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Nimona (2023) is a 3D animated full-length film based on the comic Nimona (2015) by ND Stevenson. It is a highly underrated work of art that goes in depth into identity and suicidal ideation. Less than five minutes into the film, several plots have been established. Firstly, the audience is introduced to Gloreth, hero of legend, founder of the royal guard and the person solely responsible for taking down a monster. This is the tale that opens the story, and also helps to establish the primary plot: The royal guard for centuries, has been exclusive only to the descendants of the soldiers Gloreth herself enlisted. Ballister Boldheart, the protagonist, is the first commoner to have been allowed into the royal guard. This sets the narrative overall, which is about challenging older, pre-established societal rules and values.

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Nimona (2023) consists of multiple genres including action, science-fantasy, drama and romance. Within the first 10 minutes the film has already introduced the audience to Ballister’s romantic partner, Ambrosius Goldenloin, descendant of Gloreth.  He cuts off Ballister’s arm within those ten minutes which adds complexity to their relationship. Science-fantasy is also incredibly on the nose. It’s something that, once again, has already been an established genre within the first 10 minutes-There’s a monarch, there’s knights in shining armour, advanced technology, weapons that shoot lasers, and lastly, a fire-breathing monster.

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Nimona is a 3D animated film, however the characters and backgrounds are coloured and shaded in a specific way to create the illusion that it’s in 2D. The characters are all cell shaded , however when it comes to specific objects like armour, there’s a lot more detail to reflect the lights. Notably, what gives Nimona (2023) the 2D aesthetic it’s known for, is the lighting, the props in the foreground, as well as the background. Everything is very stylised with simplistic texturing, however it’s the lights and shadows that really creates the film’s aesthetics. The lighting in Nimona is so harsh, and the shadows are equally as harsh. Where there’s an intense red light, the shadows are just as intense.

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The film deals with political themes such as oppression and propaganda. The Kingdom in the film is a dystopia disguised as a Utopia. Surrounded by walls, it essentially keeps the citizens forever trapped from the outside world. This is framed as a good thing though, because the walls keep them safe from the monster. The unknown is highly looked down upon, and this is where propaganda falls into play. Nimona (character) is a representation of queer and transgender people. The hatred shown to her throughout the film is a direct callout to how society treatsqueer and transgender people. Nicholson, A. (2023) stated that, “This is a big message film that wants audiences to reflect on social paranoia. At its heart, it’s a pointed allegory about politicians who build their national profile on the backs of queer and transgender children. “

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The film deals with many ethical themes, the most prominent one being good versus evil. In this case, it’s Nimona and Ballister versus the evil of ignorance. While there are evil characters in the story like the Director,  Nimona and Ballister’s battle is against a society seeped in propaganda, oppression and lies. The biggest evil in the story takes the form of ignorance and fear, specifically fear of the unknown. The reason their battle with the Director feels so long is because they’re not battling just her, they’re battling society and its beliefs.

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As mentioned earlier, the story is primarily about challenging previously established societal beliefs. This is a cultural theme in Nimona that transcends fiction. Throughout the movie, everyone in the kingdom is spoonfed what to believe.  The biggest lie in the film was Gloreth. For centuries, Gloreth was called a hero, and praised for her battle with a monster who is revealed to be Nimona. The reality was, Gloreth was a child who turned against Nimona only after her parents told her to. She was never a hero, just a girl taught to hate the unknown. It’s a tragic reflection of how society is taught what to believe by those in power and how children can become victims of these beliefs, causing them to be hateful in their adult life, and teaching younger generations to be the same.

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In its development, Nimona went through a lot of development issues. Originally, the project was picked up by Blue Sky, however after Disney obtained the rights to Blue Sky, Disney executives dropped the project because of the LGBT elements. It later got picked up by Annapurna Pictures and Netflix. The overall production of Nimona was very complex, as there were many details the production crew had to get right. Animation director Theodor Ty (2024) explained that,

"Nimona is a film driven by emotions and emotional relationships. The story is an emotional tapestry woven with innocence, betrayal, joy, fear, self-doubt, lots of humour, and of course, love. So, how did we animate those emotions? Well, it became about relying on story to drive the animation style and not the other way around."

In order to properly animate Nimona, the production crew broke each line of the script into a roadmap  in order to identify exactly what emotions she would feel at all times in the film. As a result, Nimona is a very animated and expressive character, both in voice and animation. They did this for several characters, including Ballister. To get a good understanding of both Ballister and Nimona’s relationship, they overlaid the two character’s maps. This allowed them to understand what energy they would carry around each other and how they’d interact. All in all, Nimona is an incredibly detailed film and its production was an incredibly intricate process.

This concludes my analysis.