this Trump type of characters like seriously the villain is a bitch that vaguely sence something bad is going to happen to the wall because a half blood was going to be a knight. Yeah killing your higher ups is fine, framing others for murder is fine, believing in vague supertitions is fine, causing colateral damage because of one threat is fine, but a making a half blood a Sir? Thats a big NONO
You either live long enough to be a popular studio, or you're left to be forgotten. But Bluesky will never die, and they are now a LEGEND!!!!!!!!
And Schaffrillas tore them apart
You say that like Bluesky made any good movies other than this
@@amazingspiderladhey, the first few Ice Age movies were pretty good.
@@amazingspiderlad”Robots” and “Rio” were decent and fun, and “The Peanuts Movie” was great.
@@amazingspiderladthe peanuts movie is pretty good, and I liked spys in Disguise
The part when Nimona and Bal argued was cliche, but it was very well done. It touched my heart when he apologized and says "I see you"
I see what you did there ...
Would you shocked if I said it was done better in the book?
Chloe Grace Moretz was the best choice for the voice of Nimona. I really hope that she does more animated movies. Her turn as Wednesday Addams were the only redeeming aspect of those movies.
I agree, she made Wednesday sound like a female HAL 9000! If it were remade today, she would the perfect voice for him/her.
i love cloe shes so cute
The animated Addams Family movies suck
I think being in Tom and Jerry 2021 was enough to kill her career.
not her fault that the movie sucked she whas just doing her job so go easy@@lil_dak_1587
I do find it funny that Dough criticism usually boils down to "I seen this before" and "I guess little kids who have not seen the trope as much won't mind". Like I get that criticism when seeing a bunch of movie but like personally tropes are tropes for a reason, they can often work effectively and it just about the execution. And as far as execution goes, the movie did a good job and overall really enjoy it. The style was refreshing, and the child like energy mix made the heavy moment stand out more. One of my more favorite animated movie this year.
He hates tropes an ungodly amount. Like I don’t get it.
@@highvoltage7797True. Tropes are in every movie and stories in general so it's weird that Doug goes back and forth on hating them. Unless he's biased to specific ones.
When you've seen the same tropes for over 40 years, not only can they get very tiring, but you start to notice their shortcomings and flaws. Plus there are worse tropes than others, and in my opinion there are tropes that are just not good, so it's understandable that when someone complains about a trope, it's because that particular trope is not of their liking. But any trope can re-invent itself or do something clever with it that makes things fresh, and that's what the best movies do. Still, not every movie *has* to be that ambitious, but for many people, playing it safe may not be something that makes them love a movie.
I *love* the art style. You can tell that it was an intentional choice to have things stylized like they are and for being stylized, it's incredibly detailed. Plus, they're able to get *so* much emotion across in the expressions. Nimona and The Mitchells Vs The Machines are two of my favorite recent animated movies. And they both just look so *nifty!*
And the part where Nimona is about to kill herself makes me cry. Every time. You can *feel* the pain and loneliness and exhaustion and it breaks my heart.
I know Doug had issues with the art style, but if you compare it to the graphic novel, this movie looks like Coco or Happy Feet.
Same, I really appreciate the art style here - it reminds me a lot of the french comic/movie Zombillenium 👍
I WISH I had this movie when I was a kid. Doug, sometimes you just have to SAY THE THING. Kids (and a lot of adults) need that direction and moral focus. So, when you're a kid, who feels like a monster, for feeling the way you do, or loving who you love, it's nice to hear SOMEONE say that you're not a monster, out loud.
