Will ‘The Sea Beast’ Be Netflix’s Last Great Animated Film?

The Sea Beast, which began streaming on Netflix today, is the kind of movie where you can just tell that people who are very, very good at their jobs worked very, very hard. It’s all there in the first scene of the film—a gorgeous, painstakingly animated water scene that throws viewers into the heart of this sea monster adventure. You’ll keep seeing it as you watch this tale of a hunter who befriends both a child and a sea monster unfolds: It’s in the way the camera whips and whirls through the waves. It’s in the way eyes widen and brows furrow. It’s in the little things, really, which is why it’s such a shame that The Sea Beast may be the last great animated Netflix film of its kind.

Two months ago, Netflix all but gutted its animation department in a round of layoffs following the company’s steep stock drop and subscriber loss. Of 150 staffers who were let go in May, about 70 of those jobs were in the animation studio, according to a report from Variety. Several upcoming animated projects were axed, including Wings of Fire, a show produced by Ava DuVernay based on the book series; Antiracist Baby, a children’s series; and With Kind Regards From Kindergarten, a family movie. And several current-running animated shows were also recently canceled, including The Midnight Gospel and Q-Force.

Over the last five years, even as critics have started to file increasingly lukewarm-at-best reviews of Netflix originals, animation has stood out as a strength of the streamer. Animated movies like The Mitchells vs. The Machines, The Willoughbys, Over the Moon, and Klaus received near-universal critical acclaim. The animated short, If Anything Happens I Love You, won Netflix an Oscar at the 2021 Academy Awards. While Disney still reigned supreme for the animated feature Oscars, it felt like, before the cuts, Netflix could nab the statue before long. The Sea Beast—the solo directorial debut for Chris Williams, who co-directed Oscar winners Big Hero 6 and Moana—surely, looks like a prime candidate for at least a nomination. But now, in the face of these drastic cuts, it seems it may be one of the last Netflix animated films that does.

Despite the drastic cuts, Netflix still has animation projects in the works, including a stop-motion version of Pinocchio from acclaimed director Guillermo del Toro, set to release in December. So perhaps there is still hope for animation lovers with a Netflix subscription. But, increasingly, Netflix seems to be valuing quick, easy, star-driven viewership over quality.

On the Netflix earnings call in April, Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos said, “Just a few years ago, we were struggling to out-monetize the market on little art films. Today, we’re releasing some of the most popular and most-watched movies in the world. Just over the last few months, things like Don’t Look Up and Red Notice and Adam Project, as examples of that.”

All of the movies listed by Sarandos were met with less than enthusiastic critical responses—all three sit at under 60 percent on the review aggregation website Metacritic—and are an indication of where the company’s priorities may lie ahead in the months and years ahead. Watching The Sea Beast, the result of hard work from hundreds of people who may have very well lost their Netflix jobs recently, you can’t help but wonder: Will Netflix ever pull off something this good again?