Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

There are certainly good things about The Adventures of Young Moby Dick. The voice acting is decent, and the opening narration, a good idea to set it up like a story from a book, is to the point and sincere. The characters are sweet and likable, especially Moby and Ishmael, and the story is done in a way that is easy to follow and to be touched by. The animation though wasn't for my taste, the colours did seem overly-bright and the character designs seemed rather blocky. The dialogue, opening narration aside, is rather corny and bland with moments of mawkishness as well, as a child you won't notice but from an adult perspective it is noticeable and is not going to bode well with some. The story is engaging enough of course, but it also has a tendency to drag in the middle, at a point where a couple of scenes did feel stretched, and could have been told in either half the time or ended fifteen minutes earlier. And the music is very 80s, not always a bad thing but not fitting I don't think here. The orchestration was on the cheesy side and a more whimsical or dramatic approach I feel was needed. To conclude, quite nice and something that people will like, but I wasn't entirely bowled over by it but can see why people will be. 5/10 Bethany Cox