By John Corrado

★★½ (out of 4)

The title of Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, the latest film from DreamWorks Animation, tells you basically everything you need to know about the movie; it’s about a 15-year-old girl named Ruby Gillman (voiced by Lana Condor), who, well, happens to be a kraken.

Ruby is living on land with her family in the town of Oceanside, disguising themselves as humans by telling everyone they’re from Canada (eh?). It’s a ruse that sort of works (even though they are blue and have gills), but Ruby is struggling to fit in at high school.

She just wants to do normal human things like hang out with her friends and go to prom with her crush Connor (Jaboukie Young-White). When Ruby accidentally disobeys her mother Agatha’s (Toni Collette) one rule not to go in the ocean, she discovers that she transforms into a giant sea creature in the water, and is a direct descendent of ocean goddess Grandmamah (Jane Fonda). There’s also the red-headed new girl Chelsea Van Der Zee (Annie Murphy) to contend with.

Directed by Kirk DeMicco (The Croods, Vivo), Ruby Gillman basically unfolds as an animated coming-of-age movie, closely following the tropes of the genre. There is some appeal in making a cartoon high school movie, but the story feels rushed, and plays as a bit of a mishmash of ideas. To use a high school metaphor, the film feels like a project that has been studied for and rushed together at the last minute; there are the bones of something more interesting, but the execution is somewhat slapdash.

The story also suffers from the recency bias of feeling too similar to Pixar’s Turning Red, the superior movie about a teen girl’s giant creature alter ego. Still, Teenage Kraken is not without some charm, and it does feature colourful animation (the characters have a very fluid, stretchy physicality to them), and lively vocal performances (including Will Forte as an eccentric fisherman). Don’t expect anything overly original, but it is often amusing enough to pass the time.

Bonus Features (Blu-ray):

The Blu-ray includes a number of bonus features. A regular DVD is also included in the package, which ships with a slipcover.

• Deleted Scenes With Intros by Co-Director Faryn Pearl (Play All – 10 minutes, 4 seconds)

• Prologue (2 minutes, 43 seconds)

• Walk to School (3 minutes, 4 seconds)

• Crab ‘N Skate (4 minutes, 14 seconds)

• Squad Solidarity: Adventures in ADR (3 minutes, 2 seconds): A collection of footage of the voice actors recording their lines in the booth.

• The Kraken: Myth or Monster (3 minutes, 32 seconds): Lana Condor and Annie Murphy narrate this 2D animated look at where the Kraken myth originates from.

• Meet the Gillman Cast (9 minutes, 3 seconds): The cast members talk about their characters, and bringing them to life.

• The Kraken Krew: Meet the Humans Behind the Gillmans (9 minutes, 58 seconds): The crew behind the film talks about developing the look of the movie, the design of the characters, and how the story is like John Hughes by way of Godzilla.

• Prom Stories (4 minutes, 37 seconds): The cast and crew talk about their own prom experiences (or lack thereof).

• Super Sea Girl Besties (5 minutes, 5 seconds): Female members of the cast and crew talk about the amount of strong women behind the film, which is DreamWorks Animation’s first with a titular female character.

• Oceanside Drawing Guide (Play All – 14 minutes, 28 seconds): A series of drawing tutorials hosted by head of story Glenn Harmon.

• Ruby Gillman (3 minutes, 6 seconds)

• Kraken Ruby (3 minutes, 8 seconds)

• Grandmamah (2 minutes, 28 seconds)

• Chelsea Van Der Zee (2 minutes, 3 seconds)

• Mermaid Chelsea (3 minutes, 42 seconds)

• Make Your Own Aquarium

• Krakenarium (7 minutes, 47 seconds)

• Well of Seas (2 minutes, 49 seconds)

• Feature Commentary with Director Kirk DeMicco, Co-Director Faryn Pearl, Producer Kelly Cooney Cilella, Head of Character Animation Carlos Fernandez Puertolas and Head of Cinematography, Layout Jon Gutman.

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is a Universal Pictures Home Entertainment release. It’s 92 minutes and rated G.