Young Woman and the Sea (2024)

Now Streaming on Disney+

★★★★

Terrible title aside - I’m really happy to see Disney making this type of movie again! Young Woman and the Sea could have been made at basically any point in the last 50-60 years exactly as is, and that’s a compliment. The kind of well-made, heartfelt “family entertainment” that studios used to release regularly but not so much anymore. While I wish it got a wide theatrical release (it deserves to), I’m still happy I got to enjoy this wonderful and inspirational film! Quite shocked by how much I was pulled in by Young Woman and the Sea. Daisy Ridley’s endearing performance as Trudy Ederle, the first woman to swim across the English Channel, is a constant delight. Possibly my favorite performance from her yet. But the real star is Amelia Warner’s stirring score that gives this cliched but inspiring true sports story its heart and vigor. There’s nothing revelatory here but as far as swimming biopics go, I at least found it to be an enjoyable watch!

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Premise: The story of competitive swimmer Trudy Ederle, who, in 1926, was the first woman to ever swim across the English Channel.

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Disney

Directed by Joachim Rønning

Written by Jeff Nathanson

Based on the book by Glenn Stout

Cast: Daisy Ridley, Tilda Cobbam-Hervey, Stephen Graham, Kim Bodnia, Christopher Eccleston, Glenn Fleshler

Runtime: 2hr 9min

Rating: PG

Biography, Drama, Sport

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IMDb Rating: 7.5/10

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%

RT Audience Score: 98%

RT Critic Average: 6.9/10

RT Audience Average: 4.7/5

Metacritic Score: 62

Letterboxd: 3.7/5

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Fun Fact: The first Disney film distributed by Jerry Bruckheimer Films since 2017's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

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