Nimona (2023)

Nimona (2023)

 

7/10

 

Starring the voices of

Chloe Grace Moretz

Riz Ahmed

 

Directed by Nick Bruno and Troy Quane

 

I must be honest—the first few minutes of this animation had me thinking I’d wasted my time putting it on. I later summoned the courage to stick to my belief: "If the first twenty minutes don’t give me a reason to continue, I’ll shut it off." I was waiting for things to go wrong, as you’d expect in a story like this. The opening sequence gave a little too much away for me to not anticipate something going wrong. The introduction of Nimona was nothing like I expected.

This is an animation for children, so don’t overthink the fact that their entire town is surrounded by a wall to keep monsters out. They have an institute that’s been grooming and training monster fighters for centuries, but none has ever seen a monster. The only ones who’ve seen a monster were alive during the time of their leader, Gloreth, who lived about a thousand years ago. Everyone after that time has never seen or heard of a monster beyond the walls. Yet they keep training knights to prepare for the monsters’ return, while their entire civilization (set in a futuristic fantasy world) lives behind a massive wall, isolated from everything.

The animation is based on a graphic novel of the same name by ND Stevenson. It begins by introducing Ballister, a commoner who has risen through the ranks to become the first knight not from Gloreth’s bloodline. On the day he’s set to receive his knighthood, the queen is murdered, and he becomes the prime—and only—suspect. He’s being hunted and loses his arm during the escape. Now living in hiding, he’s determined to find out who framed him.

While roaming the streets, Nimona—a little girl of about ten—spots him and follows him to his hideout. She asks to be his sidekick in his supposed villainous rampage against everyone. Nimona seems to hate everyone and just wants to punch their faces in. She thinks Ballister is a villain and wants to work with him. They somehow form a partnership, and he explains that he’s innocent, trying to distance himself from her.

In his quest to clear his name, his naivety gets him arrested, and it’s then that he learns Nimona is a shapeshifter. She breaks him out of jail using her abilities, causing a lot of chaos. Now they’re being hunted, and Nimona seems thrilled to be known as a bad guy.

The anti-hero Nimona and Ballister duo is fun to watch and enjoyable for children and adults alike. The animation isn’t particularly grand, and I didn’t enjoy it much at first. But as the story develops, you find yourself getting used to it and watching on. You can catch this animation on Netflix.