Nimona follows the story of a knight framed for the murder of the Queen, who teams up with a shape-shifting teenager to resolve the crime. The story here is heartwarming but it has many levels with respect to its story. Firstly, it does give an impression of a fairy tale while adding its share of nuances with respect to the setting. This, while ticking quite a few boxes with respect to its storytelling. The screenplay standing at a shade under a 100 minutes does make for a compelling watch wherein I did feel the tale had a few shades of ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ as well.

The drama sets up a quick context on how a medieval queen emerges as the savior of the town from the ‘monsters’. Cut to a thousand years later when the medieval setting is still prevalent but with added fururistic streaks that instantly added to the innovation. The world itself was fascinating wherein you are tactfully introduced to the protagonist, a commoner to achieve knighthood. He is shown to be gay and the LGBTQ angle was handled with sensitivity right upfront. I think this was an important detail given how children also need to be exposed to this part of the reality with the mindset that this is normal. Amidst the celebrations, the writers introduce the first twist in the tale in the form of the murder of the queen in full public eye. This leads to the protagonist teaming up with an unlikely teammate to resolve the crime while being on the run.

The proceedings are interesting and entertaining while keeping things light and frothy despite dealing with a serious subject of the murder. The second act has a few hilarious moments that did put a smile on my face. But the main USP is the bond that the two protagonists share while also blurring the concept of an anti-hero. There are frequent twists and turns in the story before the grand reveal around the halfway mark which is kind of predictable. But the situations leading up to the reveal including the fun chase did make for an enjoyable watch.

I did get hints of ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ perhaps from the halfway mark that catered to a similar emotion of perception towards creatures. But nevertheless, the emotions were on point and it made for a warm watch. My little criticism did come late in the day in the final act which was still good but a little too simplistic given its setup. The face-off could have been further fleshed out to make for an even better watch. But taking nothing away from the journey as well as the themes that the screenplay tackled in what was a fascinating watch.