Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken: A smart, big-hearted and funny animated movie

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (PG, 90 mins) Directed by Kirk DeMicco ***½

Look, we all know that being 15 years old and facing down your end-of-year high-school prom is tough.

Who will you take? Will anyone want to even go with you? What should you wear? Will you be cool enough to invited to the after-parties? And, most importantly, what if you turn into a 50-metre high sea-monster a few days before the prom and accidentally destroy your school library?

But, that is what the day has in store for Ruby Gillman. Ruby had never comprehended exactly why her mother, Agatha Gillman – the real-estate Queen of Oceanside – always forbade her from getting in the sea. Now, she understands.

Just after Ruby summoned up the courage to ask hunky-but-sensitive skater-boy Connor whether he would go to the prom with her, Connor slipped on his own board and fell into the waves. Ruby ignored her mother’s dire warning and rescued the adorable wee moppet. But now Ruby is developing glowing, blue suckers on her arms and going through a hell of a growth spurt.

What’s worse, Connor doesn’t even realise it was Ruby who saved his life. By the time he woke up, it was pretty and popular Chelsea Van Der See who was taking the credit – and maybe scoring herself Connor’s company at the dance. But what if Chelsea was herself the spawn of a clan of evil mermaids, who have been fighting the Kraken for centuries, for control of the seas?

Being a teen is hell – and Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is a smart, big-hearted and occasionally very funny response to that.

Writer Pam Brady (South Park, Lady Dynamite) and director Kirk DeMicco (The Croods) have basically made a parable of adolescence, dressed up as a children’s cartoon fantasy. Which means, I think, that a lot of the content, commentary and satire is going to go right over the heads of the under-10 audience who actually see this film – and that Ruby Gillman might not find the 12- to 15-year-old crowd who might enjoy and appreciate her the most.

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is a sweet and enjoyable 90 minutes. It looks great – if you like the Dreamworks style of computer-drawn animation – and the script is quick-witted and packed with gags. There are a lot of lines here that are aimed at a North American audience, that might fail to land down here in the Pacific, but more often than not, this film had me smiling, if not exactly laughing-out-loud.

As the voice of Ruby, Lana Condor (Alita: Battle Angel) is superb, with a performance that somehow establishes distance and difference between Ruby and her classmates, even as she is still one of them – and desperate to fit in and be accepted. Toni Collette is reliable and empathetic as Agnes – and Jane Fonda (Jane Fonda!) comes off the bench late in the first-half as Ruby’s Grandma, sounding exactly like Jane Fonda and clearly having fun interacting with her younger co-stars.

I’m often struck by just how much mahi and skill it takes, to make any film that earns a place on a big-screen. Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken isn’t going to change anyone’s life – much. It won’t rewrite the rule-book for teen comedies and no one is going to remember it as a classic of the genre. But it is well-made, at times beautifully written, and the people I watched it with, all enjoyed it just fine.

Some days, that’s more than enough.

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is now screening in cinemas nationwide.