Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken

"Animation from Dreamworks, Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken reminds one a bit of Red: Growing is a Beast, from Pixar: both animations speak, each in their own way, about the dilemmas of growth for a girl in her teenage years. While the Disney-Pixar movie turns the girl into a giant red panda, the Dreamworks animation talks about Ruby Gillman, a sweet and clumsy girl who is, in reality, a kraken - that sea monster that inhabits people's imagination at the bottom of the sea, ranging from Alfred Tennyson's poem Alfred Tennyson to H.P. Lovecraft's creature. It is a simple and fun movie, which focuses heavily on the dilemmas of growth and how difficult it is for a teenager like Ruby Gillman to see her body and even her personality transforming. There is a lack of originality in Kirk DeMicco and Faryn Pearl's direction, so you can guess the ending of the film within 15 minutes. But in the end, Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken is touching - and it's already worth the session for the little ones."