thank you, finally someone said it
thats one of the things i appreciated from steven universe future where they are so focused on themselves, it took connies words saying its not about you, its him! Moments like that and here in nimona are moments that either give young people that slight feeling of hope from art or even just hearing the words they needed to hear. WE NEED MOVIES & SHOWS LIKE THAT
Oh woe is me, I am a terrible person with horrible ideas and tendencies. Feel bad for me so I can emotionally manipulate you! Ough! 😫
I feel like he always gets really miffed when a story is clear about its message
Dude, the scene where nimona disguises as ballister and starts to play jazz kills me every time 🤣🤣🤣🤣
im not a girl ima shark
I hate everything! But not as much as I hate myself! 🥺 can someone give me a hug? Now I’m loitering and littering! 🤣
im giving you a hug i feelt so bad for her i whas glad that he whas there for her@@tayloredwards1675
ill give you a hug@@tayloredwards1675
On the Eleventh day of Disneycember. The critic gave to me
Eleven Shape-Shifters
Ten Boring Mansions
Nine Canceled Spideys
Eight Seeing Spirits
Seven Dull Adventures
Six Tempers Blowing
Five Salty Sloths
Four Kings To Vent To
Three Cartoon Epics
Two Singing Planets
And a plumber from the 90's
I will dissagree on the style, I love the flat look to this movie, that being said: I love 3D cel shading in general and this film is one of the best examples I've seen off it. Plus, a lot of the time more textured visuals in animated films don't work for me, Like say, Onward, the super detailed skin and lighting is fine... but like, they're blue cartoon elves, it felt out of place which is not an issue I ever had with this film.
Yeah exactly. I definitely wouldn't say it looked unfinished either, the strong contrasts and simple colouring gives the movie a very nice looking visual identity. I mean other mediums have already proven how good celshading can look, I mean just look at Nintendos recent Legend of Zelda games with Breath of the Wild, and Tears of the Kingdom. Even Wind Waker 20 years ago.
When you compare the art style to that of the graphic novel, this is Pixar quality animation.
Definitely one of the most mature Disney works that I've had the pleasure of watching in recent years. It was all but stated that Nimona was about to end her own life, which was both a stressful and powerful moment.
Agreed and that scream she does when she is about to do it you can tell she is letting out all of her pain and anger she has had in her life in that scream.
i love her so much i whas so glad that she whas alive at the end@@Colejones9505
por nimone thank god he got there in time
@@MariusKristensen yeah
Just wanted you to know this isn't actually a Disney film, nor should it be remembered as one after they canceled it for stupid reasons. But even though it's not technically a Blue Sky film anymore, it should be remembered as they're last laugh against Disney for doing them dirty.
I actually cried during the ending. The "I dont know whats scarier, that everyone in this kindom wants to drive a sword through my heart? Or that sometimes, I just wanna let em" gets me everytime.
As someone who struggled a lot with suicidal ideation as a trans person, it just hit so hard. Both times.
41%
Also do not feel bad for her. She is an innately evil creature. It is literally shown throughout the entire movie that she goes out of her way to cause as much trouble as she wants to. She is selfish, anti-social, and a massive jerk that likes to manipulate people.
Oh, and of course as is tradition. ahem.
🤡🤡🤡
4:14 If I had to guess on budget, beyond being passed around, *her shapeshifting.* Watching the Behind the Scenes and slowing the film down you can see that they don't do the same style each time, but her transformations pacing and approach is tailored to fit the scene, from slow transitions to one where she swirls into a play-doh ball and rolls out into another animal. It goes by quick but it's part of what makes those scenes so fun to watch.
To your point on the animation, I implore you to look up the leaked footage from the original Blue Sky cut. The lighting and rendering are a lot better because they had that Disney backing at first. That being said, I still think the animation is pretty damn gorgeous and it's a miracle that this movie even saw the light of day. And while yes I also felt kinda frustrated by THAT trope, I felt like the gravity of it in this movie was definitely the best I've ever seen it. While there is a misunderstanding between the characters, what I like about it is that it focuses less on that and more on Nimona sort of suffering PTSD from the situation. It brings her back to all the times that she wasn't trusted even when she has the best of intentions, and I got so emotionally invested that when the marquee shot of the movie came I actually teared up a bit. It's a little by-the-numbers on paper but I think the execution was just fantastic.
My favorite line in the movie and the one I connected with the most is when Bal says “And now you’re a boy” and she says “I am today” like that just resonated with me
Rot moment.
