YMMV / The Sea Beast

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • The king and queen, in regards to how much they know about the sea beasts. Considering that the false version of the war's origins has been told for hundreds of years, it's highly possible that the royals themselves grew up truly believing this version and may not necessarily know any better, just like their subjects. The queen even says that no one remembers how the war started and neither she or the king has any first-hand experience with the sea beasts. Not that this lets them off the hook for all their actions, especially in the climax when the truth comes out, but this interpretation suggests they're more Obliviously Evil.
  • The monsters themselves may not be entirely benign. Sure, Blue is cute, and the yellow monster is simply protecting her babies, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the same applies to some of the others. There's nothing to suggest that giant crab that attacks Jacob and Maisie is anything other than a voracious, predatory killing machine. While Red is revealed to be fairly gentle towards Maisie and Jacob, they still have to convince her to leave and avoid attacking the Imperator ship long before the crew even notices her presence, and this is when a ship is stuck at port and gathering supplies. The Crown may have exaggerated the threat of the monsters over the years through propaganda, but that's not to say there was never a threat to begin with...
  • However, it’s possible that the monsters only started attacking humans after they learned to fear them. Your average real-world animal does not attack humans unless starving or provoked. Keep in mind, Red’s back was absolutely riddled with harpoons. She’s learned to fear humans, and to attack them before they attack her. Maisie and Jacob only get exceptions because of Maisie’s Androcles' Lion.
• Designated Villain: While Gwen Batterbie is portrayed as an evil witch, all she does is sell weapons that are not especially cruel (probably because this film is aimed at children).
• Friendly Fandoms: Although some people find the movie’s similarities to How to Train Your Dragon glaring, there are still a decent amount of people who enjoy both movies and even make fan-art featuring sea monsters and dragons interacting with each other.
• Moral Event Horizon: The monarchs cross it when they keep ordering the guards to fire at the Red Bluster. At this time, the truth has already been revealed, the sea beast is retreating peacefully, and Jacob and Maisie are still riding on her.
• They Copied It, So It Sucks!: The story has a few striking similarities to How to Train Your Dragon with the idea of a child hailing from a coastal/islandic society that shoots down powerful creatures on sight, only to find out that they're actually peaceful after an encounter with the most elusive member of their kind. Both the Red Bluster and Toothless also have some pretty expressive cat-like faces, though this part seems to be a coincidence, since Red was inspired by lions, while Toothless took after a black panther. Exactly how much the similarities hurt or even help the film, or if both works stand on their own as genuinely good and separate movies, is up to viewer opinion.
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: It's marketed as a children's film for Netflix, and promotional videos for it are placed on their "After School" Youtube channel, but The Sea Beast is considerably more bold than the previous Disney works by Chris Williams, showing alcohol consumption instead of the usual Frothy Mugs of Water, a few bits of profanity, and even human blood in one scene. The movie is also very keen on death as a concept, with its Arc Words "live the greatest lives and die the greatest deaths", which in fact integral to the hunter ideology, so Never Say "Die" is never in effect.

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