The Sea Beast

2022 - 7 - 9

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Image courtesy of "Mashable"

'The Sea Beast' review: Excellent seafaring adventure is 'Moby Dick ... (Mashable)

Netflix's 'The Sea Beast,' which follows a group of monster hunters, is a beautifully animated movie with an important message.

If you're willing to open your mind and listen to others, you could learn something that will shift your outlook for the better. Along the way, they learn new information about sea beasts like the Red Bluster, information that forces them to change their worldview. The greatest hunter ship is the Inevitable, led by Captain Crow (voiced by Jared Harris), his first mate Sarah Sharpe (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), and legendary hunter Jacob Holland (voiced by Karl Urban). They're tracking down the Red Bluster, the most fearsome of all the sea beasts. However, when the two of them get separated from the ship, they have to work together to make it home. The animation team completely immerses us in this fantasy world, so that even when a made-up monster is posing a threat to our heroes, we're holding our breath in worry. It's impossible not to be impressed by the scale of The Sea Beast, which is basically a kaiju movie with tall ships.

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Image courtesy of "Roger Ebert"

The Sea Beast movie review & film summary (2022) | Roger Ebert (Roger Ebert)

The robust family adventure “The Sea Beast,” appearing today on Netflix, is one of the biggest movie surprises of the year so far. Fun, smart, and sneakily ...

I wanted to tighten it up in a few places, and I do wish the world-building was a little stronger. “The Sea Beast” takes place in the middle of a great war between monsters and men, the latter funded by a King ( Jim Carter) and Queen (Doon Mackichan) who clearly don’t mind putting people in harm’s way but would never risk their own safety. Chris Williams (who co-directed “ Big Hero 6” and “Moana”) makes his confident solo debut with a script he co-wrote with Nell Benjamin that subverts classic seafaring adventure mythology.

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Image courtesy of "IGN"

The Sea Beast Review - IGN (IGN)

Hailing from Netflix Animation, the film tackles well-traveled themes but the gentle genre mix here, of pirates vs. ocean monsters, as well as some nicely ...

And as both Maisie and Jacob learn to love Red, and empathize with sea monsters in general, The Sea Beast still allows the monsters to keep their fangs. Karl Urban, currently starring on The Boys (and known for other wonderful sci-fi grumpiness in Dread, Star Trek, and Almost Human), gets to engage in some kindness here, as Jacob blossoms from narrow-minded to protective and compassionate. The set up, establishing both Maisie and one of her heroes, Karl Urban's beast-slayer sailor Jacob, gets a little lengthy -- as there's most definitely a shorter, tighter (better?) movie in here -- but the best, most effective parts of The Sea Beast make up for the chewier parts.

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Image courtesy of "IndieWire"

'The Sea Beast': How a Disney Alum Made His Dream Project at Netflix (IndieWire)

Chris Williams left Disney after 20 years to make a retro seafaring adventure that didn't have to lean on comedy.

For animation, we wanted to design a more stable, fast light measurement tool, and for the simulation team we wanted to better clarify the regions for them to take over.” “It had to be streamlined so that it made sense under water,” Williams added. This was called the Buoy System. “One of the first things we needed to figure out was how to float on the water without going back and forth with the effects team,” said Joshua Beveridge, head of animation. “Sony provided the believability and scale, and I told them not to be afraid of letting the effect take over the shot because that’s what makes it feel so big.” But I just wanted to disrupt myself and it was the idea that Netflix was a brand new [place] and could go in many directions.” “I wound up at Netflix because it was the antithesis of Disney,” Williams said.

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Image courtesy of "Collider.com"

'The Sea Beast' Review: Chris Williams' Ocean Adventure Might be ... (Collider.com)

Starring Karl Urban and Jared Harris, The Sea Beast feels like the beginning of a quality shift for Netflix Animation.