Glad you covered this movie! I absolutely loved it, the animation and characters were beautiful, and the ending made me cry; I hope more people see it!
I'm really glad that more and more CG films use Cel-shaded visuals. It's one of my favorite artstyles.
And counterpoint to the argument about the textures looking unfinished: Look at the armor on the knights and Nimona's chainmail.
The graphic novel was originally the artist’s student project. He wrote it before he came out as trans. The shapeshifting girl was his fantasy of being able to change into the body he wanted at will. I understand wanting commentary that has more room for interpretation, but this was always meant to be a trans story even before the writer knew thats what it was
exactly. its a very personal and important thing.
Lame
@@endthelogin yeah, your bigotry kinda is.
@@saphcal it’s not bigotry. Bigotry implies lack of understanding, i require no further education on this false ideology.
thank you for saying this, I feel like Critic sort of missed the point.
I love this film and I think it dives into deep themes very well. Also I love how casually Doug mentions Balister and Goldenloin’s relationship because the movie does it so casually I just want more movies and shows to do that more than making it a big deal
Honestly, that's what everyone wants. There's a reason I separate LGBT from Pride. Every single LGBT person I've met has shared the same, universal desire: To just be allowed to live their lives and be left alone, same as everyone else. And the way you show that is by having these people just...exist. There's no trumpet blaring how progressive and wonderful they are, they don't sit anyone down and slowly spell out 'I'M GAY, HE'S GAY, WE LOVE MEN NOT WOMEN', and they don't treat it as anything special or unique. They're just a loving, healthy couple (until they aren't, until they are), and that's all there is to say about the situation.
All of that is what 'Pride' folk do. Because they don't want to be left alone, or treated like everyone else. They want to be special, and if that means they have to sink an entire group of peoples reputation, and ruin interpersonal relationships for decades to come, then by god, they'll be first in line with the torch.
This one really deserves its own review.
Again stop encouraging him
And not because I think it's bad.
But by Dom.
The source material is so incredibly good.
Not sure it can be done as a full review since it was a streaming release.
If it wasn’t for the pandemic, this movie would’ve been blue sky studios’ Spiderverse moment and it probably would’ve been a solid hit in theaters. But I’m glad the studio actually got to go out on a high note with Nimona. Also, anyone see any parallels between this and the iron giant? Think about it:
. The title character is this powerful supernatural being who’s learning to become more human.
. Theres an outcast type human who acts as the moral compass of the title character.
. It’s themes of being of acceptance, being who you want to be, and friendship.
. The antagonist is this close minded authority figure, who’s filled with prejudice and fear.
. Even the ending is directly the same where the title character sacrifice themselves but comeback at the final scene of the movie.
Nimona can be seen as spiritual successor to the iron Giant.
jepp i see it too love both movies
I doubt it would have done as well as you think.
Yeah sadly I don’t think this film would’ve been a huge success if it was released theatrically. Many countries in the Middle East and elsewhere would’ve banned it for the queer representation... 😕
of curse they wuld@@gabriellastelt3422
Don’t u F*cking dare compare the iron giant to this
This was truly a miracle movie. Emotional, funny and heartfelt, so happy it ended up getting a release.
It catered to my delusions! 10/10 best movie ever. 🤡🤡🤡
I really like the subversion of expectation with Ballister and Ambrosius. They could have easily just been rivals with Ambrosius being a direct descendant and always trying to one up Ballister, but they went the rout of love interest. It makes the conflict more interesting with there dynamic.
I really liked nimona it felt like the film that modern Disney and Pixar have been trying to make but have failed miserably but with nimona it works so well! I will admit the pacing did feel abit too fast near the beginning but near the second act everything felt very nicely paced I will admit I did get kinda choked up near the end and if you think about it this feels like a farewell card from blue sky before they would be shut down so yeah i absolutely adored nimona! if your a fan of the works from ND Stevenson or even a blue sky fan then you’ll love this movie
I actually really liked this movie and while it does have some cliches in it I still think it was good I especially like it's humor particularly from nimona themselves. I also like how serious at times especially with the character of nimona themselves and their past and why they are the way they are. Overall i would give this movie a positive review and would recommend it.
