A disgraced knight, unjustly blamed for a murder, joins forces with an outcast teenage girl. He hopes to clear his name. She just wants to cause some chaos. And she’s well equipped to do so: Nimona (voiced by Chloë Grace Moretz) is a shape-shifter. She can effortlessly morph from rhino to eagle, whale to mouse. She is sparky fun: an irreverent antihero with a talent for destruction. Unfortunately, she’s also the very monster that the knight, Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed), has been trained to kill.
A medieval-futurist fantasy world, in which gleaming tower blocks are topped with a castle’s crenellations; in which knights in armour defend the realm with hi-tech swords that double as laser guns: the backdrop to the Netflix animation Nimona, adapted from a graphic novel by ND Stevenson, is as striking and distinctive as the film’s animation style. Nodding to the graphic simplicity of mid-century illustrators like Eyvind Earle, the film subverts the expected use of colour: Ballister and Nimona’s lair is drenched in the traditionally villainous hues of red and black. And let’s just say that those wearing white are not necessarily the heroes.
While the themes – misunderstood monsters, fear of difference and the unknown – are familiar, there’s an underlying message that sets the film apart. Ballister is gay; he is in a relationship with another knight, Ambrosius (Eugene Lee Yang). And Nimona as a character is defined by the fact that she needs to transition. It’s a rambunctious adventure, certainly. But it’s also a film that argues for tolerance and LGBTQ+ acceptance.
In cinemas 23 June and Netflix 30 June
