Nimona - Cheap Thoughts

It’s no wonder that Disney were so easy and willing to kill this picture off. A film so openly Queer in its characters and storytelling, while also presenting the story in unique animation? I suppose it’s far too radical a film for the Mouse^tm even when tempered with a simple narrative. After the purchase of Fox and thus Blue Sky Studios, the initial company producing the film, Nimona was one of the many projects cancelled in the merger, however they were fortunately enough saved by Annapurna Pictures & Netflix who would continue to produce the film and distribute it respectively.

Nimona is a sci-fi/fantasy blend set in a world with Medival Britain aesthetics combined with futuristic technology and modern behaviours. Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed) and his plucky-yet unwanted-sidekick Nimona (Chloe Grace Moretz) are viewed as villains in the eyes of society despite being innocent people, one of whom framed for a crime they didn’t commit and the other simply presenting as a villain is enough to determine them so. Together the two will prove their innocence, expose the true evil of the society they live in and hopefully make the world and each other better along the way.

The titular Nimona is very much deserving of that title, being incredibly entertaining, extroverted, and exaggerated in all of the right ways. While most of the characters are humbler in their animations, her expressions & movements are very traditionally cartoony, taking full advantage of their medium in a way many 3D Animated films seem embarrassed to do so. Though where the subtly lies is with her thematic resonance. Her abilities to shape shift, to change her body in ways that make her more comfortable very much has a subtext of gender identity, very clearly described by her creator ND Stevenson a non-binary/bigender writer & artist saying this was an intentional decision on his part. While the more overt queer representation comes from the second protagonist Ballister who within his first scene is shown to be in a homosexual relationship that gets torn apart by the events of the film, and the two now see their relationship shunned by society.

Some would complain that Nimona does have a basic narrative, which is does, many of the beats can be seen coming from a mile away from even the youngest of audiences. Though truly that doesn’t lead to major issues until the climax of the film, which doesn’t feel all too impactful with how predictable the film has been up until then. Though a complex plot is clearly not what the film is going for. Their goals were to express interesting characters and their queer stories through unique animation and that is something they have achieved with ease.

-Danny