I watched this on Netflix, wasn't bad. Didn't really think it'd be part of disneycember lol
Like for real. Much as i like disney this isnt there product. They shut down blue sky and clearly didnt want or endorse this.
disney is dead too me@@chloenieuwsma4846
It's more of an honor addition. Nimona did start under Blue Sky
@@flixchix95 and Disney Reject the production of the movie becouse of it lgtb elements.
Nimona is 100% a netflix movie. and claiming that its an honor addition to disney movie library is a kick to face of the creator of the comic.. and the people that actually made this movie happen,
I feel like Nimona should win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature!
I’m not sure if this should count as an addition for “Disneycember”, though it was mostly done by Blue Sky when Disney claimed 20th Century Fox. It’s still a good thing that Annapurna is giving work to the animators from Blue Sky.
On the eleventh day of Disneycember the Critic gave to me, eleven one-ups against Disney, ten not-scary ghosts, nine radioactive spiders, eight dead people, seven Lost Boys(?), six emotional waters.
Five Ice Age movies~!
Forgettable songs and characters, three amazing finale specials, two quantum bands, and a crappy video game movie.
I read the graphic novel this was based on. I loved this adaptation.
Hey I got hearted!
Congratulations, I love reading these comment chains. Keep up the excellent work! 🎊👏🏾
Please stop.
This definitely sounds like one of Blue Sky's better films. Gotta be honest though, the one I am really looking forward to hearing Doug talk about this year is The Peanuts Movie.
I find it strange that Doug NEVER mentions how, while this is technically Blue Sky Studios final film, neither Disney or Fox owns the film. Not anymore. Plus, how Blue Sky shut down a few years ago. That's a bit dumb.
Wait, Blue Sky Studios shut down?! How?! Since when?!
@@nine_tails137 2021.
@@nine_tails137Disney bought Fox and then shut down Blue Sky in 2020 for Covid-19 (So they say, seeing as how they were big competitors I think it was a scapegoat)
@@merlinandmurdoch7837 Wait, I know Disney bought Fox(like the greedy monopoly bastards they are), but do you mean they "forced" Blue Sky to shut down? Or did Blue Sky shut down on their own accord because of the buyout?
@nine_tails137 Well, Disney did force Blue Sky Studios to shut down on April of 2021. And now, aside from Nimona, any and all projects Blue Sky were working on have been cancelled.
I kinda disagree on the liar reveal part, because it was trying to represent a certain type of people that go through misunderstanding like that every single day. The fact it annoys the viewer is the point.
Yeah, it might be lines you’ve heard a million different times before but they’re talking about something different, that animated movies haven’t really been talking about, and not to this extent of profoundness. There’s a reason we keep watching cliches, it’s because every time that they’re done, they’re done for different reasons, and have different outcomes and a different influence on us as viewers and as people.
"Nimona" is just METAL! 🤟🤟
we win
I LOVE this movie. Was watching Corridor Crew when they mentioned it, decided to check it out and had a blast. I laughed so hard I think my neighbors heard me. I honestly never noticed the clichés until Doug now mentioned them, I had that much fun with this movie.
The voice acting is stellar, they characters are great, the humor is top notch, I honestly think it's a great film. Chloe Grace Moretz must've had her time of her life voicing Nimona, you can tell by just watching it
I find it hilarious that Disney tried so hard to push Nimona down the toilet while they already have so many projects stuck in development hell: the Darkwing Duck reboot, the threequels for National Treasure, Tron and The Princess Diaries, every Star Wars movie, a Pirates of the Caribbean movie, the live action African princess movie, Sade, which I'm convinced at this point they turned it into the live action Little Mermaid movie.