The Sea Beast might not become the gigantic animation success Netflix is hoping for, but it definitely looks like the tides are starting to change in their favor. As Maisie goes on this adventure with her heroes, she starts to see how the tales she’s read all these years might not be the whole truth, and that maybe these sea monsters aren’t actually monsters at all. Especially with Netflix canceling animation projects earlier this year, it seemed like the great Netflix animated original might never come to pass.

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Image courtesy of "Los Angeles Times"

Netflix's 'Sea Beast' explained: The inspiration and propaganda (Los Angeles Times)

The scoop on 'Big Hero 6' director Chris Williams, his move to Netflix with 'The Sea Beast' and the animated film's timely messages.

These stories Maisie has pored over are “very powerful tools of propaganda” that present just one point of view about what has been happening out in the ocean. Partly inspired by old nautical maps that feature illustrations of sea monsters, “The Sea Beast” channels the spirit of the types of films that Willams loved most as a kid. In some ways, “The Sea Beast” was also an adventure into the unknown for Williams (beyond the fact that production took place during a pandemic). The Netflix film is the veteran filmmaker’s first feature outside of Walt Disney Animation, where he worked for 25 years. Williams describes Jacob as “the prototypical action hero” — he’s capable, courageous, respected by his fellow hunters and has a good heart. Maisie’s goal is to join the crew of a hunting ship in order to “live a great life” fighting these giant sea beasts, much like her parents did before they died. Maisie “is just a force of nature,” said “The Sea Beast” director Chris Williams during a recent phone call.

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Image courtesy of "Polygon"

Netflix's The Sea Beast, Everything Everywhere, and 15 more new ... (Polygon)

What new movies to watch are on Netflix and other streaming platforms? The animated adventure Sea Beast, Everything Everywhere All at Once, and much more.

Liam Neeson stars in the 2022 action thriller Memory as Alex Lewis, an expert assassin with a reputation for surgical precision. Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix Where to watch: Available to stream on Shudder High school sweethearts Clare (Talia Ryder) and Aidan (Jordan Fisher) make a pact to break up before college, spending their last evening together on one final date. Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix Where to watch: Available to stream on Mubi Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix The movie’s heady deconstructive philosophy of the universe feels as ambitious and radical as The Matrix’s Gnostic take on reality did back then. Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix (“Awkward!” “Well, that happened,” and the like.) Similarly, the grandeur of the movie’s strongest visuals is allowed to stand on its own, favoring painterly compositions of the ocean’s frightening vastness over busy, desperate-to-please antics. Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix

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Netflix's 'The Sea Beast's' Monster Battle Is Better Than All of ... (Decider)

The fight scene in The Sea Beast on Netflix is the best movie monster battle of the year.

When the crab escapes to the land, Red viscerally drags her giant horn through the side of a cliff. Sorry to Jurassic World: Dominion, but Netflix’s The Sea Beast—which began streaming yesterday—has the best monster battle scene of 2022. Directed by Chris Williams, The Sea Beast tells the tale of a legendary sea monster hunter named Jacob Holland (voiced by Karl Urban) who, much to his annoyance, ends up caring for a stowaway girl named Maisie (voiced by Zaris-Angel Hator). Maisie is an orphan of sea monster hunters, and she yearns for her own adventure.

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Image courtesy of "Bleeding Cool News"

The Sea Beast Soundtrack Is Now Available (Bleeding Cool News)

The score to Netflix animated film The Sea Beast is now available to stream, as is the excellent film. You should give both a shot.

The Sea Beast is now streaming on Netflix and is a great family watch. Mancina had this to say about working on the film: "How grateful I am for the opportunity to have composed The Sea Beast's original score. Part of the film's charm is the score from composer Mark Mancina. He previously worked with the film's director, Chris Williams, on the Disney film Moana. Milan Records has put out the soundtrack as of this weekend, available on all streaming services.

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Image courtesy of "Firstpost"

The Sea Beast review: An oak solid and sturdy yarn with an anti ... (Firstpost)

The Sea Beast urges audiences to always question received wisdom, counters the romanticised notion of death as an act of heroism, and reminds them that to ...

