Dreamworks Creates Its Own ‘Turning Red’ Fiasco With ‘Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken’

The new Dreamworks animated movie called Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken has been the talk of the town due to its villainous Ariel doppelganger (who is named Chelsea Van Der Zee and voiced by Annie Murphy) — but now that the movie about a tentacled teenager is about to finally come to theaters, there is even more fodder for discussion!

Low Expectations

The movie (which also stars Lana Condor, Toni Collette, Jane Fonda, Sam Richardson, and Liza Koshy) was made by one of Disney and Pixar’s major competitors and has already been viewed by some critics in advance, due to its premiere at the controversial Annecy International Animation Film Festival — and unfortunately, the film is expected to perform poorly at the box office.

Dreamworks’ ‘RUBY GILLMAN, TEENAGE KRAKEN’ is tracking to earn $8M at its domestic box office opening weekend.

This would be the 2nd WORST opening EVER for a Dreamworks movie, staying only behind ‘SPIRIT UNTAMED’.

(Via: @MattBelloni) pic.twitter.com/HknvsRmjW3

— The Hollywood Handle (@HollywoodHandle) June 12, 2023

Vampires or Krakens?

Variety writer Peter Debruge seems to have pointed out one of this animated movie’s major problems: its resemblance to the poorly-received Pixar movie Turning Red.

At first, Debruge compares Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken to the Twilight series since it features “a family of blue-skinned squid-things attempt to pass as human.”

Then, Debruge highlights the similarities between Ruby Gillman and Meilin Lee, the middle-school protagonist from Turning Red (which premiered last year on Disney+ and caused some very strong reactions among its viewers).

Are Puberty and Superpowers a Winning Combination?

Debruge describes this new Dreamworks film as a “fairly standard undercover-teenage-monster movie, in which something — usually puberty — threatens to expose a character doing his or her best to keep a low profile in high school.”

“Pixar did something similar with Turning Red last year,” Debruge explained. In Turning Red, a boy band-loving girl named Meilin Lee discovers (in tandem with puberty) that she transforms into a giant furry red panda when she is upset.

She also discovers that her mother and all of her female ancestors share the same trait, just like Ruby learns (from her kraken grandmother, voiced by Jane Fonda) about her under-the-sea origins.

In an interview with Deadline, it was confirmed that Ruby Gillman is “’a princess, a superhero’ and the first female titular character for a DreamWorks Animation movie.”

Do you think that this progression will make viewers flock to theaters to see this animated movie (or at least to see the Dreamworks version of a mermaid who looks a whole lot like Ariel, with a villainous twist) or do you think that this film’s similarities to Turning Red are a major weakness?