And at the same time, Nimona has gotten so much critical acclaim, Disney's neverending sabotage of their animated movies is biting them in the ass with a counting number of blox office flops! It's like poetry, it rhymes! They also sabotaged every live action movie that isn't part of the brands they bought or studio they own. I mean, I'd love to see another ORIGINAL PG 13 live action franchise but they don't care.
Wish I would've gotten to see Nimona in theaters. We don't see many queer leads in kids/family movies or animated movies on the big screen.
I absolutely adore this movie and the original graphic novel. Glad doug got to see it!
Honestly the ending ruined it for me. Yes it was the gay part. But not because they showed 2 dudes kissing..... well maybe a little 😂. It was how they started acting at the end. Holding hands and skipping around. It didn't match anything of there character and it basically hints that if you're gay you will suddenly act more feminine and skipping around etc. Even real gays have said this isn't how all gays act.
@@Dante84-t6wthey were not skipping around and gay people do hold hands
@@Dante84-t6w
What? They were shown holding hands since the beginning of the movie and they didnt skip around. They're in a more peaceful environment together, happier than before. It didnt feel like it was against their characters at all 😕
Nimona, nominated for an Oscar.
But sadly its banned in china, russia, the middle east because the film is an lgbtq film and most other countries banned gay content and refuses to support gay people.
Nimona was honestly great. Sure, it can be tropey and yeah, the dance sequence could've definitely been cut for more development, but overall I think we do need more films like Nimona. For as often as Doug has seen the messages here, I think that a lot of similar projects are often put down, cancelled, or reshaped into something they aren't. Despite its hectic production I feel like Nimona managed to keep its heart, and because it did Nimona touches on a lot of points through characters that I think too many companies are afraid to get into. I appreciate the new perspective of the struggle that comes with these characters. Maybe they do get a little tropey at times, but I think it's important that we get to see that yeah, other people can have the same experience, and they're just as much people as anyone else. Sure, maybe the basic story structure is recognizable, but I think it's still well applied and executed, especially despite the production. Nimona is a lot of fun, and I'm glad this movie managed to get out there at all. It has a good message, it's a fun ride, and it gives me hope that we're steadily heading in a better direction for society.
This is Blue Sky's last film and they went out with a bang with Nimona. Completely a turn around from the Disney formula despite the Disney style animation.
R.I.P Blue Sky
They were amazing company
Wait this is under the Disney flag?
What?! My goodness they’re like a hydra. They have so many heads it’s nuts.
Which is honestly fitting given the film. The real monster all along was the billion dollar mega corp.
Bluesky cretaed most of movie before it moved to netlfix sence Disney bhought bluesky and destroyed it
@@vukmijatovicthis corporate accusation nonsense makes my bone marrow hurt.
Yeah technically. Disney cancelled the movie when it was around 75% complete. It kinda infamously was the one animated movie the corporation's leadership thought was "Too woke" and wanted several changes to it, including removing basically all mentions of homosexuality and LGBT+ themes, which were pretty central with many of the allegories in the film. Thankfully Netflix saw its potential and managed to buy the movie and the rights to it from the Disney behemoth and finish the movie with Annapurna pictures, including several former Blue Sky animators who jumped ship with the movie.
@@drdewott9154Jeez. Well props to Netflix for once I guess.
Even if Doug doesn't like everything about this movie, it is still pretty metal.
Again, work the three Hercule Poirot movies done by Kenneth Branagh into Disneycember in the future too since they're all 20th Century. Here's the thing though about covering recent stuff you already talked about though: it's something we already got you sharing your opinion on. For the sake of variety, be nice to see you covering way more things you haven't seen before too-and I'm admittedly way more partial to the movie reviews than I am to the TV and games reviews too.
I second this!!!!
Fun Fact: This movie was based on a graphic novel by N.D. Stevenson, the same person behind the She-Ra reboot.
This movie was honestly such a nice suprise and frankly its a miracle it was even made to begin with. Props to Netflix for picking it up when seemingly nobody else wanted to.
I love how without them speaking, you can tell which one was voiced by Eugene Lee Yang.
