Sea Beast, The

Story

History books say that during the Dark Times, sea beasts emerged from the sea onto land and plucked women from their gardens. Although sea beasts have been hunted to the brink of extinction, the beasts have learned to fight back. One beast in particular keeps evading capture – the legendary Red Bluster (aka Red).

Captain Crow (voice of Jared Harris) is a famous hunter of sea beasts. He has his heart set on taking revenge on the sea beast that took his eye. He’ll stop at nothing to prove himself to the King and Queen, who’ve grown tired of paying the hunters for their services and have instead raised a navy to attack the sea beasts.

As Captain Crow and his crew set out on their final search for Red, Jacob (voice of Karl Urban), the future captain of The Inevitable and adopted son of Captain Crow, discovers stowaway Maisie (voice of Zaris-Angel Hator) on board. Maisie is an orphan who wants to hunt sea beasts herself. Maisie knows the history books almost by heart and can see things that others don’t.

Maisie discovers that not everything is as it appears and that her heroes might be wrong. When Red saves her life, an unlikely friendship is formed. But will it be enough to save them all and change the course of history?

Themes

Monster hunting; cruelty to animals; loss of family; the complications of war; misinformation being presented as history

Violence

The Sea Beast has some violence. For example:

A young boy floats on a piece of wood and watches from afar as a sea beast wraps its tentacles around a ship. The beast appears to crush the ship while men scream.
Jacob repeatedly addresses his crew as ‘fish killers’.
Hunters fire cannonballs at a sea beast. They fire arrows into the beast and stab it. Jacob shoots it with a harpoon. The creature is angry and comes up beneath the boat, trying to unsettle it. Jacob and the captain slice off its tentacles.
Jacob is nearly eaten by a sea beast that comes up under him with its mouth wide open. Jacob clings onto the beast’s back and stabs it with a knife. Captain Crow stabs the beast in the underbelly with a harpoon and the beast dies, floating down into the depths. The captain dives in and saws off half of the beast’s horn. It reaches out a tentacle and grabs the captain’s leg, dragging him down and attempting to drown him. The captain is rescued at the last minute, and the beast is left to drown in the depths.
Characters plot to kill Red with cannons and spears.
The hunters fire numerous cannonballs and explosives, which hit Red in and around the face. The hunters launch harpoons and lances into Red’s back and body. The plan is to make Red drag the ship, so he’ll become too tired to fight.
Red tries to create a whirlpool and attempts to break the ship. Men scream as they fall from the ship and the boat begins to break.
Jacob tries to stab Red with a lance.
Red splashes Jacob with a huge wave. Jacob crashes backwards against a palm tree.
Maisie finds a cute little creature on an island. Jacob throws it into the bushes, telling Maisie that these creatures are dangerous because they lay eggs in your mouth and burst out through your chest cavity.
A sea beast tries to eat Jacob and his dinghy, but Red comes to the rescue.
Red and a crab-like sea beast fight each other on the beach. Maisie grabs the beast’s eye, Jacob throws a sword at it, and Red tosses it into the deep sea.
Jacob bashes himself in the face and thighs, trying to break a spear.
A soldier shoots Red.
A navy aim all their cannons at Red, firing them all.
Maisie runs towards the cannon blasts, trying to save Red. She’s hit and hurt.
Red ploughs into the navy ship, breaking it in half.
Red is stabbed with a huge, poisoned harpoon and goes down, paralysed and unable to move.
Captain Crow repeatedly refers to a beast that took his eye.
A character says that he won’t rest until the bones of every sea beast lie at the bottom of the sea.
Jacob and Captain Crow fight with swords.
Red is about to eat Captain Crow until Maisie tells him to stop.

Sexual references

There are no sexual references in The Sea Beast.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

The Sea Beast shows some use of substances. For example:

Sea beast hunters drink flasks of alcohol and tankards of beer aboard their ship.
Maisie grabs a frothy beer, but Jacob takes it away.
Characters drink alcohol in a tavern and toast to their adventures. Jacob says, ‘Drinks are on us, and no-one will go thirsty tonight’.
Captain Crow asks Jacob if he could use a drink.
There’s a song about how ‘we raise a glass to the sky and drink before we die’.

Nudity and sexual activity

There’s some nudity and sexual activity in The Sea Beast. For example, Jacob’s torso is exposed while a doctor stitches up a cut in his back.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in The Sea Beast.

Coarse language

The Sea Beast has some mild coarse language and name-calling, including ‘hell’, ‘ass’, ‘bollocked’ and ‘coward’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

The Sea Beast is an animated adventure featuring a diverse cast and an interesting storyline with a lot to think about and discuss. Because of its themes and violence, this isn’t a movie for young children. It’s better suited to slightly older children and pre-teens.

These are the main messages from The Sea Beast:

Things aren’t true just because they’re written down and widely accepted.
You should fight against injustice and stand up for what’s right, even if you’re the only one standing.

Values in The Sea Beast that you could reinforce with your children include bravery, wisdom, compassion, integrity, persistence and teamwork.

The Sea Beast could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the real-life consequences of things like:

accepting established ideas, even when they cause harm or pain
killing animals because we think they’re scary, with no regard for animal welfare or ecosystems
perpetuating false ideas for greed or power
waging war without considering the cost.