Netflix film “Remarkably Bright Creatures”, which was released early in last month, is unabashedly sappy but somehow remains fairly entertaining on the whole. While it takes some time for us to accept the fantasy aspects of the story, the story and characters are handled well with enough sincerity and sensitivity at least, and you may come to forgive a number of clichéd melodramatic moments later in the story.  

The story, which is mainly set in some nice little bay town located somewhere in the Washington state, is driven by the narration of an old male octopus named Marcellus (voiced by Alfred Molina), who has lived at a small local aquarium since it was rescued several years ago. Having been rather bored and frustrated with his current state of life, Marcellus often observes a number of humans outside his water tank, and, as a creature of considerable sensitivity and intelligence, he has noticed the melancholic sadness of Tova Sullivan (Sally Field), an elderly cleaning lady who has steadily worked in the aquarium for many years.

Tova lives in a cozy little house alone by herself, but now she is about to make a very important decision on the rest of her life. Her husband reserved her spot at a facility for old people not long before his death, and she comes to consider this option more seriously as being reminded that she does not any close family member at all. She and her husband once had a son, but their son died due to some unfortunate incident a long time ago, and she is still haunted by those personal memories involved with him.

And then there comes an unexpected change into Tova’s life via Cameron Cassmore (Lewis Pullman), a young struggling musician who comes to her town on one day for a certain personal reason. When his old vehicle, which was inherited from his estranged mother who recently died, unfortunately gets broken, Cameron decides to stay in the town at least for while for earning enough money for repairing his vehicle, and, what do you know, he ends up getting employed as a temporary worker to substitute Tova when she gets seriously injured in one of her ankles.

Now you will get some pretty good idea on the rest of the story, and the screenplay by director Olivia Newman and her co-writer John Wittington, which is based on the novel of the same name by Shelby Van Pelt, does not exceed any of our expectation. Yes, Tova and Cameron do not get along that well with each other right from their very first day, but, with some little help from Marcellus, they eventually befriend each other more as time goes by. While Cameron comes to appreciate the generous attention from Tova, Tova’s daily life is brightened up a bit as she gradually allows him into her daily life, and she willingly assists Cameron a little in his ongoing personal mission, though the outcome turns out to be not so satisfying as she hoped.

In addition, Tova and Cameron encourage each other to go for their respective possibilities for some romance. When Cameron comes across a young lady running a little business of her own in the town, their Meet Cute moment is not exactly pleasant to say the least, but both of them soon find themselves more attracted to each other, after Tova gives Cameron some good advice on his sudden matter of heart. Although she still misses her dead husband, Tova decides to have a “meeting” with a local dude who has clearly been carrying a torch for her, and her several close friends are certainly delighted for that. In fact, they are instantly ready to support her in one way or another, and that expectedly leads to a rather awkward moment for them. 

Although he remains stuck inside the aquarium as usual, Marcellus functions as your average omnipresent narrator, and he even becomes a little more active later in the story. Around that narrative point, the movie often feels like a sort of cross between Oscar-winning documentary film “My Octopus Teacher” (2020) and Guillermo del Toro’s Best Picture Oscar winner “The Shape of Water” (2017), but this supposedly preposterous aspect of the movie actually works better than expected. Thanks to not only Newman’s sensitive direction but also the witty and colorful voice performance from Alfred Molina, Marcellus becomes the most interesting character in the story, and we come to care about him as much as several other main characters around him.

Whenever Molina’s voice acting does not steal the show, the other main cast members dutifully fill their respective spots in the story. Sally Fields and Lewis Pullman ably complement each other throughout the movie, and their earnest performances overcome some melodramatic plot contrivances during the last act. In case of several notable performers in the film including Joan Chen, Kathy Baker, Beth Grant, Sofia Black-D’Elia, and Colm Meaney, their good efforts are often hindered by their under-developed supporting roles, but Baker and Meaney have each own little moments to shine at least.    

In conclusion, “Remarkably Bright Creatures” is one of the more entertaining Netflix products during this year. Although it is sometimes a little too sweet and sentimental in my inconsequential opinion, the movie does its job as well as intended, so I will not grumble for now as fondly remembering that smart and amusing octopus.