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Nimona centres around the relationship between the titular, shape-shifting teenager (Chloë Grace Moretz – The Peripheral) and knight Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed – Encounter).
We hear the tale about Gloreth, who defeated a monster 1000 years ago. In the present day, we see Bal – as he’s known – become a Sir, leading to a few accidental faux-pas, which puts him in everyone’s badbooks.
The titular feisty teen wants to be his sidekick and get him back to being a pillar of the community, instead of a pillock of the community*
(*with apologies to John Shuttleworth)
This starts off well, but there’s a lot of action frequently flapping about the screen, and after around 30 minutes of this, you’ve seen enough of that… unless it’s aimed at kids who need 100% of a film to have things flapping about the screen. As such, while the characters have excellent facial expressions and a lot of work has gone into it, it is a bit like watching the CGI scenes of a videogame play out.
The film is inclusive, featuring a gay relationship between Ballister and his apparent nemesis, Ambrosius Goldenloin (Eugene Lee), and it also deals well with feelings of loneliness, since our heroine can feel like an outcast at times, due to all her shape-shifting, so she doesn’t fit in.
However, I’ve seen reviews which keep banging on about it being all LGBTQ+, etc, but no: there’s one gay couple and that’s it! Unless they’re referring to the fact suggested in the closing credits, that Nimona doesn’t identify as a girl, as such, but “a lot of things”, given her shape-shifting abilities? If that’s the case, then it’s rather a stretch.
Hence, I think most reviewers are just trying to clout-chase by shouting “LGBTQ+” in their headline.
As an aside, in a world that’s a mix of Middle Ages knights and futuristic tech, I like how a busker (playing the sax from George Michael’s Careless Whisper) has an electronic tip device, since a lot of real ones now do have that with their Paypal details shown as a QR code, given how hardly anyone has cash these days.
The end credits begin with 15 minutes still to go, and I know animations tend to have very long credit sequences, but this made me think there’s be a lot of mid- or post-credits scenes. There aren’t.
Instead, there’s just a very brief post-credits scene:
Thanks to our friends at Netflix for the screener prior to release.
Nimona is on Netflix from June 30th, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD.
Check out the trailer below:
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 99 minutes
Release date: June 30th 2023
Studio: Netflix
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Score: 5/10
Directors: Nick Bruno, Troy Quane
Producers: Roy Lee, Karen Ann Ryan, Julie Zackary
Screenplay: Robert L Baird, Lloyd Taylor
Graphic Novel: ND Stevenson
Music: Christophe Beck
Voice cast:
Nimona: Chloë Grace Moretz
Ballister Boldheart: Riz Ahmed
Ambrosius Goldenloin: Eugene Lee
The Director: Frances Conroy
Queen Valerin: Lorraine Toussaint
Sir Thoddeus Sureblade: Beck Bennett
Nate Knight: RuPaul
Alamzapam Davis: Indya Moore
Diego the Squire: Julio Torres
Coriander Cadaverish: Sarah Sherman
Kwispy Dwagon: ND Stevenson
Demon Baby: Mia Collins
Young Ballister: Zayaan Kunawar
Young Gloreth / Additional Voices: Charlotte Aldrich
Gloreh / Sir Kahren Reehyan / Additional Voices: Karen Ryan
Sir Nicholas Brun / Additional Voices: Nick Bruno
Sir Troy Quartermane / Additional Voices: Troy Quane
Sir Jule Zakaria / Additional Voices: Julie Zackary
Sir Randall Editus / Additional Voices: Randy Trager
Sir Gottem Lilmush: Christopher Campbell
Syntheya – Voice of the Kingdom / Additional Voices: Cindy Slattery
Announcer: Matthew Munn
Institute Analyst / Additional Voices: Sommersill Tarabek
Danks Kid: Sebastian Trager
Concerned Citizen #1: Sadie Trager
Concerned Citizen #2: Taryn Bruno
Goldenloin Fan #1: Lincoln Davis
Patience / Additional Voices: Lylianna Eugene
Zombie Movie Voice #1: Tim Nordquist
Zombie Movie Voice #2 / Additional Voices: Maurissa Horwitz
Game Commercial Kid #1 / Additional Voices: Jake Bruno
Game Commercial Kid #2 / Additional Voices: Jarrett Bruno
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.