Movie Thoughts: Mary Anning (2025)

• Released: June 2025
• Directed by: Marcel Barelli
• Running time: 1h 12min
• Rating 3.5/5

Synopsis

The story of a twelve-year-old named Mary Anning, who discovers a very important fossil to the world of science.

My Thoughts

Mary Anning, the real one, is one of my favorite historical figures. I always enjoy reading about her and also enjoyed the movie Ammonite. This movie here is really about Mary's youth and how she found the first Ichtyosaur fossil as just a little girl after the loss of her father.

And yeah, it's a neat movie. Maybe not the most accurate to the real Mary's life (but let's face it, Ammonite also wasn't exactly accurate), but it's still clearly inspired by her story and a lot of facts about her do come back here. 

The characters are also quite likable. Mary herself is this neat passionate tween who just cares so much about fossils and won't be told no by anyone, and I enjoyed how spirited she was. Hers is a great tale of emancipation. Her brother and her ward also have good relationships with her. A character whose development I really enjoyed was Fanny. She at first dislikes Mary quite a bit, but they become good friends eventually and Fanny even plays a big role in Mary finding the rest of the Ichtyosaurus eventually. 

The movie also has a nice atmospheric soundtrack. I wouldn't say that any of these songs are great or all that memorable, but it does have a nice relaxed feel to it which fits the movie.

If I do have a critique, however, it's that the animation is kinda...not that great. It's clearly trying to go for a Cartoon Saloon-esque artstyle, but it doesn't have the same polished look to it. The movie uses puppet animation, unlike CS, and it does result in some pretty stiff animations and posing, especially when the same few angles keep being reused a lot of the time. 

The character designs overall I'd say are fine, however I do think that the reverend looks maybe a tad too out-of-place when compared to the rest of the cast. He looks a bit too cartoon-y (and vampire-y) to fit in with the rest of the cast, which do look like toon-y humans but not to the extend the reverend does. So the visuals are a pretty mixed bag. 

But overall I do think that this is a pretty solid movie. Maybe not visually very impressive, but it does have a good message of emancipation and following your ambitions, plus it has some likable characters.