Okay. I’ve watched the nimona movie twice now. Thoughts.
The first time I watch the movie, I’m not gonna lie. I was kind of a dick about it in my head just because going into it I did expect like a comic adaptation, but re-watching the movie I actually really liked it. I will always have a lot of love for the comic, and I think that the nuances in the dynamics and relationships are incredibly well written, and just are very realistic in the way that people emotions can’t just be healed overnight and trust is not something that can be re-one as easily as helping someone you hurt after hurting them for so long. But in terms of the movie as a way for, specifically children, younger people who are the target audience to understand things like classism, explicit queer representation, and fear that is not only unfounded, but pushed by means of excuses from idealize figures being spoken for by people who have never met them, and barely believe in themselves, just the ideas the associate with the idealized figure (Jesus/ galorith). I love how the queerness grew, as originally this was a college comic made by ND in the 2000s and now is a explicit love story throughout the entire movie. Originally I disliked the fact that Ambrosius was not the one to make the decision to hurt Ballister. That sounds bad, but in the original the reason that bal is hurt is just Ambrosius’s own hubris and his inability to comprehend the hurt he’s caused after, causing their relation ship to fester for years.
Re-watching it and bringing over the comic some more, I don’t love the lack of time skip, but I think it makes a lot more sense with the plot that they introduced in the movie and I think that expanding on why Ambrosius made the decision he did, even if it changes his responsibility in the situation, was a good decision. I had a lot of thoughts on Ambrosius and his demeanor, and just the way that he was manipulated while also making his own personal bad decisions, so I went into the movie with that on my mind, and that’s just not how you should go into this movie because then you’re going to have the wrong ideas about Ambrosius in this movie, who is a different character from him in the comics. He’s a better person who was being manipulated and honestly fuck anyone who says that worst representation.
Some things I loved even more than the comic is the way more explicit trans metaphor in the story and I loveddd the pacing. I think that while I missed Blitzmeyer, I really liked the squire and I loveeed the insight into nimona and galoreths relationship. I missed the directors reveal of being an elf or something as well as some of the more horror-esk vibes but I think the scifi fantasy was a vibe and the director being human was a good way to to symbolize her as a representation for false narratives as a whole and the impact that can have on people being led by them. The clear anti classism message was amazing and I loved it and I adored Nimona’s entire vibe as well. The soundtrack was great and her being into alt culture just makes a lot of sense in any time period the movie is based in.
Tdlr: don’t go into Nimona (movie) with any ideas from the comics. It’s not the same story and that’s okay. It’s a way to interact with younger audiences and help them understand about differentness and that it’s not a bad thing. The movie was beautiful and I’m very happy for everyone who got to be apart of it.
