Last week (when I wrote this), I opted to purchase myself a month of Netflix. I will probably wind up using this month to watch The Witcher and whatever other Netflix stuff I’ve missed over the last few years of not wanting to watch shows by myself (like Stranger Things season 4), but the reason I paid for a month of Netflix was because I wanted to watch Nimona. It hit Netflix on the 30th of June and I knew it was something I wanted to watch, even if I had to do it by myself. I’ve been following ND Stevenson for years and found his posts, comics, and online journaling about his gender identity incredibly informative and helpful. I was excited to see the movie made about the comic that wound up being so unintentionally about his identity and journey, even though I’d never read the comic. It was one of those things that I always meant to read but never got around to reading. Then, when I heard there was going to be a movie I decided to wait until after it came out. I almost broke down and read the comic when the movie got canned by Disney, but wound up being glad I waited when Netflix announced they’d picked it. Now, I’ve watched the movie and am preparing to read the comic (as soon as I have the time required to that, since I’m writing this less than 24 hours after watching the movie).

The reason I opted to pay for an entire month of Netflix rather than find someone with an existing subscription was because I was worried they’d take the movie down. Sure, it just released and was doing well enough that them taking it down seemed incredibly unlikely, but the threat of a show disappearing for unknowable reasons is far too large to completely ignore these days. I mean, the whole point of streaming services was to have access to everything, all of which is voided by their decisions to cut shows from their platforms without warning and the way that most shows tend to just disappear before they’ve run their course. I would not be surprised to learn that Netflix decided to take down something because it was doing “too well” or some dumb reason like that. It makes just as much sense as all the other studios cutting things left, right, and center. So I shelled out, got comfy, and watched the movie.

I can’t remember the last time I was literally on the edge of my seat for the tense moments of a movie. I wouldn’t necessarily say it was because I didn’t know what was going to happen (I recognized the general pacing and beats of the story enough to know more or less how it was going to end), but because it mattered so very much that it was happening at all. A character, on screen, talking about suicidal ideation. A pair of characters, one a primary and the other a secondary, clearly in a homosexual relationship (in a movie with a PG rating, so it’s not treated like it’s some kind of amazing breakthrough or some kind of risqué material and instead just a normal thing for this world). A character whose identity and path are a pretty clear metaphor for transitioning and the way modern society and many of the powerful people in it treat any number of marginalized peoples but ESPECIALLY treat trans people. It felt important to see those moments play out, to see the characters speak to each other and watch the way they reacted to the world around them. And the way they reacted to how the world around them treated each other.

I knew how the story was going to end, I knew what all the twists and revelations were going to be, and I didn’t care. The animation was beautiful enough that I’d watch it just for that. The characters were strong enough that I’d watch it just for them. The social commentary was strong and veiled enough that I’d watch for just that. I didn’t need to not know what was going to happen because the world was so strong, the symbolism so tight and on-point, that I wanted to see every single moment of the movie. I wanted to see not just what story was being told, but how every beat unfolded. The plot is about what you’d expect, because it is, ultimately, about heroes, but it spends the whole movie redefining what makes a hero and picking apart how society constructs the ideas of “heroism” in a way that serves power. Almost like the whole thing is a metaphor for something else. A lot of movies have done similar things and stopped there, but Nimona out and out pushes past the metaphor multiple times to make the point that maybe we’re better off without the repressive, traditional parts of society that are actively harming some of the people they claim to be protecting.

I have so much more I want to say about this movie, but I’m going to hold off until I’ve read the comic (I ordered the graphic novel while taking a break from writing this) and until some more time has passed so I can talk about it without needing to avoid spoilers. I highly recommend it for everyone. Everybody should watch this movie. Sure, there are beats that can be emotional tough, but it is also extremely cathartic. The only people who should have issues with the subject matter or how it’s presented are probably either bigots or so stuck in their reading of the original comic that no movie adaptation could even measure up to it. I’m including the latter because I’ve read some critical articles about the movie and every single one of them has had me wondering if the person voicing their criticisms watched the same movie I did. Some of those claims are an incredible stretch that feels like the watcher did more to change or, as one reviewer put it, “nerf” the characters than the animation studio did. I am genuinely surprised that some of these supposedly experienced reviewers watched the movie and missed (or, in some case, ignored) so much.

It’s good. It’s warm, but it never flinches away from the difficult or scary moments. The voice acting is incredible. The art is amazing. There’s so much to see that I might watch it half a dozen times in the next month. I am going to organize watch parties so everyone who wants to can watch it. I will do whatever it takes to pump up the viewership so it can stick around on Netflix and hopefuly get a DVD/Blu-Ray release if it doesn’t. I will be thinking about this movie for years to come and I want to be able to watch it whenever I do.