The Sea Beast, Netflix’s newest animated family film, has been impressing audiences and critics with its surprisingly sophisticated story and skilled voice acting. Collider’s own film critic Ross Bonaime gave the film a B-, praising both the voice acting and the screenplay written by Chris Williams and Nell Benjamin. Considering Williams, who is also the film’s director, worked on Disney films including Bolt, Big Hero 6, and Moana, it’s no surprise that The Sea Beast shines in both story and acting.

The Sea Beast tells the story of Maisie Brumble, a young girl who stows away on a hunting ship. In Maisie’s world, being a hunter is the noblest job a person can have, as they sail the seas and kill beasts to ensure the creatures never attack the shores. As Maisie gets to know both the sea creatures and the hunters, she begins to realize that what she had always been taught may be a lie. The Sea Beast’s story deals with difficult themes of morality, revenge, and heroism as characters must reckon with the possibility that the hunters they have been taught since birth to idolize may in fact be misguidedly attacking innocent creatures. Maisie sums up the movie’s themes when she says “You can be a hero and still be wrong.”

Director Chris Williams has sung the praises of his talented cast of voice actors, telling The Gate that the cast was “everything we could have asked for and more.” He noted that in animated movies it is essential for the voice actors to bring spontaneity and energy to the meticulously planned animated scenes.

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Image via Netflix

Related:'The Sea Beast' Featurette Shows the Making of the Epic, Family-Friendly Adventure [Exclusive]

Zaris-Angel Hator as Maisie Brumble

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Image via Netflix

Maisie Brumble, voiced by Zaris-Angel Hator, is an adventurous young orphan who stows away on the hunting ship the Inevitable (her second favorite ship after the Monarch, which was the ship her parents had served on). Maisie soon rethinks her dream of being a hunter and her idolization of hunters like Captain Crow once she meets a sea beast named Red and begins to suspect that the beasts are not the horrible monsters everyone claims, but are instead victims of the hunters. Maisie is guided by her empathy, bravery, and curiosity and is willing to discover the hard truths of the world around her.

18-year-old Zaris-Angel Hator brings impressive energy and sincerity to her performance. She has previously played the lead role in Matilda in the West End production and played Anna in the recent film Morbius. Looking ahead, she will be playing Sima in the upcoming series The Power. When talking with The Gate, Zaris-Angel Hator said how excited she was by the character of Maisie as she knew “lots of little girls like [her] were really going to love her and relate to her” and noted that when she was “younger it would have made [her] so happy to see [herself] on screen.”

Karl Urban as Jacob Holland

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Jacob Holland is voiced by Karl Urban. Jacob, who has worked under Captain Crow for years and hopes to eventually become the captain of the Inevitable, is far less willing than Maisie to question conventional wisdom and consider the possibility that the sea beasts don’t mean them harm. Voice actor Karl Urban described Jacob as “tough” and “brawny” but under his tough exterior, he still has a lot of heart. When talking to Collider, Urban noted that one of the things he especially appreciated about the film was its message that “If you get presented with new information…you should be open to the paradigm shift.”

Karl Urban may currently be best known as Billy Butcher in The Boys, or Doctor “Bones” McCoy from the recent Star Trek films, but those are far from his only stand-out roles. He was also Eomer in Lord of the Rings and some older fans may even recognize him as Cesar from Hercules and Xena.

Jared Harris as Captain Crow

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Captain Crow, the grizzled old captain of the Inevitable, is a man driven by vengeance and what he believes to be a righteous crusade against the sea beasts. His character and his all-consuming obsession with hunting Red make him reminiscent of Captain Ahab from Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Despite being a surrogate father to Jacob, Crow doesn’t hesitate to hold Jacob at gunpoint when Jacob interferes with killing Red.

Jared Harris has a long and illustrious film, theater, and television career, having played roles including Lane Pryce on Mad Men, King George VI on The Crown, and Emil Nicholas in Morbius. He also plays Hari Seldon, a genius who is able to use statistics and probability to predict the future, in Apple TV+’s Foundation.

Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Sarah Sharpe

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Sarah is the first mate of the Inevitable and is proud to serve under Captain Crow. She is fond of drinking a bit of her favorite alcohol before going into battle against the Bluster, noting that given how dangerous the creature is, “it’s best not to wait ‘til after.” Handy with both swords and pistols, Sarah is everything Crow could ask for in a first mate- smart, loyal, and willing to make sure the rest of the crew stays in line.

Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Sarah's voice actress, has played multiple notable roles including FBI Agent Vivian Johnson on Without A Trace, the chief of police in 2014’s RoboCop, and the assistant FBI director on Blindspot. She excels at playing strong women with a keen sense of justice and strong leadership skills.

Related:Sea Shanties Are Back With "Captain Crow" From Netflix's 'The Sea Beast'

Jim Carter and Doon Mackichan as the King and Queen

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The King and Queen are the ones who provide financial backing to the hunters who fight sea beasts and it is their decision to stop financing The Inevitable if it can’t kill the Red Bluster that motivates Captain Crow to take extreme risks to fight the creature. Despite the claims of the royals that fighting the beasts is necessary to protect the kingdom, evidence begins to pile up that their motives may not be as altruistic as they say.

Jim Carter, who voices the King, is best known for playing the decidedly more working-class Mr. Carson on Downton Abbey. Jim Carter was also in Shakespeare in Love and played the Earl of Kent in BBC’s 2018 King Lear.

Doon Mackichan may be relatively unknown to many American audiences, but she has a long career in film and television in her native UK. She played the archangel Michael in Good Omens and has had roles in shows including the Doctor Who spin-off Sarah Jane Adventures and the police procedural New Tricks.

Dan Stevens as Admiral Hornagold

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Admiral Hornagold captains the Imperator and is hired by the king and queen to replace Captain Crow in hunting the Red Bluster and other sea beasts. His ship and crew are far more regimented than the crew of the Inevitable but all that discipline may not matter in the face of the Red Bluster. Hornagold only survives his encounter with Red thanks to Jacob’s intervention.

Dan Stevens, another great British actor with a Downton Abbey connection, plays the Admiral. Stevens played Matthew Crawley in Downton Abbey. After leaving Downton Abbey, Stevens went on to play the Beast in Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast and played Charles Dickens in The Man Who Invented Christmas.

Red Bluster

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The Red Bluster, or Red as Maisie calls her, is the sea beast that Captain Crow desperately seeks to catch and kill. He assumes her to be a raging monster driven by nothing but violence but Maisie quickly begins to see signs that Red is a more nuanced and thoughtful creature than she first appears. Red doesn’t think twice about fighting or even killing if necessary but she is also a loyal and brave friend. She only wants to be left alone to live in peace.

Blue

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Blue is a small adorable blue creature whom Maisie names and quickly befriends. Blue is friendly, good-natured, and a loyal friend to Maisie. He also doesn’t appear to harbor ill will towards Jacob, who regularly tosses him out of the way. Blue, who looks to be 50% angler fish and 50% axolotl, is 100% cute and makes a charming comic relief sidekick for Maisie and Jacob.