Fun fact, Ambrosius’ movie character design is modeled after Eugene.
I love the vibe that they went with of the "medieval future" to reflect a world with advanced technology still held back by some antiquated ideas. It really fits. The top comment goes into the comic (which is also awesome) being more morally grey which I can agree but I also feel like this movie benefits from having an idea of the story's core themes they want to express and how that shaped aspects like Nimona's and Ballister's backstories.
I could compare some aspects of it to Zootopia in that it addresses ways in which you can still hurt someone without intending to as biases you grew up with impact how you treat people.
If Spiderverse is the move we wanted, Nimona is the movie we needed.
Amen to that
In what way?
Willy wonka: Strike that. Reverse it
Nimona was trash. Everybody in the story was unlikeable, it was full of cliches, and the ending was a giant cop out.
In terms of this year? Spiderverse was needed
1. Blue Sky was not involved in this final version of the film. Blue Sky completed 75% of it, then it was bought by Disney when Disney bought FOX, then they closed the studio when they didn't know what to do with it, and then a year later, Netflix picked it up and enlisted a third-party studio to finish it. This is why every Blue Sky employee is credited at the end. This is why everyone in animation is praising Netflix for this. So no, the final version that eventually came is NOT a Blue Sky movie.
2. The flat-colored style was intentional. It was used back when Blue Sky was producing it.
that thing is talked about how its talked about because its based on the authors personal journey of self discovery. the original story the movie is based on is quite a few years old at this point.
Hey look at that, a Netflix movie that's apart of this year's Disneycember!!! In all seriousness, Nimona is hands down my favorite film of the year and definitely proved to the world that Blue sky studios made an epic finale before shutting down in early 2021. Then again, the film is the debut for Annapurna feature animation and cannot wait on what the future holds for that studio alongside collaborating with visual effects studio, Double Negative!!! 😎😎😎🔥
I just really loved the animation in the movie,. Also since Allaster is Gay, I knew that Disney would try to censor it. So I am glad that Netflix got their hands on it. And it’s a great story. Very well done
It was so refreshing for there to be openly LGBTQA Plus characters, without any of them being stereotypical. They understand that you have to have character traits outside of sexual orientation or gender identity.
it was for the lgbt woke mob
Refreshing how?
Also the movie doesn't go and point at it like certain movies do... or make it brief so it can be changed or removed like.. CERTAIN movies do.
It felt like two charaters that happen to be gay having a cute romance.
In my opinion... good charater traits aren't driven by their sexuality/gender.
Good charaters are driven by their morals , upbringing and their dreams. Wich can be part of their sexuality, just not the main part.
Or... I don't know... it isn't a human being and as such isn't bound by the biological duality that exists in humanity. The only one who halfway fits that description is the openly gay and minority knight that they had to cram in there for brownie points... though, I will give credit where credit is due, at least they didn't make the blond, fair-skinned dude a evil prick as I first assumed they would do. Though it was still pretty formulaic, but hey, they broke one trope so, hats off, baby steps. Also the fact that the both of them weren't perfect and had flaws and actually had personalities beyond just being gay.
@@imaran1303 “biological duality” has nothing to do with sexual or gender identity
It was an amazing movie. I loved it so much. Everything about this movie is fantastic. The animation and characters are so unique
I loved Nimona!! I thought it was so good and very different. I didn't know it had issues with production and it honestly makes a lot of sense.
As far as the film itself, I already explained my thoughts under Animat's review. Nimona was the movie that Wish should've been, with a unique artstyle, a heartfelt story, and some bold choices. I do think the source material was better in some ways. I recently read the graphic novel on ReadComicsOnline, and it has changes I liked, such as the Director more being involved in an underground weapons project and manufacturing an illegal substance instead of creating a murderous conspiracy that offered no benefit to anyone. I also admired that there was an antagonistic relationship between Ballister and Ambrosia even before the former was forced to be a villain. However, Nimona's backstory in the adaptation made more sense, the climax was more tearjerking, and her avoidence of murder despite her obvious bloodlust made her a more interesting character.
