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If you asked AI to come up with a version of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, but skip the loony captain, focus only on Will, and make Elizabeth a damsel in distress, The Sea Monster is what you’d get. It would feel like clips from a longer movie, using only the more “emotional” shots. At least the Kraken looked good, even if he came in sizes small, medium, and large.
Captain Lu is lost when a Kraken attacks his ship on their way to Devil’s Island. Lin Xiao feels responsible for being unable to save him and breaks up with Lu Qi, the captain’s daughter. Cai, who survived the shipwreck, talks a magistrate into funding another ship to search for the treasure on Devil’s Island. With another survivor from the disaster the two men seek to bring the now drunken Lin Xiao back on board. Cai tells him Captain Lu might still be alive and he wants to see if they can find him. With Lu Qi’s encouragement they convince Lin Xiao to join the crew and off the ship sets. Aside from the Kraken, the intrepid treasure seekers will also have to deal with Japanese pirates!
I didn’t have any problem with The Sea Monster being heavily inspired by Pirates. My problem with the film was that it was built on posing clips and hero walks. If one scene of Lin Xiao on the sails looked good, ten would be better! The Dr. Smolder Bravestone posing wore quite thin. Hero walks are already an overused eyerolling trope but even more eyerolling when the walk is composed of extras! The last few minutes were filled with flashbacks of heroic posing of different characters. The film acted like they had developed the characters enough for the audience to care. There was lots of rousing generic music to let you know that a scene was supposed to evoke emotion. But given most of the deaths were extras, they meant little. The Japanese pirates’ storyline was poorly developed, not that they were on screen long. Lu Qi bragged her dad taught her to fight and shoot, yet she had to be rescued every few minutes.
For a low-budget film, the Kraken was actually pretty good. Far better than the creature in Tentacles. What they didn’t address was if there was more than one, because this fellow changed sizes. The ship and boat sets appeared very fake with the obvious blue screen backgrounds and artificial ocean. The film actually reused action footage. I thought I’d somehow hit rewind and was watching an earlier Kraken attack, but I had not.
The Sea Monster had the potential to be entertaining. I just have very little patience for posing acting and storytelling. Due to the short runtime, something you’ll rarely hear me complain about, the actual story was given short shrift, had glaring plot holes, and ended up less coherent than a high school play. The Kraken is probably complaining to his agent about this one.
13 October 2026
Annoying notes: Aside from a great treasure, the crew was searching for the Divine Mechanism Arsenal. There was also a tree with magical divine fruit that made an appearance near the end. The Kraken was supposed to be the protector of the tree which had me rooting for the Kraken!
Captain Lu is lost when a Kraken attacks his ship on their way to Devil’s Island. Lin Xiao feels responsible for being unable to save him and breaks up with Lu Qi, the captain’s daughter. Cai, who survived the shipwreck, talks a magistrate into funding another ship to search for the treasure on Devil’s Island. With another survivor from the disaster the two men seek to bring the now drunken Lin Xiao back on board. Cai tells him Captain Lu might still be alive and he wants to see if they can find him. With Lu Qi’s encouragement they convince Lin Xiao to join the crew and off the ship sets. Aside from the Kraken, the intrepid treasure seekers will also have to deal with Japanese pirates!
I didn’t have any problem with The Sea Monster being heavily inspired by Pirates. My problem with the film was that it was built on posing clips and hero walks. If one scene of Lin Xiao on the sails looked good, ten would be better! The Dr. Smolder Bravestone posing wore quite thin. Hero walks are already an overused eyerolling trope but even more eyerolling when the walk is composed of extras! The last few minutes were filled with flashbacks of heroic posing of different characters. The film acted like they had developed the characters enough for the audience to care. There was lots of rousing generic music to let you know that a scene was supposed to evoke emotion. But given most of the deaths were extras, they meant little. The Japanese pirates’ storyline was poorly developed, not that they were on screen long. Lu Qi bragged her dad taught her to fight and shoot, yet she had to be rescued every few minutes.
For a low-budget film, the Kraken was actually pretty good. Far better than the creature in Tentacles. What they didn’t address was if there was more than one, because this fellow changed sizes. The ship and boat sets appeared very fake with the obvious blue screen backgrounds and artificial ocean. The film actually reused action footage. I thought I’d somehow hit rewind and was watching an earlier Kraken attack, but I had not.
The Sea Monster had the potential to be entertaining. I just have very little patience for posing acting and storytelling. Due to the short runtime, something you’ll rarely hear me complain about, the actual story was given short shrift, had glaring plot holes, and ended up less coherent than a high school play. The Kraken is probably complaining to his agent about this one.
13 October 2026
Annoying notes: Aside from a great treasure, the crew was searching for the Divine Mechanism Arsenal. There was also a tree with magical divine fruit that made an appearance near the end. The Kraken was supposed to be the protector of the tree which had me rooting for the Kraken!
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