‘The Sea Beast’ Plot Synopsis
From Sony Pictures Imageworks and director Chris Williams (Moana, Big Hero 6), Netflix’s The Sea Beast is a children’s adventure film about an orphan girl named Maisie and a monster hunter named Jacob. When the two go on a grand adventure together, they find themselves right in the middle of a decades-long war between beasts and humans.
Why are sea monsters and humans at war?
In The Sea Beast, monstrous sea creatures roam the seas, making the waters a dangerous route to travel. This has been the case for hundreds of years, ever since the so-called “Dark Ages,” when the beasts supposedly began attacking human towns.
Now, monster hunters sail the ocean, killing beasts to make the waters safer on behalf of the King and Queen.
What deal does Jacob strike with the King and Queen?
Captain Crow, the most famous monster hunter in the land, has been after a beast called The Red Bluster for 30 years. However, when he and his crew–including his adopted son Jacob Holland–encounter the Bluster on the seas, it slips through their grasp.
This displeases the monarchs, who declare that Captain Crow’s monster hunting days are over. The Royal Navy will be taking over.
Jacob, in an attempt to save the crew’s livelihood, proposes a deal. If they capture The Red Bluster, they continue hunting for the Crown. If the Royal Navy succeeds, the King and Queen can scrap their ship, The Inevitable.
Who is Maisie Brumble?
Maisie Brumble is a young orphan, but she’s not content to live the rest of her childhood in the orphanage. The daughter of deceased monster hunters, the little girl wants to follow in her parents’ footsteps–to live as a hero and to die a great death.
This leads her to sneak off and stow away onto Captain Crow’s ship–much to the chagrin of Jacob.
What happens when Captain Crow goes after the Red Bluster again?
The Inevitable sets to the seas again, this time with Maisie on board. When they next encounter The Red Bluster, they manage to capture it–but the beast nearly takes the ship down with it. Maisie saves them by cutting the sea monster free, although she and Jacob fall into the ocean as a result.
And Captain Crow isn’t happy. He shouts at Jacob to bring the girl to him; there will be consequences for her actions. Watching this play out, the Bluster comes up and takes Maisie and Jacob into its mouth. It then retreats, leaving a shocked crew in its wake.
Eventually, the sea beast brings them to an island. Jacob tries to kill it, but Maisie doesn’t want him to. She thinks it–she?–tried to save them from Crow. She then dubs her “Red.”
Jacob thinks Maisie is being unreasonable. The monster hunters kill sea beasts because they started killing them first. They are heroes for fighting them.
“Maybe you can be a hero and still be wrong,” says Maisie.
Does Red help Maisie and Jacob?
On the island, Maisie picks up a new little monster friend that she names “Blue.” She and Jacob try to sail away on their boat that Red swallowed up with them. But their plans are complicated when another beast comes along and attacks them.
To their surprise, it’s Red who saves the day (though Jacob claims he had a larger part in their success). More convinced than ever that Red isn’t as monstrous as others say, Maisie tries to negotiate with the creature about taking them home. Red agrees, swims up under their boat, and starts to take them back.
Why does Captain Crow see Gwen Batterbie?
Crow is now set upon avenging Jacob and killing The Red Bluster, even if it means going against monster hunter code. He sets a course for Gwen Batterbie, against the advice of his first mate, Sarah Sharpe.
Gwen Batterbie is an old woman and the focus of many superstitious tales. Captain Crow asks her for a way to kill The Red Bluster. She gives him a special weapon called “The Hand of God.” She warns him, however. He’ll get what he wants, but the price will be steep.
Does Maisie convince Jacob of the monster hunters’ false history?
Maisie, Jacob, Red, and Blue reach Rum Pepper Island. Jacob comes around to Maisie’s side when he sees discrepancies in her history book about the war between humans and beasts. He begins to wonder if the stories are made up.
In any case, he’s convinced of Red’s kindness, and he promises her that he will never hunt monsters again. But then, Red throws a wrench in his plans.
Does Captain Crow capture Red?
Just then, Red catches sight of The Royal Navy setting out on a hunt. Jacob and Maisie try to convince her not to attack, but she charges anyway, and Maisie is injured in the fight.
Red begins to retreat when she notices that Maisie is hurt. But then, Captain Crow arrives and shoots Red with the poisonous Hand of God. He captures the creature, reunites with Jacob, and takes both his son and Maisie onto his ship.
What does Maisie discover about the monarchy?
Jacob tells Maisie he’s sorry for not being able to help Red and that he’ll have to take her back to the orphanage.
When they arrive at the castle to bring Red to the King and Queen, Maisie notices something. The symbol of the monarchy is the same symbol on all of The Inevitable’s books. She then realizes that the Crown has written history to fall in their favor for years.
Do Maisie and Jacob save Red?
When the ship sails into the castle’s port, Maisie secretly tries to cut Red free. Crow makes a show of stabbing Red in front of the King and Queen–but Jacob stops him. He says Crow may be wrong about monsters.
Crow accuses Jacob of turning his back on his people, and the two men fight atop Red. Meanwhile, Sarah Sharpe helps Maisie cut Red free.
Jacob breaks his spear, declaring, “No more monster hunting!” And Red stops herself from attacking Captain Crow in a truce between them.
Maisie tells everyone that the history of the war between humans and beasts is a lie made up by the monarchs. Their kingdom has been paid for by the blood of people like Maisie’s parents. The people believe her and call for Red to be let go.
How does ‘The Sea Beast’ end?
Maisie narrates the end of the film. She says the world began to change after lives were saved at the castle.
“Red is safe. And I have everything I need right here.” She sits on a dock with Jacob and Blue. “I’m going to live a great life.”
Read More: The Sea Beast Movie Review
The crown benefitting must be like a military industrial complex sort of thing. Or like a known “enemy” that brings the people together under the royals rule. Maybe by harnessing the hunters to fight the sea beasts it ended piracy allowing the royals to prosper without external conflict. It’s like a rallying cry to the people. Brings even the dissidents into a singular organization. “Survival”
Funny how much of an IP rip off this movie is. It’s so obviously a Moby Dick and PotC with a splash of Jonah and the Whale (Pinocchio as well) as well as others.
I don’t see how the kingdom benefited -“greedily” as Maisie said- from the war between humans and beasts. If the hunting helped expand trade routes then it means that beasts did attacked tradeships in the first place. The crown rewarded the hunters only with horns or bones of the beasts so it also means it was not something like whaling business either.
Gwen Batterbie had told Captain Crow that the poison could kill Red Bluster. However, the captain asked the crew to pull out the dart before Red died of the poison. As a result, the beast did not die but only fainted. It it was given all the poison in the dart it would have certainly died.
I want to see a part 2, LOVE THIS MOVIE!!
I don’t understand how the royals supposedly benefited from monster hunting. How dud they enrich themselves by encouraging the war between people and sea beasts?
Captain Crow pulled out the spear too quickly and Red was not poisoned with the whole dose of poison. The thrown spear secretes poison in the next scene.
The weapon is removed before all the poison is delivered. Captain Crow wants to deliver Red alive to the monarchy. The first mate recommends letting the poison finish the job, but Crow says she doesn’t have any fight left in her.
How does red survive the poision? Gwen told Captain Crow that the poison could kill the monster, but Red survive?