So Doug is fine with the mixed-genre future in this movie, but shits on it in Treasure Planet? How does Doug's mind work exactly??
4:01 That’s the thing, Doug:
The movie was trying to go for a cel shaded look. It was literally confirmed that.
And to be honest, while a couple of Spider-Verse’s animators helped with this film, the style wasn’t really inspired by Spider-Verse, even though Spider-Verse started development back in 2014 and this originally started development back in 2015. I heard the style they were trying to go for was more of a “Sleeping Beauty” style with the cel shading inspired by Disney shorts such as “Paperman” and “Feast”. Also, the animation for the movie ended up getting done by DNEG when it got revived, and a lot of animators that worked at Blue Sky, Sony, Skydance Animation, and even an animator from Reel FX helped with the film. Heck, I learned from IMDB that one of the storyboard artists from “Spark: A Space Tail” was also one of the storyboard artists for “Nimona”. Awesome.😁
Also, while I’m at it, I might as well give a shout-out to animator Maria Montes, who, according to Wikipedia, helped with “Justin and the Knights of Valour”, “Mortadelo & Filemon: Mission Impossible”, a Seven Dwarves movie from 2015 (I think, and even “Nimona”. She’s an amazing animator and I hope to meet her one day.😁👍🏻
It's not Disney lol. It's a Netflix original. Disney decided to throw the project away and Netflix picked it back up.
Definitely in my top ten favorite movies, though my expectations for them to make a sequel is low, but it would be nice.
This is the best Blue Sky animated movie and its a shame that its the last one.
"This has been talked about over and over again in animated movies" Actually, no. Not at all. Because Disney never had the balls to do it that obviously.
I honestly enjoyed the freshness of the simple yet clean cell shade style as you are not over loaded with texture in a movie that has quite a bit of fast stretch and squish animation style. It plays well into its goofy story nature.
The film that Disney axed for the same reason they axed the Owl House. “Not fitting the Disney brand”
@CipherRage-tp5qlTell that to Strange World.
@CipherRage-tp5qlAKA the gay energy is too strong for the corporate mouse
Loved this movie. An instant clsssic for me.
God, i love this animation.
It's a real shame blue sky closed down cuz nimona is deffinatly their spider-verse and could have really turned their whole reputation around.
Least we can take comfort that disney is kicking themselves for scrapping it especially with the year they've been having
I bet Disney regrets it now since this was their worst year ever
On the 11th day of disneycember, the critic gave to me.
11 Sci-Fi Knights,
10 Haunted Houses,
9 Spider Battles,
8 Ghosts observing,
7 magical pixies,
6 Fire and water Love Stories,
5 SPITING CONTINENTS,
4 wishing stars,
3 palisman,
2 marvelous disappointments
And a goomba with a Human body!
Sometimes when you say you’ve seen something “a million times” and that it’s “cliche” I wish you’d give examples. I don’t think it a lot of things you touch on are as overdone as you make them out to be. The ending sequence was pretty surprising to me, I didn’t expect it to go to the places it did. Besides the reveal of the “villain” I guess, both times 😂
Great review as always!
(tw, mentions of attempted suicide) I don't agree with Doug calling the climax tropey or cliche, tbh. Yes, Nimona shapeshifting can be seen as an allegory for a number of different things, but lets be real, it's supposed to be a trans allegory. a trans flag appears in the scene when nimona is talking about how shapeshifting is what's natural, for christ's sake.
To me, the climax was a trans kid, already not accepted by the majority of their community and losing acceptance of the one person previously on their side, attempting suicide and being stopped. that's some intense shit. the entire scene of her walking to the statue was so powerful to me bc its literally a kid walking to the place they intend to commit public suicide.
