If the first Nimona teaser was light on story and heavy on chaos, this one’s the opposite—kind of? It’s still heavy on the hyperactive charms of the title character, a shapeshifting, stubborn, would-be sidekick with a taste for mayhem. But now you get a little more backstory about framed knight Ballister Boldheart, who is not the villain everyone thinks he is, and the do-gooder Ambrosius Goldenloin, Boldheart’s former partner.
Maybe, just maybe, the lines between heroes and villains aren’t so firmly drawn.
Here’s the synopsis:
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When Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed), a knight in a futuristic medieval world, is framed for a crime he didn’t commit, the only one who can help him prove his innocence is Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz), a mischievous teen with a taste for mayhem—who also happens to be a shapeshifting creature Ballister has been trained to destroy. But with the entire kingdom out to get him, Nimona’s the best (or technically the only) sidekick Ballister can hope for. And as the lines between heroes, villains, and monsters start to blur, the two of them set out to wreak serious havoc—for Ballister to clear his name once and for all, and for Nimona to… just wreak serious havoc.
All things considered, it’s pretty incredible that Nimona is a movie at all. Creator ND Stevenson’s shapeshifter tale began as a webcomic in 2012 before becoming a graphic novel in 2015, and the book was a finalist for the National Book Award. The movie rights were snapped up—and then bounced around; the original studio, Blue Sky, was part of the deal when Disney bought 20th Century Fox in 2019.
When Disney closed Blue Sky in 2021, it seemed like the end of the road for Nimona. But here she is, in bright, hyperactive color, having been rescued by Netflix. But not without changes: for one thing, the hinted-at relationship between Ballister and Ambrosius is now concrete. On the less delightful side, Nimona herself seems to have been slimmed down, despite all the appreciation for her size in the comics. For a story about being who you are to slim down its lead is disappointing.
But the animation looks charming, the voice-cast spot-on, and if the tone is a little bit too peppy-learn-a-lesson kids, well, it’s just a trailer. Nimona leaps into feature-length fun on Netflix on June 30th.
