Movie review
June 28, 2023 · 92 min · PG · Kids · Fantasy · Animation · Comedy · Family
Ruby Gillman is a shy but smart high school student who lives with her family in the seaside town of Oceanside. Her family hides that they are krakens, and her mother forbids her from entering the ocean. After Ruby jumps into the water to save a classmate, she learns that she comes from a line of warrior kraken queens and must face a dangerous mermaid. The movie mixes bright fantasy action with school jokes, prom drama, family fights, and a gentle coming-of-age story.
Ruby’s main journey is about hiding a strange part of herself and then learning to use it with courage. The story gives the most power, royal status, and combat skill to three generations of women, while the men mostly support them. Ruby’s friend Margot openly goes to prom with another girl, and a short joke calls prom a colonial, male-led tradition. These points are easy to see, but the movie mainly uses them inside a fantasy story about family, self-acceptance, and choosing your own path.
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Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken.
Woke representation / casting
The film puts a girl at the center and gives the kraken throne and greatest powers to three generations of women. Ruby, her mother, and her grandmother are the main heroic fighters, while the men mostly support them. The school also presents a visibly mixed friend group, a black love interest, and queer couples. Interviews frame this as DreamWorks’ first female title lead and a story about strong women.
32%
Woke political dialogue
Margo calls prom a “postcolonial patriarchal construct” and says the group would attend as a protest. Ruby and Connor repeat the phrase while talking about prom. The line is a short joke in the opening school section, and the movie does not build its main conflict around political debate.
24%
Identity-driven story themes
Ruby’s central conflict is hiding her kraken identity so humans will accept her. The film repeatedly tells her to stop hiding, show her power, and choose her own path. The female royal line and Margot’s same-sex prom date add identity and empowerment themes. The message is central to Ruby’s arc, but the movie keeps it in a fantasy coming-of-age story instead of a direct current-events argument.
34%
Western institutional / cultural critique
Margo and Ruby joke that prom is a postcolonial patriarchal construct and suggest attending as protest. Ruby also pushes back against her mother’s strict rules, but the family conflict is mainly about safety, secrecy, and trust. The movie does not attack Christianity, capitalism, or men as a group.
17%
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. The movie is an original fantasy story, not an adaptation of established characters or a real historical event. Its new version of mermaids and krakens is part of the film’s own premise.
0%
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
A few small conservative accounts called the film woke because of the prom line about a postcolonial patriarchal construct and Margot’s same-sex prom date. A small parental-rating account warned about LGBTQ content, and a niche anti-woke outlet listed the movie among 2023 films it disliked. Later posts mostly asked how the movie was woke or placed its flop in generic “go woke, go broke” lists. The reaction was fringe and did not become an organized boycott or review-bomb campaign.
15%
Creator track record context
Pam Brady’s earlier work includes a comedy about an Egyptian-American Muslim family and Islamophobia. Brian C. Brown drew on his Cuban-American family background for Ruby Gillman, but no activist campaign is documented in the cached record. The other key creators are mainly tied to craft and family animation, with no clear activist or DEI pattern.
20%
Production
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