I'm glad the movie could have such a powerful depiction of the cost of not accepting trans children while also allowing its trans child character to actually live and have a happy ending. i don't think i've ever seen a movie that's had such an intensely dark climax
Nimona was obviously incredibly punk and trans and a critique of modern society and it's insane to bitch that the character isn't more generic, we've literally never had a genderqueer/fluid character like this in anything before, so to bitch they go so hard in that direction at the expense of people who like wearing slightly different clothing styles? Insane.
agreed
I didn't think the movie looked cheap. My impression was that they were trying to emulate a watercolor painting.
I absolutely love this movie. I watched it twice and still want to watch it again
I love your content! Happy holidays!
I can forgive any and all negative parts of this film for my personal connection with Nimona. As a genderfluid individual with deep seated depression, Nimona spoke to how I felt so much that I can forgive any of the movies flaws (which are few and far between).
I love the animation style in this
I enjoyed this despite disagreements I have, which is testament to how well they did on this. Nimona is quotable as hell and I love the jokes, especially….”Metalllllllll”
Exactly. The mark of a good artist is the ability to transcend arguments. I shouldn't need to be drinking your brand of kool-aid to be able to enjoy your work, or identify with your character.
My favorite Nimona fact is that Ballister and Ambrosius aren’t a couple in the book, but they were so clearly in love that they actually became an explicit couple in the movie 👀
I’ve read both the graphic novel + seen the movie and ND Stevenson stated (before the production of the movie) that they were implied to be a couple in the story, they were technically canon basically
I love this movie. It cracks me up and the characters are so cool! I also think the animation is impressive.
Blue sky’s swan song
I wouldn't count this under Disneycember but it makes sense.
Also this is the best movie of 2023. Blue Sky Never Dies.
This movie is really fun. I love Nimona's design. The messages are really nice, too. I pretty much like everything about it. :03
Love this movie so much!
I swear the premise is something I wrote in my late teens early twenties but stopped because I was like "this is fucking dumb"
Snubbed by studios, and now snubbed for a Golden Globe. Unbelievable.
I saw this with my little ones and they both loved it. we enjoyed it and the oldest one managed to get the messages that the film was giving out. I will suggest this for a good film to watch.
Doug: makes a Nimona video for Disney-cember
Me: is he allowed to do that, like, legally?
Also, why did you assume the visuals were literally unfinished? It's meant to look that way. Have you ever seen footage of Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker? Removing texture is meant to put more emphasis on the lighting and animation. There's nothing wrong with Nimona's aesthetics.
Doesn't mean he has to like it. I personally hate Windwaker's style. Never playing that game😂although it's more about how stupid-looking they made Link look...
I love the movie. Only issues I have are that I knew who the plot twist villain and didn’t feel said villain was all that fleshed out. 9/10 for me.
Nostalgia Critic didn't say "Metal" once during a Nimona review. I am disappoint.
I more or less stumbled across this one, and I have to admit, it suprised me. Not in that it has that many new ideas or things in it.
I liked the look honestly, I liked the humor and the story was good enough to see it till the end.
Moretz brings alot of energy to the character and I love the choice here.
I actually thought you were going to wait until the end of December to review this, as it would’ve been fitting for the last “Disneycember” review of 2023, like how “Nimona” was Blue Sky’s last movie.
Speaking of animated movies with a troubled production that were saved by Netflix & became huge hits for them, please review “Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio”. I’M SO CONFIDENT YOU’LL LIKE IT DOUG! 😊
Kinda a shame Netflix got this on Disney but hey at least the Public gets to see this movie and the project is done
Why? It got released, that's what matters
@@mido3332yeah I know
I was really expecting this movie to be saved for the last day for disneycember 2023
When Netflix pick up a Cancelled Blue Sky Movie.
With the amount of energy we see in current TV... I'm fine with some more adult mopping around honestly.
Essentially, it was the film Blue Sky was working on when it got shuttered. It was taken over by Netflix and Annapurna Pictures (the first project by their new animation division, though they also worked on Sausage Party and Missing Link). The animation that wasn't finished by Blue Sky was done by DNeg Animation, the company behind Ron's Gone Wrong and The Garfield Movie.