Six months after “Puss in Boots 2”, DreamWorks studios unveil their new original production “Ruby, the Kraken teenager”. The feature film is released this Wednesday in our theaters.
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Once upon a time : 15-year-old Ruby Gillman is as clumsy as she is adorable. She desperately tries to find her place at Oceanside High School, where she feels like she’s completely transparent. She gives tutoring lessons in maths to a young skater she is secretly in love with.
Her mother, 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.
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 most popular newcomer in high school 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.
What they will love: The latest from DreamWorks studios takes the famous tale of The Little Mermaid and completely reinvents it. The pretty mermaid – who bears an uncanny resemblance to Ariel in the 1989 animated version – is actually a monstrous creature and the heroine is a teenage kraken who lives in hiding on Earth.
Feeling bad about herself and in the midst of an existential crisis, Ruby wants only one thing: to go to the prom at the end of the year with Connor. But the ball takes place on a boat and her mother forbids her to go near the ocean. Of course, the latter will disobey and discover the secret of her origins.
DreamWorks Chelsea, the mermaid
Directed by Kirk DeMicco, to whom we owe The Croods, the film plays on mythological beliefs and the image we have of krakens, mermaids and other sea “monsters” and proves to us that appearances are deceiving. With its twists and turns and many winks, the film will take viewers on a great adventure.
In the vein of Luca of Pixar Studios for sea creatures that live hidden in the depths and Red Alert for transformation and coming of age, Ruby the Teen Kraken uses myth to tell a universal story.
The worthy heiress of Shrek
The new heroine from DreamWorks studios is the worthy heiress of the studio’s previous heroes: the ogre Shrek, the Kung Fu fan panda or even the Viking friend with a dragon. Anti-heroes who manage to change preconceptions and take control of their lives.
Margie Cohn, the president of DreamWorks Animation, says on this subject in the press kit: “Ruby Gillman represents a new stage in this tradition: a female, adolescent figure with unexpected and extraordinary powers”.
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Ruby
What may worry them: The scene during which the mermaid reveals her true face (and which obviously recalls the one with Ursula at the end of The Little Mermaid) could frighten the youngest.
But it is above all certain themes such as the conflicting relationship with the mother at the start or the fear of rejection and betrayal that can worry young spectators. Nevertheless, the resolution will allow them to understand that communication and mutual aid can solve many problems.
What they will keep inside them: If the film has mythological creatures as heroines, it nevertheless addresses the concerns of adolescents: the transformation of the body, the fear of the gaze of others, the family relationships which become complicated when we no longer understand each other or we do not say things, ill-being and questioning.
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Ruby
The feature film talks about the transition to adulthood and shows that it’s normal to feel bad about yourself at some point, but it passes and allows us to move forward and build ourselves.
A film about adolescence
During our interview with producer Kelly Cooney, she explained to us: “This film is about how teenagers go through existential moments that allow them to mature and find their place in society.
We were inspired by our own 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 relate to her.”
dreamworks
Ruby
Ruby will manage, despite all her worries, to become who she is destined to be. A young girl sure of herself who knows her qualities and her faults and assumes them.
Ruby the teenage kraken is also a feminist film that will speak as much to children as to teenagers and their parents. Among the krakens, it is the women who are destined to become Queen. They are the heroic warriors who become huge, luminous and invincible while the males are simple krakens, as Ruby’s uncle points out in the film.
A world in opposition to that of humans and their prom; “pure product of the patriarchy” as the teenagers in the film say, who only want one thing: to go there.
Note also that the characters are dubbed in the original version by Lana Condor (To all the boys I’ve loved), Toni Colette and Jane Fonda. Actresses known for their feminist positions.
Spectators will leave the film with a light heart, telling themselves that nothing is insurmountable.