Discover the new heroine of Dreamworks animation studios: “Ruby, the teenage Kraken”. The first trailer for this original feature film has just been unveiled. On this occasion, AlloCiné was able to speak with director Kirk DeMicco.
Discover the new heroine from DreamWorks studios!
The first images of Ruby, Kirk DeMicco’s teen Kraken have just been unveiled. In the animated feature film, 16-year-old Ruby (dubbed in the original version by Lana Condor) is a teenager as clumsy as she is adorable. Her mother (Toni Colette) who overprotects her has strictly forbidden her to swim in the ocean.
But the day she disobeys him and breaks this golden rule, she discovers that she is the direct descendant of the line of Kraken warrior queens, and that she is destined to ascend the throne hitherto occupied by her great – mother: the warrior queen of the Seven Seas (Jane Fonda).
The Kraken are sworn to protect the world’s oceans from the greed and vanity of the mermaids, their sworn enemies. The only real problem for Ruby is that she will therefore have to oppose Chelsea, the prettiest and most popular new girl in high school (voiced by Annie Murphy) who just happens to be a mermaid. Ruby will then have to embrace her destiny and impose herself to protect those she loves the most.
After the success of Puss in Boots: The Last Quest, DreamWorks is back with an original project that immerses the viewer in a fantastic underwater world populated by mythological creatures. And the studio has decided to upset our certainties.
The film will be released in theaters on June 28, one month after the live version of the Disney classic, The Little Mermaid. Something to offer the public another vision of these half-woman, half-fish creatures.
On the occasion of the launch of the first trailer for Ruby, the teenage Kraken, AlloCiné was able to speak with director Kirk DeMicco (to whom we owe Space Chimpanzees, The Croods and Vivo) , and producer Kelly Cooney.
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AlloCiné: How did you come up with the idea of making a film about a teenager Kraken?
Kelly Cooney : This is an original film that is not part of a franchise. The idea was to reinvent the myth of the Kraken with this “young girl”, Ruby Gillman. At first we only had a pitch, but Dreamworks loved our vision and gave us the green light to write a script.
The idea was to follow the adventures of this family of underwater monsters, the krakens, who live among us. We really tried to surprise the public with the universe we created.
Dreamworks loves that you take a familiar world and characters while reimagining them. I think you’re going to be surprised by what we did with the krakens, just like with the little mermaid.
When we think of a kraken, we imagine a terrible monster that wrecks ships and devours humans, while in the imagination, a mermaid is an adorable princess. Here we will surprise you with another vision of these mythical characters.
Return to the mermaid wild state
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What were your sources of inspiration?
Kirk DeMicco : For the mermaid, we were inspired by the description of these creatures as they are represented in the odyssey. They bewitch sailors to devour them. It was much more fun to return to the wild state of the mermaids rather than portraying them as perfect damsels like in the Disney movies.
Regarding krakens, they have always had a bad reputation and we wanted to show a different face from them. That’s why our heroine the young Ruby Gillman uses her mega-powers to do good and not evil.
Kelly Cooney: We were also inspired by our adolescence. I too was a teenager who felt bad about herself. So Ruby is a bit like me in that sense.
Ruby is like all young girls. She needs to find her voice so she can really express what she feels. I think all young girls will be able to identify with her.
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This is an important message that is at the heart of our film:
How adolescents go through existential moments that allow them to mature and find their place in society.
Kirk DeMicco : For my part, I see myself in the devilish mermaid! (laughs) But it’s true that it was a pleasure to create this young mermaid who reveals herself in her true light and who is also evil.
I hope our audience will be pleasantly surprised by all the unpredictable characters we have created.
As a parent, I also put a bit of myself in because, like the grandmothers in the film, I protect my daughter, who is a teenager in complete upheaval.
What were your biggest challenges?
Kelly Cooney : The major difficulty for us was to create a totally original world and characters. We have tried not to let ourselves be influenced by films that have already tackled the myth of the little mermaid or the krakens. It’s not always easy to find the right tone and style for a film; it is a long team work.
You have to be patient in order to find the right dosage and the right inspiration. Especially since here it is a mixture of several genres. On the one hand it’s a comedy and on the other it’s an action movie with a hint of a horror movie.
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Kirk DeMicco: The hardest thing for me was designing and creating the gigantic underwater world of the Krakens. It was such a difficult universe to illuminate and build. It is simply to die for!
What is the main subject of the film for you?
Kelly Cooney : It’s a film that invites the audience to be honest with themselves and find their way. At the beginning of the film, Ruby hides from herself but she will have to be honest with herself and with others.
By embracing her true identity and nature, she will truly transform into an incredible force and such a beautiful creature.
She will be able to save herself and her family and the world to which she belongs, that of the krakens. It is a film which approaches the family bonds and the importance of the family for the happiness and the balance of the members which compose it.
Kirk DeMicco: It’s also a film about courage, about communicating and expressing the feelings that lie dormant within us.
I believe it is our time to look at the communication problems within our society. Ruby will prove that honest communication is the source of happiness. It is useless to hide from the eyes of others. On the contrary, you have to know how to be honest and reveal your true nature and true feelings to the world.