July 2, 2023
The Institute for Elite Knights had been training warrior knights, all descendants from the original knights of legendary Gloreth, who vanquished a great monster that terrorized the kingdom 1000 years ago. The current Queen Valerin (Lorraine Toussaint) made a controversial decision to knight a commoner Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed), together with his lover Ambrosius Goldenloin (Eugene Lee Yang), a direct descendant of Gloreth.
At the ceremony, a green laser light emitted from Ballister's sword which killed the Queen. Ballister went into hiding and was shunned by the Director (Frances Conroy) and all his fellow knights, including Ambrosius. He was visited by a boyish teenage girl named Nimona (Chloe Grace Moretz), who wanted to be the sidekick of a villain. Using her shape-shifting abilities, Nimona helped Ballister get away and solve the mystery of the Queen's murder.
This is the first animated feature by the animation arm of Annapurna Pictures, the indie film outfit which produced Best Picture nominees like "Zero Dark Thirty" (2012), "Her" (2013), "American Hustle" (2013), and "Vice" (2018). It is based on the 2015 graphic novel by ND Stevenson, adapted by Robert Baird and Lloyd Taylor, directed by the team of Nick Bruno and Troy Quane, who was also responsible for Blue Sky's "Spies in Disguise" (2019).
A futuristic Middle Ages was a very interesting setting for this beautifully-designed and animated murder mystery film. The whodunnit is not that challenging, as you could easily guess the perpetrator. However the thorny relationship between Ballister and Nimona was a strong fulcrum around which the story turned. The theme may be quite dark, but the fun sense of humor and the animation of Nimona's pink animal forms balanced things out very well.
The plot held within it multi-layered conflicts, tackling several forms of discrimination. The LGBTQ aspect (which actually delayed the production of the film as Disney balked) was revealed right at the start. That Gloreth was depicted as white and blonde suggested a Nazi-like supremacist ideology among her blind followers. The beautifully sad segment telling of the story between Nimona and Gloreth was the emotional core of the film. 8/10.
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