Netflix Fantasy Adventure Epic Sets The Standard For All-Audiences Entertainment 

The few animated films studios have attempted to produce with strong female characters have been criticized for having… you guessed it, strong and flawed (read: real) females. Take Disney’s Brave for instance. I can’t tell you how many articles and comments I’ve seen online about how Merida is a brat.

Well, those complainers better not watch Nimona on Netflix because our badass lead female is as bratty (read: awesome) as they come.

What started out as an art student’s web comic in 2012 and became his graphic novel published by HarperCollins in 2015, Nimona has now been adapted to film for Netflix. Disney actually had a shot at making this film, and, based on their track record, we can only be grateful they passed. Who knows how watered down the original material could have become? 

Instead, we get a raw, dark, dangerous, and deeply emotional story that does justice to ND Stevenson’s original work. Nimona needed to be on Netflix for this reason. She’s an anti-hero with guts and heart, and she encourages you to be flexible with identity fluidity in a world determined to get us all to check one box and one box only. In only an hour and a half, this movie has the ability to change minds. 

Nimona opens up on Netflix in a futuristic fantasy world with medieval queens and knights. The premise of this world is that the people live in a safe place behind a wall that protects them from the “monsters” beyond it. Knights are selected from among the wealthy and well-connected citizens to defend the land, but Queen Valerin has selected Ballister Boldheart (voiced by Riz Ahmed) as the first commoner to become a knight.

In a cute scene, we see Ballister and his boyfriend, Ambrosius, a fellow knight, preparing for Ballister’s knighting.  

Unfortunately, before Ballister can be knighted, his sword shoots a laser at the queen, killing her. Ambrosius is forced to disarm Ballister, and, as Ballister tries to defend himself, he loses his arm. He flees in terror, clueless as to what’s going out, and hides out in an abandoned apartment.

Before long, he’s discovered by Nimona (voiced by Chloe Grace Moretz), our newest Netflix star, who believes she has found a kindred spirit. You see, Nimona is a shapeshifter, considered a monster and cast out by society. Now, in her eyes, Ballister is, too. 

Nimona is tough, violent, aggressive, quick to anger, and impulsive, unlike any other animated kids’ star you’ll see on Netflix or elsewhere. She’s also sweet, loving, endearing and lonely.

Ballister, at first, doesn’t know what to do with her and keeps trying to talk her out of being his sidekick. But she’s relentless, and a bond forms between the two as Nimona agrees to help Ballister clear his name. The fight scenes are fantastic, with Nimona shapeshifting into various forms and Ballister looking bewildered, and the dialogue between the two is fantastic. 

GFR SCORE

To go more into detail would be to ruin the movie for those who haven’t seen it because you really just need to stream Nimona on Netflix the next chance you get. Suffice to say this animated film questions the need for a person to have just one identity and to live up to the expectations of society or risk being considered a monster. It is also, at its heart, a love story between friends — the best kind. 

I give Nimona on Netflix all the praise it deserves and urge you to watch it again and again and again. At least until we get another animated film of its caliber.