Nimona: A Spoiler-Filled Discussion
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1P3lBr27CVFFClPaSxTZlm
***As the title would suggest, full spoilers for Nimona follow***
When we look back at 2023, it may very well be remembered as the year of the animated movie. Between Elemental, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, some of the best movies of the year have been animated. Nimona from Annapurna and Netflix continues this trend and manages to be one of the best movies of 2023 in what is already a very crowded year for quality films.
What Worked
The dynamic between Ballister (Riz Ahmed) and Nimona (Chloe Grace Moretz) is so fun to watch through the entire movie. The chaotic energy that Moretz brings to the character is endearing and the way she plays off of Ballister's more serious and almost straight-laced nature is fantastic.
The setting is also fairly unique as it blends some fantasy tropes and imagery with a world that is more modern and almost futuristic. This is also not just for show, it plays into the plot of the movie and is featured prevalently through the narrative. The blend is fairly unique when it comes to this genre, especially for a more family-friendly film. There is a lot of great humor that goes along with this, including a really solid recurring joke regarding the theme to The Banana Splits.
The strongest aspect of the movie is the third act where the viewer learns Nimona's backstory and she starts to act more in line with how people expect her to. Seeing Nimona fail to fit in anywhere and then finally find someone to be friends with and accept her even with what makes her different, only to have that ripped away is just heartbreaking and makes everything about the resolution of the plot in the present work and resonate emotionally.
What Didn't Work
Honestly, nothing. There is nothing about this film that doesn't work.
How You Should Watch This Movie
Nimona is a near perfect movie, to the point where it is baffling that it did not get a theatrical release. As it stands now for 2023, the top two movies are this and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse for me personally and, maybe it's recentcy bias, but Nimona is the better movie of the two since it is a concise story that doesn't end on a weird note because it is part one of a two-part movie. This is not just a four star movie for our system for streaming movies but it would have been five stars had it come out in theaters.
★★★★★