Have You Watched Nimona? (My Thoughts)

Nimona is great!

We watched this new animated film on Netflix this past weekend. I hadn’t heard much about it, but the early reviews were very positive. Even my highest hopes were vastly exceeded.

I actually think it’s best to go into the film knowing as little as possible, so I’ll just mention three great aspects of the film:

• The worldbuilding is a lot of fun. It’s a mix of medieval knights and futuristic technology, and not just because the two look cool together: The combination makes perfect sense for the way this society has crafted itself around protection from the monsters that roam outside the city walls.
• The central romantic relationship is between two men, completely unapologetically and without any doubt. As an ally, I hope Disney sees this.
• The film has a strong message about how humans demonize those who are different than us. The more we do that, the more these “monsters” actually start to believe what people are saying is true about themselves. There’s a little moment in the movie where two kids are playing a board game, and they’re attacking monsters in the game, because that’s what you do with monsters, right? This is a trope I’ve seen hundreds of times in tabletop games: So many games are built around the idea that your character is built for killing monsters because all monsters want to kill you. I think this dated narrative can spill over into real life–that those who are different are bad–and I’d like to see more designers challenge this tired trope.

Even though I’ve mentioned some serious topics here, Nimona is also highly entertaining. It’s funny, it’s thrilling, and it’s beautifully animated. I highly recommend it, and I’d love to hear your thoughts.