Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Nimona’ on Netflix, an Animated Adventure About a Delightfully Mischievous Misfit

The story behind Nimona (now on Netflix) mirrors some of the story within Nimona. The animated film, based on a comic by ND Stevenson, was long in development under 20th Century Fox, which was acquired by Disney, who eventually shuttered the project, reportedly due to some corporate heads’ “discomfort” with its LGBTQ themes and characters – and of course that’s ironic, since the movie is about a society’s institutional rejection of anything that’s not “normal.” Annapurna Pictures subsequently picked up the partially completed film and made a deal with Netflix, who debuted it on the last day of Pride Month. Was it worth the wait? Review spoiler alert: Sure was!

NIMONA: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: This society – it’s like Camelot with 4K technology. There are knights and smartphones and, notably, a big wall around the city. A millennia earlier, a great dragon descended upon the people, and a hero named Gloreth slayed it, and since then, many knights have been knighted so they can protect the kingdom. Of course, not just anyone can be a knight. You have to be born into the job. Why? BECAUSE THAT’S THE WAY IT IS. Don’t question it, or you’ll face the wrath of the ruling institution, which is called, appropriately, the Institution. You won’t be shocked to learn that the Institution is political and dogmatic and, as we’ll learn later, based on legend more than truth. Ain’t that always the case?

But! The current queen is about to break a long-held tradition and induct Ballister Bodheart (Riz Ahmed) into the knighthood even though he’s not a blueblood – he worked his tail off and proved himself worthy of the position, and is being rewarded for it. He’s proud, and so is his boyfriend, Ambrosius Goldenloin (Eugene Lee Yang), who loves him and accepts the queen’s progressive maneuver in spite of being a direct descendent of Gloreth herself. Others ain’t so sure about this, including a bully knight named Thodd (Beck Bennett) who takes it upon himself to be an ignorant and abusive ass. Things go sideways as hell on the Night to Knight Knights: Ballister is about to get the sword-tap on either shoulder when the hilt of his battle blade lasers the queen to death. It was rigged by someone, who knows who, and now he’s being framed for regicide, which I assume is no fun at all. The resulting brouhaha finds Goldenloin hacking off Ballister’s arm before our Wrong Man escapes into exile.

Now, Ballister has a robot arm and his face on wanted posters – and a problem named Nimona (Chloe Grace Moretz), a diminutive pink-haired steamroller of a rebellious mischievous chaos agent. She sought him out so she could achieve her dream of being a villain’s sidekick, a ridiculous descriptor since Ballister isn’t a villain because he has a noble heart and Nimona isn’t a sidekick because she follows no one. She stirs shit for the sake of stirring shit. Oh, and one other little thing: She’s a shapeshifter who transforms at will into animals ranging from an otter to a gorilla to a shark to a whale, and all points between, including human forms. Also, she refuses to explain herself or who she is or why she does what she does or how she does it, which Ballister finds maddening. 

Yet Ballister needs to be challenged. He’s torn between maintaining his loyalty to the Institution and facing the reality that the Institution may have betrayed him. He reluctantly accepts Nimona “assistance” in winnowing out the party that betrayed him, and I put “assistance” in quotes because her M.O. deviates greatly from his. He wants to stealthily investigate; she transforms into a rampaging rhino and wreaks havoc with anarchic glee. Ballister seems to think he can exonerate himself while maintaining the order of the Institution. But Nimona? She insists the Institution needs to be destroyed.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Directors Nick Bruno and Troy Quane bring a similar blocky-retro mid-’00s visual quality to Nimona, reminiscent of their work on their debut feature, Spies in Disguise. Thematically, it’s in the Shrek twisted-fairy-tale vein and recalls the moral wrestling match at the core of Gojira (or the original Japanese Godzilla if you prefer). 

Performance Worth Watching Hearing: Moretz is in highly entertaining ultrasass mode as Nimona, who fearlessly disrespects authority with both her actions and razor tongue.  

Memorable Dialogue: First, the funny line:

Goldenloin, watching security cam footage of Ballister playing saxophone: “Something doesn’t feel right – he hates freestyle jazz!”

Then, the righteous one:

Nimona: “It’s time to rewrite this story.”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Don’t call Nimona a monster, even though she kinda is a monster. In action, yes, but at heart, probably not. She exists in that nether-region between good and evil – her thirst for mayhem is the type of “good trouble” that could upend the fearmongering rule of a lowercase-i institution that for 1,000 years has fomented ugly structural ideas based in privilege and rigid dogmatism. But the film asserts the idea that villains aren’t born, but made, by “othering” those whose characteristics are outside the norm. E.g., an ability to transform into a variety of lifeforms at will. If you awaken the monster – with, say, a nuclear bomb test – then don’t be surprised when it stomps your city. Or more accurately, call Nimona a monster, and she may just act like one.

This richly compelling theme occasionally erupts from the subtext of Nimona. As for the text itself, well, it’s bent on hammering home noble progressive ideals: not boxing in an individual with ideological terms or deeds, the need to question long-held norms as society evolves, violence only begets more violence. It’s not exactly subtle. (The relationship between Goldenloin and Ballister was the apparent point of contention that derailed its Disney affiliation; they kiss in a more-than-chaste manner, and guess what, if you or your children see it, everyone will survive, and the world will remain exactly as it is, even if it’s not exactly as you perceive it.) Nimona’s shapeshifting is a clear representation of gender fluidity, and her refusal to define herself in any terms whatsoever – well, it not only reflects her reality, but also allows her to perpetuate mischief without being inhibited by strict moral boundaries. It’s a funny, clever and poignant twist on the agent-of-chaos archetype, although there are moments when Nimona teeters on the edge of being a plot catalyst instead of a true, fully-defined character.

But Nimona is nebulous for a reason. She’s not a hero and she’s not an anti-hero. When Ballister probes her with the who-what-why of her origin, she says simply, “I’m Nimona.” She wants to be accepted for who she is, and judged by her actions – be that as it may. The relationship between these two characters eventually clarifies as a yin-yang dynamic: He’s pretty timid for a would-be heroic knight, and she’s OTT with everything, so together, they might be able to enact change for the betterment of both themselves and the kingdom. This inevitably involves the usual comedic action and earnest speeches that define this type of animated endeavor. But in this movie, ideas – and more importantly, optimistic ideals – come first. 

Our Call: STREAM IT. Nimona is a smart, occasionally delightful animated adventure that upends precisely what needs to be upended.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.