Movie review
May 7, 2026 · 114 min · PG-13
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
Remarkably Bright Creatures is a 2026 Netflix drama adapted from Shelby Van Pelt's 2022 novel. It centers on Tova, an elderly widow working night shifts as a cleaner at a small-town aquarium in Washington state, who forms an unlikely friendship with a clever giant Pacific octopus named Marcellus. Through this bond and her growing connection with a young drifter named Cameron, Tova makes a personal discovery that brings healing and new family ties. The story focuses on grief, loneliness, diligence, community, and whimsical human observations through the octopus narrator.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Remarkably Bright Creatures.
Woke representation / casting
The main cast aligns with the story's small-town Pacific Northwest setting and character descriptions, with Sally Field as the elderly widow Tova and Lewis Pullman as the young drifter Cameron. Supporting roles include some diversity such as Joan Chen as a knitting circle friend, but marketing and reviews do not frame the casting around representation, quotas, or identity signaling. No prominent mismatches or audience-visible emphasis on diversity as a priority.
Woke political dialogue
The film contains no political dialogue, activist speeches, or institutional critiques framed in modern social justice terms. Conversations center on personal matters like work habits, grief, family history, and everyday community interactions.
Identity-driven story themes
Primary themes involve grief over lost family, loneliness, the value of diligence and community, and healing through unexpected bonds including with an animal. A minor backstory detail reveals a supporting character is gay and used a platonic friendship for social cover in the past, but this serves only as a plot revelation for the central mystery and receives no thematic development or emphasis as identity messaging.
Western institutional / cultural critique
There is no portrayal or critique of toxic masculinity, patriarchy, traditional roles, capitalism, or Western institutions in an activist or ideological manner. The small-town setting, friendships, and personal relationships are shown in a straightforward, non-polemical way.
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. This is an adaptation of a 2022 original novel with no pre-existing canon, legacy characters, or historical figures subject to identity-driven alterations. Script changes noted in coverage focus on narrative structure and character dynamics for the film medium.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Searches across news and social media reveal no meaningful anti-woke or right-leaning complaints accusing the film of pushing DEI, identity politics, or left-wing messaging. Reception treats it as an apolitical, sentimental drama about human (and octopus) connection.
Creator track record context
Several key figures have prior involvement in projects with social or identity elements: Olivia Newman on stories highlighting female protagonists and complex minority characters; David Levine on Nickel Boys depicting racial injustice in a reform school; Tony Lipp as executive producer on Boy Erased about gay conversion therapy. Other producers and the source author Shelby Van Pelt show no such patterns, and the title itself does not reflect activist framing in content or promotion. Cached low scores for several crew members align with limited public activist records.
Production
