The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep parents guide

The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep Parent Guide

There's precious little excitement here, but lots of frustration for fans of the Witcher franchise.

Overall D

Netflix: When human sailors are attacked by mysterious creatures of the deep, the Witcher, Geralt of Rivia, is hired to protect a village and prevent a war.

Release date February 11, 2025

Violence D
Sexual Content C
Profanity D
Substance Use B

Why is The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep rated TV-MA? The MPAA rated The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep TV-MA for gore, language, nudity, and violence.

Run Time: 91 minutes

Parent Movie Review

Geralt of Rivia (Doug Cockle), a Witcher, roams from town to town slaying monsters in exchange for coin until the coastal Kingdom of Bremervoord hires him to kill a sea monster responsible for attacking pearl diving crews. Now Geralt finds himself drawn into a political rivalry between humans and merpeople, who until recently had shared an uneasy peace. With both groups blaming the other for the recent sea monster attacks, Geralt knows he’ll have to solve the mystery quickly to prevent all-out war, but what should be a simple hunt leads him into a much more complicated conspiracy.

I have one word to describe this film and that is “lazy”. The animation, the writing, most of the acting, and even the adaptation all lack any indication of effort on the part of this production. As someone who’s not an expert on the Witcher universe, I’ll set the adaptation piece aside for now and look at this production on its own merits. I have an infinite number of problems with the script from a storytelling perspective. Many of the characters have no discernable personalities or features and many of them develop and lose capabilities when the plot demands it. Each decision, ability, and story beat is a painfully obvious plot contrivance, which makes for a frustrating and confusing viewing experience.

Setting aside Doug Cockle, who has skillfully voiced Geralt in video games and screen adaptations for years, the performances are uneven at best. Accents come and go, and line deliveries vary from acceptable to middle school drama club. To be fair to some of the performers, the characters are so thinly written there wasn’t much for them to work with in the first place. I should not burst out laughing at the emotional climax of the movie, and yet I did because it was so poorly written and performed that it became comical.

On the adaptation side, fans of the franchise are sure to be disappointed with the lack of care taken to faithfully adapting the source material. The script fails to establish any sort of rules around the magic, instead just using it in whatever way serves the plot in that moment but not the next. One of the first rules of writing fantasy is establishing boundaries around the fantastical elements to create a believable world, something the Witcher books and video games are known for. By throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks, this film fails on both the storytelling and adaptation levels.

Anyone who is familiar with the Witcher franchise knows that graphic violence, gore, language, and nudity are par for the course, making it a poor choice for most audiences. The lazy animation and horrible script render this particular entry in the franchise an even worse choice – and the writers’ failure to adapt the source material faithfully is sure to anger even the most die-hard of fans.

Directed by Kang Hei Chul. Starring Doug Cockle, Christina Wren, Joey Batey. Running time: 91 minutes. Theatrical release February 11, 2025. Updated

Watch the trailer for The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep

The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep
Rating & Content Info

Why is The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep rated TV-MA? The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep is rated TV-MA by the MPAA for gore, language, nudity, and violence.

Violence: Graphic fantasy violence throughout. Characters fight with spears and swords. Blood, injuries, and dead bodies are shown in graphic detail. A character is ripped in half. A monster eats multiple characters. A shark kills a man.
Sexual Content: Characters are shown naked in multiple scenes but strategically covered to not show explicit nudity. Characters kiss while naked, sex is implied.
Profanity:   The script contains eight sexual expletives, one mild profanity, and three terms of deity.
Alcohol / Drug Use: Some scenes take place in a tavern. Adult characters drink socially.

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