Big Hero 6 director Chris Williams jumps ship – literally – from Disney to Netflix for this immensely enjoyable animated maritime adventure. Aiming its harpoon at everything from Moby-Dick to Master and Commander, the film unfolds in a distant past in which generations of brave hunters have battled with a variety of fearsome monsters of the deep. But what, the film asks, if the real enemy is not the giant fish that is just going about its business, but a power that is rather closer to home? A few slightly pantomime-voice performances apart, this is terrific stuff, a rousing buddy movie between plucky orphan Maisie (Zaris-Angel Hator), fearless hunter Jacob (Karl Urban) and a misunderstood horned monster nicknamed Red. The film features dazzling action and a fantasy world that is realised with an almost tactile level of detail. Seek it out on a monster-size screen if at all possible.
