Sometimes it helps to be first.
"Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken" has the misfortune of coming out just about a year after Pixar's delightful "Turning Red" opened. The earlier film concerned an adolescent who discovers she turns into a large red panda when she's stressed.
As the title of the new DreamWorks offering suggests Ruby (Lana Condor) learns that she grows suction cups and tentacles if she gets near seawater. Pixar doesn't have much ground for a plagiarism suit, but the stakes of the new story don't seem all that compelling. One wonders why Ruby and the rest of the Gillman family continue to live on a coastline if they're that vulnerable.
Oh, their blue skin and gills make them look somewhat different from their human neighbors. Saying that they are "Canadian" seems unconvincing.
At least the Coneheads from "Saturday Night Live" tried France.
Like a lot of other teenagers, Ruby would like to join her peers at the prom, but her school is holding the event on a ship, which is a deal breaker.
If Ruby's parents (Toni Collette and Colman Domingo) and brother Sam (Blue Chapman) seem content with living in denial of their aquatic roots, Ruby later learns from her estranged grandmother (Jane Fonda) that krakens are not only cool but serve an important purpose in the world, which make the whole setup of the movie seem kind of flimsy and half-baked.
We only get tiny hints as to why Mom and Dad are landlubbers, and it might have been more entertaining to discover what the world of krakens was like in an earlier time. Fonda can deliver find monologues, but with animation it's more rewarding to see the world for ourselves. It's as if directors Kirk DeMicco and Faryn Pearl hoped to bamboozle the audience the way the Gillmans try to deceive their fellow citizens with the "Canada" act, eh?
Speaking of the Great White North, it's hard not to be reminded how vividly "Turning Red" evoked Toronto as if it were a make-believe realm, even though real-life landmarks are all over the place. It was simply too easy to think about the earlier movie because it had a more vivid setting, better-drawn supporting characters and plenty of wit.
The plot for "Ruby Gillman," however, can best be described as "soggy." Actual Canadian Annie Murphy is delightful as Ruby's antagonist Chelsea Van Der Zee. It's about what she did on "Schitt's Creek," but it's still pretty funny.
As if remembering "Turning Red" wasn't enough to make the new movie seem wanting in comparison, the trailers in my auditorium reminded viewers that the captivating "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" is now streaming on Peacock. It's almost as if DreamWorks themselves are admitting they can do better.