Remarkably Bright Creatures Review: Your Aunt Will Love It!

Debuting with high scores from both critics and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, the new Netflix original is the third feature film from director Olivia Newman. Stepping away from more complex, action-heavy plots, the director delivers a quieter film with a simpler storyline, focusing on the development of three characters, including a Giant Pacific octopus.

Based on the bestselling novel of the same name, the screenplay was written by the director herself in partnership with John Whittington (an experienced writer for children's movies like Sonic and The Lego Batman Movie, though this is not a children's film, despite acting like one at various moments). The film stars Sally Field, Lewis Pullman, and the voice of Alfred Molina, who plays the Giant Pacific octopus.

The entire story revolves around the encounter between these characters, and honestly, it never feels convincing for a single moment, but we will get to that!

This is a review WITHOUT major spoilers. You can dive right in with a clear conscience.

The Film's Plot

The plot centers on Tova (played by Sally Field), an older widowed woman who works at a local aquarium. She is preparing to move into a retirement home and leave everything behind, but her closest friend, with whom she shares secrets and a deep bond, is Marcellus, an octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus possesses human-like reasoning and is voiced by Alfred Molina, who guides the narrative from the octopus's point of view, making him a major driving force behind the drama.

Meanwhile, Cameron (played by Lewis Pullman) comes to town looking for his estranged father, someone who was never present in his life, never cared to know his son, and who, in the young man's mind, should logically pay him 19 years of back child support.

Their paths cross when Cameron struggles to find his father, his camper van breaks down, and he needs to get a temporary job to pay for the repairs. Coincidentally, this job happens to be exactly where Tova works. Their relationship develops through their daily interactions at work and the guidance Tova offers the young man, who is theoretically there to replace her now that she is selling her house and moving into a retirement facility.

The Development of the Theme

The core theme of this film is glaringly obvious. It features two characters broken by their pasts who find healing in one another. We have seen this hundreds of times before. What makes this original is the presence of the octopus, which is one of the most unlikely animals to anchor a pseudo-animal movie.

Unfortunately, this premise does not hold the film together very well because the script, from the initial setup to the final scene, relies entirely on the most shocking and far-fetched coincidences. Narrative structure? Never heard of it! This story is driven 200% by feel-good sentiments. Even the most trivial events that are not even necessary to move the story forward, serving only to flesh out the universe or supporting characters, are also irritatingly built upon mere coincidences.

You get the impression that the film treats you with a sense of naivety, or worse, that it is fully convinced that if the octopus is charismatic enough, nothing else will matter because people will love the movie anyway. (And it seems that actually works!)

The directing definitely has its merits! There is nothing extraordinary to point out, but the film manages to convey its scenes well through an incredibly simple directorial approach. Sometimes, that is all a movie like this needs. Blending CGI with live-action footage always carries the risk of creating something awkward and falling into the uncanny valley effect, where everything feels off. Here, the film avoids that entirely, and the CGI for the octopus turned out great and convincing!

The production design is brilliantly detailed. Every setting, whether a house, a car, or the aquarium, whether outdoors or indoors, perfectly captures a familiar aesthetic and creates a visual dialogue with the characters it represents. This is hard to achieve, but the film does it excellently.

The octopus is the biggest and most significant highlight of the plot. The producer who cast this octopus undoubtedly deserves an award for casting direction.

Jokes aside, the entire CGI design of the creature, its POV scenes, and even the production design surrounding the animal only reinforce and strengthen its presence and importance in the film. Marcellus's monologues are the best elements the script delivers, and even when he is reinforcing a piece of information I already know for the tenth time, I am still interested in listening to him.

The film is a sort of romantic comedy, but without the comedy and without the romance. It is a sort of animal movie, but the animal is not the protagonist. It is a sort of self-help film, but it does not teach you to change anything, it just tells you to let destiny intervene for you. In the end, you are left with the feeling that the film tries to be too many things and fails to excel at any of them.

It is important to emphasize that the main issue stems from the plot; the script does not help build any concept beyond a silly feel-good vibe, which is honestly quite important, but here it feels hollow because it has absolutely nothing to say.

This is the kind of movie a relative will mention at Sunday lunch, claiming it is their favorite film, not because of its actual quality, but because it is very cute and the octopus totally won them over. And the worst part is that the little creature really is charismatic!

Rating: 2 out of 5

[Note: It earned an extra point EXCLUSIVELY due to the charm of the octopus]

What about you? Did you also finish the movie wanting to visit an aquarium to see if there is an octopus available to sort out your life?

Until next time!