Geralt of Rivia has walked the various perilous paths of the Continent, and damaged via in practically each medium. Netflix’s new animated film The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep absolutely brings him into the realm of animation, the place the monster hunter, freed from reasonable physics, blasts hearth from his arms and pummels sea monsters like he’s the Avatar from The Final Airbender.
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Cries of “Not my Geralt!” really feel inevitable. Between Andrzej Sapkowski’s many novels, CD Projekt Crimson’s expansive video video games, and Netflix’s mainstream (or as its critics would say, flattened) tackle the fabric, each fan of the Witcher franchise involves a display adaptation with solely totally different expectations. However Sirens of the Deep feels just like the Witcher staff cribbing from the proper playbook, one that might deliver everybody collectively: DC’s animated film output. Like so lots of Batman and Superman’s small-screen adventures during the last twenty years, Sirens of the Deep is an excuse to do extra with Geralt with out the calls for of four-quadrant expectations. Seeing him in motion is a satisfying expertise.
For Sirens of the Deep, writers Mike Ostrowski and Rae Benjamin (vets of the Netflix live-action sequence) draw from Sapkowski’s quick story “A Little Sacrifice,” a riff on Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid.” (That story could be present in Sapkowski’s assortment Sword of Future.) The writing duo stay comparatively devoted to Sapkowski’s story: Whereas on the hunt for a monster, Geralt stumbles into rising political rigidity between the land-dwellers of Bremervoord and the merfolk of, uh, the ocean.
Picture: Netflix
On the heart of the battle is the cross-species romance between Duke Agloval and the royal mermaid Sh’eenaz, a union each side see as unholy. Geralt, together with Bremervoord native Jaskier (Joey Batey) and his outdated pal Essi the minstrel (Christina Wren), turn into de facto interpreters and peace brokers. However blood is inevitably spilled, as neither facet desires to listen to the argument for species coexistence, not to mention a species-mixed marriage.
Much more than of their first Witcher prequel film, Nightmare of the Wolf, director Kang Hei Chul and Studio Mir (The Legend of Korra, Younger Justice, Harley Quinn) seize the animation medium as an opportunity to make The Witcher their very own. The colours of the Continent pop past the blue hues of the live-action sequence, however really feel extra painterly than the AAA sheen of CDPR’s video games. The units, from seaside villages to underwater kingdoms, really feel unrestrained by sensible concerns — IRL builds or in-game physics. And Ostrowski and Benjamin are continuously veering from the grand to the intimate, threading Geralt’s relationship woes via battles with armored reptiles and a full-blown mer-war.
9-tenths of what makes a DC animated film superior to different IP workout routines with the identical characters is the casting, from new voices to nostalgia performs. Sirens of the Deep excels on its voice performances. Doug Cockle, the Geralt of the Witcher video games, returns to the function, although this film by no means appears like an unplayable facet quest, partly because of the fragile animation surrounding his talky down moments. Cockle has Geralt’s gravelly mumble all the way down to a science; it’s like listening to Mark Hamill return into Joker mode.
Picture: Netflix
Sirens of the Deep finds connective tissue to the live-action sequence in Batey as Jaskier and a quick look from Anya Chalotra as Yennefer, however the newcomers get essentially the most to chew on. Camrus Johnson because the smitten Duke Agloval and Emily Carey as Sh’eenaz, the no-BS mermaid princess, are delightfully unbearable because the Romeo and Juliet of the warring human and merfolk nations. Christina Wren (Will Trent) imbues Essi with some much-needed company; she ultimately falls for Geralt, in an arc lifted straight from the story, however she’s constantly commanding the room — a talented bard who can spit hearth. She desires to mattress Geralt as a result of she desires to mattress Geralt, his mopiness however.
Ostrowski and Benjamin make a couple of key adjustments to Sapkowski’s story, largely for the higher. The stakes really feel increased, the scope feels match for the medium, and the twists really feel proper for the occasions. The ending will seemingly be debated, and becoming a member of in on that dialog is a superb excuse to learn Sapkowski’s authentic story. However all in all, Sirens of the Deep is extra Witcher — good Witcher! — and a narrative we’d seemingly by no means see on display with out this direct-to-video-brained experiment. Let this be an argument to maintain making and constructing on Geralt’s animated adventures, and never simply the undertaking the place they peak.
The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep is now on Netflix.
