The story goes that this was originally supposed to be developed by Disney who then backed out due to its LBGT themes and so it eventually made its way to Netflix. Unfortunately this also meant that it lost Disney-quality production standards and any kind of quality control because the end result is a drab looking, mediocre film. The antihero theme is all played out by now and there is nothing at all original about a cute sidekick who is actually overpowered. The only interesting part is the worldbuilding as it’s set in a kingdom that is culturally attached to knights and swords but actually has advanced technology.

Ballister Boldheart is the first commoner in the kingdom to graduate from the Institute of Elite Knights and be knighted. The knights were charged by the legendary hero Gloreth to protect the kingdom from monsters long ago and the citizens in the modern era are skeptical about Ballister. However the queen is encouraging and he is supported by his best friend and lover the fellow knight Ambrosius Goldenloin who is also a descendant of Gloreth. During the knighting ceremony, his sword activates by itself killing the queen and in response Ambrosius cuts his right arm off. After replacing his arm with a robotic replacement, Ballister becomes a fugitive intent on proving his innocence. He is visited by Nimona who appears to be a young girl but is in reality a shapeshifter with many powers. Ostracized by society, she declares herself to be Ballister’s sidekick and wants to cause mayhem. The reluctant and confused Ballister naturally enlists her in investigating who really killed the queen.

Despite the LGBT element of Ballister and Ambrosius being a couple, this is a children’s show through and through. Ballister and Nimona being a bad duo is Saturday morning cartoon-level childishness. Every plot beat is perfectly predictable and there is no character development. No one seems to care about the dead queen and the inevitable flashback to the real story of Gloreth is exactly as trite and uninteresting as you would expect. I detest everything about the character Nimona. The trope about the cute sidekick who is secretly ridiculously overpowered is so overplayed. Why would an ancient, immensely powerful being pop up and offer to be someone’s sidekick anyway? It would be way cooler if she tried to recruit Ballister as her sidekick to destroy the kingdom. There is never any sense of danger or threat to Nimona as the filmmakers didn’t want children to be scared or alarmed.

This might have been easier to stomach if the animation actually looks decent but it doesn’t. The art is basically tv-level quality and there’s nothing original about the character design for Nimona. The esthetic of a high-tech sci-fi society with energy weapons and flying cars who nonetheless still hold on to the concept of medieval knights as a sort of cultural artifact is kind of interesting. But like everything else, it’s all superficial imagery. The film doesn’t even have any interest in exploring where Nimona came from or if there are others like her. It starts and stops at the moral that just because she is different, it doesn’t mean that she should be treated any differently.

This was supposedly based on a successful graphic novel. I knew nothing about it and so went to read a summary. I found it to be so different that it shares almost nothing except the name and the main shapechanging character. It’s also seems far better and more sophisticated, so this adaptation is a travesty in comparison. This is a bad film and there’s just no reason to watch it.