This Netflix animated feature length Witcher film is so much better than their lazy, boring first effort in 2021 (Nightmare of the Wolf). It’s better animated, has a better, more complex story, and some pretty terrific action scenes to boot. Plus a smart voice cast.

Like a number of the original Witcher short stories, it’s based on a folk tale, only modified, darker, and weirder. In this case, it’s a variation on The Little Mermaid. Geralt gets mixed up in a game of politics and war between multiple factions… mainly the humans, the fish people, and the other fish people. A human prince and mer-princess have fallen in love… and someone is stirring the pot, trying to start a briny war.

The flick uses the live action actors for Yennefer and Jaskier to voice their animated counterparts. Geralt, however, is not voiced by Henry Cavill as he’s moved on… nor is he the perplexingly cast LIam Hemsworth from the upcoming seasons. No, they got the voice actor from the video games (Doug Cockle) who has been doing the role since 2007. He’s who I think of when I think of Geralt of Rivia.

The actual story is nicely complicated with multiple factions, backstabbings, and shifting motivations. It’s set up well enough that when things go down, you can think your way through the politics and problems of siding with any one group or another. And it’s pretty on point for Geralt who is always in the middle of untangling other people’s stupid problems (not just killing monsters).

The art and animation is solid, especially during smooth and exciting action scenes. The final battle scene – while a little long – has some genuinely bad ass witcher moments.

I was continuously surprised by this film, at first taking it for another cheap whatever Netflix time filler. But its complexity and twists surprised me and I realized I actually cared about how things turned out. This is a very good Witcher adaptation and a fun action fantasy film on its own merits.

Score: 86