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| Is ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ Based on a True Story? The Real Inspiration Behind Netflix’s Emotional Octopus Drama. (Credits: Netflix) |
Netflix’s ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ arrives with an elderly widow, an emotionally exhausted drifter, and a sarcastic octopus who frankly seems more emotionally intelligent than half the humans around him. Somehow, against all odds, it works brilliantly. Viewers heading into the film expecting a true story may be surprised to learn that no, Marcellus the octopus is not based on a real animal solving mysteries in a sleepy coastal town. But the emotional core of the story feels so painfully human that many audiences have genuinely assumed it must have happened somewhere. That is usually the sign a film has done something right.
The new Netflix drama, directed by Olivia Newman, adapts Shelby Van Pelt’s bestselling 2022 novel of the same name. While the story itself is fictional, the inspiration behind it comes from very real places: grief, loneliness, family regret, and humanity’s bizarre tendency to underestimate sea creatures while confidently overestimating ourselves.
The result is a surprisingly moving mystery drama where an ageing octopus becomes the emotional glue holding together a fractured community. Not the sentence anyone expected to read in 2026, yet here we are.
At the centre of the film is Tova, played beautifully by Sally Field, a widow quietly carrying decades of heartbreak while working night shifts cleaning an aquarium.
Her closest companion turns out to be Marcellus, a captive Giant Pacific octopus voiced by Alfred Molina, who spends most of the film judging humans with the weary disappointment of someone who has simply seen too much nonsense. Honestly, his commentary alone deserves awards consideration.
Although ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ is not based on true events, author Shelby Van Pelt has openly shared that the story grew from her fascination with octopus intelligence. Online videos showing octopuses escaping tanks, solving puzzles, and generally behaving like underwater masterminds sparked the original idea.
She also drew emotional inspiration from her own family history, particularly her grandmother, who partly inspired Tova’s quiet resilience and loneliness. That emotional authenticity is exactly why the story lands harder than audiences expect.
The realism comes less from factual events and more from emotional truth. Anyone who has experienced grief, isolation, or the awkwardness of trying to reconnect with life after loss will probably recognise pieces of themselves somewhere in the film.
Even the fictional seaside town feels lived-in rather than overly polished. People are messy, conversations are awkward, and everyone seems slightly emotionally repressed in that very believable small-town way where nobody talks about feelings until it is nearly too late.
Then there is Lewis Pullman’s Cameron, a wandering young man who stumbles into the aquarium and forms an unlikely bond with Tova. Cameron is chaotic in the way many people in their twenties secretly fear they might be forever — directionless, broke, emotionally confused, and somehow surviving on vibes alone.
Marcellus, naturally, cannot stand him at first. The octopus spends much of the story internally roasting humanity, with Cameron becoming one of his favourite targets. It adds an unexpectedly sharp layer of humour to a film that could easily have become unbearably sentimental in less capable hands.
Director Olivia Newman, who previously worked on ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’, manages to keep the tone balanced between warmth, mystery, and gentle melancholy. The film never tips too far into fantasy despite centring around a narrating octopus with suspiciously excellent instincts about human behaviour.
Instead, it leans into emotional realism, allowing the bizarre premise to feel oddly grounded. By the time Marcellus starts piecing together hidden truths surrounding Tova and Cameron, audiences are already emotionally invested enough to accept that perhaps an octopus really could become the wisest character in the room.
A large reason for that success comes down to Alfred Molina’s performance. His narration gives Marcellus the personality of a grumpy retired professor who is deeply unimpressed with civilisation but still secretly rooting for people to improve.
The visual effects also deserve praise. Marcellus looks believable enough that viewers quickly stop focusing on the CGI and start focusing on the emotional damage being delivered by a sea creature with better observational skills than most detectives on television.
The film has also sparked discussion because of how strongly it echoes the emotional sincerity of documentaries like ‘My Octopus Teacher’.
After that Oscar-winning documentary made audiences unexpectedly emotional about marine life back in 2020, Netflix clearly recognised there was still room for stories exploring the emotional intelligence of octopuses.
The difference here is that ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ fully embraces fiction while still grounding itself in real emotional experiences. It is less “nature documentary” and more “therapy session hosted by an octopus.”
Online reactions have been fascinatingly mixed in tone but overwhelmingly emotional. Some viewers admitted they started the film expecting a quirky family drama and ended up crying harder than anticipated over conversations between a lonely widow and a judgemental aquarium resident.
Others have praised the chemistry between Sally Field and Lewis Pullman, saying the film captures intergenerational loneliness in a refreshingly gentle way. A few viewers, meanwhile, confessed they spent half the runtime googling whether octopuses can actually recognise human emotions because Marcellus seemed suspiciously qualified to offer life advice.
Not everyone has completely fallen for the film’s soft-hearted approach. Some viewers online have joked that Hollywood has officially run out of ideas if audiences are now openly weeping over “a moody seafood philosopher.” Others found the emotional turns slightly too tidy.
Still, even critics of the film generally agree that the performances elevate the material beyond what could have become a gimmicky concept. When Sally Field is carrying emotional scenes with this much sincerity, cynicism becomes harder to maintain.
What makes ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ stand out is how unapologetically sincere it is. In an era where many films seem terrified of genuine emotion unless buried beneath irony and explosions, this one quietly leans into compassion, grief, and human connection without embarrassment.
Yes, the central relationship involves an octopus offering emotional support through suspiciously meaningful eye contact, but oddly enough that never becomes the strangest part of the story. The strangest part is how believable the emotions feel.
By the final act, the mystery elements matter less than the emotional healing taking place between characters who have spent years avoiding their pain. That is ultimately why audiences keep asking whether the story is true.
Facts aside, the loneliness, regret, longing, and fragile hope running through the film absolutely are real. And perhaps that matters more than whether Marcellus himself ever existed outside Shelby Van Pelt’s imagination.
Netflix may have marketed ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ as a warm mystery drama, but audiences are leaving it with something closer to emotional whiplash and a sudden urge to emotionally connect with marine animals.
Fair warning: after this film, people may never look at aquarium octopuses quite the same way again. So, did Marcellus completely break your heart too, or are you somehow emotionally stronger than the rest of us?