Nimona

The only thing depressing about Nimona is that it almost never existed. It started development under Blue Sky Studios in 2015, shortly after ND Stevenson's eponymous graphic novel was published. But its years of development were nullified when Disney killed the studio in 2021. Annapurna resurrected the project as a Netflix release. And now, it’s here.

And you’re going to hear about it.

In an unnamed kingdom, knights in shining Armor exist with laser blasters and flying cars. These Knights are trained by a massive Institute. Here, we find Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed) about to be knighted alongside his boyfriend, Ambrosius Goldenloin (Eugene Lee Yang). Nearly everyone except Ambrosius and Queen Valerin (Lorraine Toussaint) looks down upon Ballister for him being a commoner. That gets worse when Ballister’s sword laser blasts the Queen point-blank. Ballister is literally disarmed in the mayhem, and he goes on the run.

Ballister hides away with his new robot arm until the shapeshifter Nimona (Chloe Grace Moretz) storms into his life. Nimona senses a kindred spirit in Ballister and offers to help him clear his name. He only accepts her help when his solo-quest ends in jail. But he’s still unnerved by her impishness and her shapeshifting. Meanwhile, Nimona hides a painful past with Gloreth, the legendary heroine who founded the Kingdom. The Institute's Director (Frances Conroy) drives them apart with fear and distrust. It all leads to a gigantic scene.

The film and its title character are animated forces of nature. The film’s wild sense of humor is embodied by Nimona herself. Her and Ballister’s prison break is a wonderfully manic exercise in slapstick. That scene is loaded with great shapeshifting gags. Her firecracker personality is infectious the second she shows up on-screen. Her and Ballister’s bickering is entertaining until it's not. A few scenes have Ballister basically tell her to pick a form and stick with it. It's a lot less funny once we see Nimona's backstory. You'll fully understand her lifetime of ostracization once she transforms into the living embodiment of depression. That makes their reconciliation all the sweeter.

Ballister isn’t fully upstaged by Nimona. He’s an earnest knight with an endearing relationship with Ambrosius. So, we’re fully on his side when Ambrosius (reluctantly) leads the manhunt against him. It’s quite fun to see him loosen up under Nimona’s influence. We definitely feel it when they fall out and ultimately reconcile. I won't spoil how the latter happens, but it's quite moving.

Now for the other characters. Ambrosius is just as likable as Ballister and not even him disarming Ballister changes that. In fact, it's quite effective when he realizes he's in the wrong. Fellow Knight Todd (Beck Bennett) maybe a bully but he's an amusing bully. The same can't be said about the Director, who turns fully loathsome at the midway point. Still, how she rebounds from being outed as the villain is so simple it's clever. Diego the Squire (Julio Torres), the Director's unknowing accomplice, is the victim of an entertaining interrogation from Nimona. We get some good cameos from Indya Moore and RuPaul as news anchors and Stevenson himself as a cartoon mascot.

Everything about its cel-shaded visuals, from its production design to its characters, is appealing. Its anachronistic aesthetics leads to some fun results. Nimona’s usual range of forms are cuddly, while her depression form is truly nightmarish. It’s all set to an amazing score from Christophe Beck; Nimona’s main theme, in particular, is alluring. The modern song choices perfectly punctuate its most frenetic action.

I just have one problem with Nimona being on Netflix. It's that I won't be able to witness a live crowd's reactions. Nimona is both a wild good time and a profound story of acceptance. It's got me interested in reading the original graphic novel. Maybe you'll have the same reaction once you Netflix and chill with it. Now, if you excuse me, I need to prepare for the last review of the month.