When Chris Williams was just a kid, he saw Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time. “I remember being entertained in a way that I had never quite experienced before, but also being cognizant of the fact there [were] adults that made this thing and they must love what I love,” he tells Tudum. Now a filmmaker in his own right, Williams has directed The Sea Beast, an animated film inspired by his favorite films, including Raiders. Nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 95th Academy Awards, this is one voyage you don’t want to miss.

The Sea Beast follows an unlikely duo, a monster hunter and a young stowaway, as they venture into the great unknown of the dangerous ocean. It’s a wholly original story, and one created in homage to the cinematic worlds that Williams grew up with. 

(L) Courtesy of Chris Williams, (R) Everett Collection

(Left) Sea Beast director Chris Williams as a child

“I love almost reckless ambition. Movies like Lawrence of Arabia, movies like Apocalypse Now,” Williams says. “You watch a movie like that, and there’s a sense that the whole thing could just fall apart. They were reaching so, so high, but they got it. They made it, and it’s great.” An animated thrill ride like The Sea Beast may not initially seem like it has much in common with those two epic war films, but its story — and its wide-open world — shares their ambition and scope.

Williams and company wanted to construct a world on that kind of scale but one that is also believable, with its own distinct past. “One of the things that I really wanted with this film is to create a really complete and comprehensive world. And to really make it feel like the world has a history and there's a logic to it,” he says. “The experience of being immersed in this world is going to be almost as important as the story itself.” To build that immersive experience, he took inspiration fromsome of the most epic fantasy films of all time: The Lord of the Rings trilogy. “The books created a massive world and you're being told a slice of a story that takes place within this world, but you feel this living, breathing actual place all around you.”

Sea Beast director Chris Williams on a research trip

As The Sea Beast and its main characters venture into unknown parts of the film’s nautical setting, they discover a mysterious island, full of undiscovered creatures and (perhaps) a few new things about themselves. Williams drew on another childhood favorite for this section of the film: the original King Kong. “It checks all the boxes,” Williams says. “You’ve got the uncharted island, this realm of mystery. And then you've got this creature of enormous scale. That provides awesome action scenes and spectacle and monster fights, but there's also an emotional connection that you forge with the creature.” In The Sea Beast, that creature is the Red Bluster, a massive aquatic creature who throughout the course of the film evolves from a deadly threat to something decidedly more sympathetic. 

‘The Sea Beast’ Netflix Trailer

The Sea Beast was a labor of love for Williams, and one that he hopes provides the same joy Raiders and King Kong did for him in his youth. “It's very audacious of me to cite some of the best movies that were ever made as things that inspire me,” he says with a laugh. “It’s a dangerous thing to do. I would really hope that audiences and kids watching this movie would have something like the experience that I had watching those films. First and foremost, you just want it to be a great piece of entertainment.” And if it goes a little further than that? “If it inspires kids to want to tell stories and draw and write and get excited about animation, I think that's cool too,” Williams says. “That's what happened to me.”