If you haven't watched the movie Nimona, DO IT! It's on Netflix and it's absolutely fantastic. I watched it for the first time the other day and it's one of my favorite movies ever. I'd recommend watching it blind like I did. It's such a fun experience.

One of the reasons I love it is just because of how queer it is. We live in a world with all 50 of Disney's "first gay characters" that only show any gayness in a "conveniently" split second scene far in the background. And it just so happens that makes it easier for them to edit out that moment in international releases. And it's not just Disney, they're just the easiest example to point to. But in Nimona the queerness is essential to the plot. Two if the main characters are gay men in an open relationship that's treated just like any other straight relationship would be. That's rare to see, especially in family friendly media. It's sad that the bar to clear is so low, but I digress.

Then there's Nimona herself who is such an obvious trans allegory and I love it! She shares so many experiences, feelings, and attitudes that I feel or have felt as a trans person. She's incredibly relatable to me and offers a good insight into the trans experience if you're cisgender yourself. And there's so much more symbolism and allegory that there are entire video essays about this film. But I don't wanna spoil the movie for you. Just watch it and I'm sure you'll understand.

But the story behind the movie is just as interesting as the movie itself. It was being made by Blue Sky Studios, the studio most known for the Ice Age films. But when they were mostly done with the movie they were bought out by Disney. Disney's intention was just to buy up the competition and shut them down, which sucks a lot. It's not fair. So Disney saw Nimona mid-development and told Blue Sky to remove the overt queerness. They refused, so Disney scrapped the whole thing. They wouldn't even let Blue Sky finish their final feature film because they're a company with homophobic values.

Then after a few years the rights to the film were picked up by Netflix and another studio finished the movie. Not only did they finish it, they had to redo all the animation from scratch! And then it was released on Netflix to a large amount of success. It's a miracle that we even got this film at all after Disney tried to ruin it. Can you tell I don't like corporate Disney?

But yeah. Everyone please watch Nimona! It's a fantastic film for all ages and sheds light on the trans experience while also being fun, energetic, and a treat to look at. The animation isn't the most polished, but it's stylized very nicely. 11/10 would recommend.