Movie Review: ‘Nimona’
Riz Ahmed voices Ballister Blackheart and Chloë Grace Moretz voices Nimona in “Nimona”. Photo: Netflix © 2023. Coming out on Netflix on June 30, “Nimona” represents a movie that almost never hits theaters, but one that you should be glad you survived the studio takeover plot. Originally in development at 20th Century Fox’s Blue Sky branch, the film was about 75% complete when Disney bought Fox and effectively put Blue Sky in cinematic history. “Nimona” seems to be moving forward, before being rescued by Annapurna Animation and, after a deal, Netflix. If there’s one regret from that decision, it’s that audiences really won’t have much chance to see it on the big screen, because ‘Nimona’ really deserves to be experienced in a huge theater with an appreciative crowd. Yet it’s good that the movie is coming out at all.
What’s the story of ‘Nimona’?
A thousand years ago, in a fantasy world, a warrior named Gloreth defeated a monster. This has since gone into legend, on which a new society of knights and warriors has been built. In the present time of this world – imagine if Ridley Scott made a mashup of “Kingdom of Heaven” and “Blade Runner,” where knights rode flying steeds and giant screens played out. news update – it’s one of the best days of the year, when new knights are honored. When Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed), a street knight still looking for acceptance, is charged with a crime he didn’t commit, the only person who can help prove his innocence. is Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz), a mischievous teenager. with a taste for chaos – who also happens to be a shapeshifter that Ballister has been trained to destroy. But with the whole kingdom looking for her, Nimona is the best companion (or technically) Ballister could hope for. And as the line between hero, villain, and monster begins to blur, the two begin to do some serious devastation: let Ballister erase his name once and for all, and let Nimona do one. serious destruction.
Who else is in ‘Nimona’?
Nimona (voiced by Chloë Grace Moretz) in “Nimona”. Photo: Netflix © 2023. The cast also includes Eugene Lee Yang as Ambrosius Goldenloin, Ballister’s knight and true love, Lorraine Toussaint as Queen Valerin, Frances Conroy as the Headmaster, who runs the knight training program, Beck Bennett as the goofy and ambitious knight Sir Thoddeus Sureblade, RuPaul Charles as TV presenter Nate Knight and Julio Torres as Diego the Squire.
The look of Nimona
While it may not push the envelope the way “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” did, “Nimona” has much to commend in terms of animation. It’s a fascinating mix of 2D and 3D that gives the characters real life and sometimes feels like a painter. The characters come in and when the action-packed epic finale kicks in, it makes it visually interesting without ever losing sight of the heart of the story. And again, And unlike ‘Elemental’, which had an interesting, stylized city but suffered from comparisons to, say, ‘Zootopia’, ‘Nimona’s medieval tech look is superbly thought out – there is a meticulous detail to the world that Ballister and Nimona inhabit. From posters and announcements pushing the message “if you see something, slay something” in the subways to the blend of screens and turrets, it’s completely engrossing. There are, of course, the expected beats, but ‘Nimona’s team puts such a good spin on them that they go past easily. This is one of the best movies of the year, no matter the medium.