As most of the action is set in the high seas, Williams brings all his CG animation expertise to get the background details and textures to precision: be it how the water reacts in the presence of monsters, or how the ropes on a ship react to the wind. That giving the public an adversary overseas to villainize is a time-tested strategy to distract them from domestic failures. In a spectacular sequence of combat choreography, the Inevitable crew hang from the side of the ship to fire harpoons at a beast. For young Maisie Brumble (Hator), her hero is Crow’s right-hand and heir apparent Jacob Holland (Urban). There is one beast that still eludes the Inevitable: the Red Bluster, the White Whale to Crow’s vengeance-fueled Ahab. When Crow and crew embark on a fresh voyage to kill the sea beast, Maisie stows away on the ship. As befits a kid-friendly medium, the design for a lot of these beasts prize adorability over functionality. In an era dubbed the “Dark Times,” two ecosystems collide as beasts of all shapes and sizes are said to stalk the coast of a human kingdom.

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Image courtesy of "Polygon"

The Sea Beast review: Netflix enters its DreamWorks era (Polygon)

Netflix's animated movie The Sea Beast draws equally from Disney designs and How to Train Your Dragon storytelling. Moana and Big Hero 6 co-director Chris ...

Captain Crow is an issue for the film: He isn’t interesting to look at, he isn’t much fun to be around, and he’s too human to function as a genuinely deranged villain. None of this is bad material for a children’s animated feature, and The Sea Beast offers several breaks from tedious recent trends in animation. Like The Prince of Egypt or Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas before it, The Sea Beast ditches talking animals and funny sidekicks, but it can’t fully shake off its Disney influences. After Maisie is introduced in her first brief scene, for example, she disappears from the movie for a stretch, slowing the film’s momentum. Jacob Holland (Karl Urban), the strapping sailor who becomes Maisie’s reluctant guardian when she stows away on his monster-hunting ship, isn’t a caricature of swashbuckling masculinity or a clever visual variation on a familiar theme. The most distinctive by default is Maisie Brumble (Zaris-Angel Hator), a young orphan who reads of heroic beast-hunters and dreams of joining them on the high seas.

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Image courtesy of "Collider.com"

Karl Urban on 'The Sea Beast,' Pushing the Boundaries of Animation ... (Collider.com)

During the interview, Urban talked about what he's most excited for audiences to see in the film, the most challenging parts of voicing an animated character, ...

It feels really ridiculous when you're in the booth and it's like, "Okay, now we're going to do efforts," and you're just like, "Oh, please." He lived it and breathed it, and oozed it out of every single pore, and really this project was for me a leap of faith with Chris Williams and knowing that he was going to be able to deliver something truly extraordinary, and he really has. So I just want to know what was it like actually seeing the finished film for you? URBAN: Yeah, we're starting I think August the 22nd, we're going to be starting season four. I was very fortunate to be working with Chris Williams, our director on this, and he would read all the other characters' lines and he would describe the scene, and sometimes I would get like a previs of what the scene was, which helped. It also speaks to a lot of stuff going on in our world today with that aspect of the film. I really think that The Sea Beast really pushes the boundaries of animation. But for the most part, it's a huge leap in your imagination to create that world and put yourself in the moment, and then you're always amazingly sort of surprised when you see the film and see the true scope and scale of what it is that they've created. I've never seen anything as texturally rich in the world of animation as The Sea Beast. Beyond that, I think that the characters and the story are really endearing. What are you actually most excited for audiences to see with the film? Because I'm just a small sort of cog in the machine, but there's from the writers to the crew, to the other actors, there's so many people involved in it. With director Chris Williams’ (Moana, Big Hero 6) The Sea Beast now streaming on Netflix, I recently spoke to Karl Urban about voicing one of the main characters (Jacob Holland) in the fantastic, animated film.

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