In a world where cryptids it is real but misunderstood, a trio of women (one of whom happens to be a Gorgon) joins forces to protect the strange animals that lurk among us. But as we see in Dash Shawthe gloriously colorful adult animation Cryptozoan, sometimes the best intentions are not always the best in the end.
The basic story here is not very deep – there are elements of the X-Men on themes about chasing creatures, and a definitive Jurassic Park feel the Cryptozoo itself – but director-writer Shaw (My whole school sinking into the sea) and animation director Jane Samborski have created a canvas so imaginative and visually stunning that it’s hard to wish for more plot. The main character, Lauren (voiced by Lake Bell), is a veterinarian who has become a cryptozookeeper, whose driving passion is to travel the world and risk her life and members to rescue cryptids from those who want to harm them, exploit them and / or make them as weapons – and bring them to live in the sanctuary.
Lauren’s white whale is the Japanese baku, the creature that devoured the nightmares that terrified her as a child. When she gets a clue about his whereabouts, she’s more than ready to go after him, but the zoo’s owner, Joan (Grace Zabriskie), wants her to find a new partner: Phoebe (Angeliki Papoulia), a Gorgon who uses a special contact lens to hide her deadly eyes and soothe the snake hair she wears under a scarf.
I might as well have watched Lauren – who is tough as hell – and friendly Phoebe crossing the country on daring rescue missions (each location represented in a different and beautiful color palette, from Orlando’s oranges to sunset) the deep purple hues of decadent Kentucky small town) for all of Cryptozoan. But the zoo itself and everything it symbolizes is what drives the themes that the film is most interested in exploring.
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When we first met her, Lauren fervently believes that the zoo will help make life easier for cryptids; she thinks it is “a necessary stepping stone” to encourage humanity to accept, instead of fearing, the wonderful creatures in its midst, even the terrible ones that cannot be tamed. Phoebe is enthusiastic about the mission, but surprised by the place itself (it’s “a little tacky”, she says when she sees its pseudo-Disneyland aesthetic, and she is not wrong), while Gustav (American gods‘Peter Stormare), a Faun whose relations with his fellow cryptids change according to his flexible moral compass, has sharper words: “This shit is humiliating. ”
Lauren ends up questioning her life’s work, realizing that perhaps saving creatures to keep them exposed in cages is not the best solution. Cryptozoanthe final lesson back to a line we heard in the first act – “Utopias it will never work ”- as a pair of lovers exploring the forest around the facility decide to sneak in, unaware of the chaos they will inadvertently unleash. This may not be an original idea for Cryptozoan, but rarely has any film taken such a creative, brilliant and brilliantly surreal approach to illustrate exactly why this is true – with the added bonus of seeing dragons, manticores, Griffins, a Pegasus, a giant Kraken and other mythological icons woven into the story, as well as the supreme the satisfaction of seeing an angry Gorgon mutter “Fuck you, idiot” while turning the idiot who is harassing her to stone.
Cryptozoan premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.
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