Remarkably Bright Creatures (2026)

A few months ago, I finally got around to reading Remarkably Bright Creatures after hearing people rave about it for what felt like forever. Now, having read it, I completely understand the hype. It’s one of those books that manages to be heartfelt without feeling overly sentimental, and somehow makes you deeply attached to an octopus.

Which, if you haven’t read it, sounds absolutely ridiculous.

Naturally, the second I heard there was going to be a Netflix adaptation, I got nervous.

Because adaptations of beloved books are always a gamble. Especially books like this one, where so much of the charm comes from tone and internal narration rather than massive plot twists or action sequences. There’s a very fine line between “heartwarming” and “this feels like a greeting card commercial,” and I wasn’t sure how the movie was going to pull it off.

Especially when it came to Marcellus.

If you’ve read the book, you already know exactly what I mean.

One of the biggest strengths of the novel is the narration from Marcellus the octopus, which sounds absurd until you experience it and realize he’s somehow the emotional backbone of the entire story. So my biggest concern going into the adaptation was whether those moments would feel awkward or disjointed onscreen.

Thankfully, they really didn’t.

The transition actually felt surprisingly seamless. The film handled his perspective so that it still preserved his personality and charm without making it feel gimmicky or overly cartoonish, which feels like a miracle considering how easy that could have gone wrong.

And the casting overall was pretty close to what I’d pictured while reading, which always helps when adapting a book. Everyone felt recognizable without feeling overly polished or Hollywoodized into completely different versions of themselves.

Now, as with basically every book adaptation ever made, there are definitely parts that were cut or condensed. That’s inevitable. And going in, I expected to mourn at least a few scenes.

The biggest omission for me was the Grateful Dead shirt storyline and everything surrounding it. There was something about that subplot in the book that added a lot of warmth and specificity to the relationships and emotional progression of the story. I definitely noticed its absence.

But at the same time… I get why it was removed.

It wasn’t absolutely essential to the main plot, and for a movie adaptation, the pacing probably benefited from streamlining some of those smaller side moments. So while I missed it personally, it didn’t ruin the experience for me.

Interestingly, the film also scales back some of the romantic elements from the book. I can say, though, that I didn’t mind that at all.

The love story aspects were never my favorite part of the novel anyway.

More importantly, it keeps the heart of the story intact.

That’s really what matters most with adaptations like this. Not whether every single subplot survives the transition, but whether the overall feeling survives. And this absolutely felt like Remarkably Bright Creatures to me.

My one real complaint?

I wanted more Marcellus.

Which feels fitting because I wanted more Marcellus in the book, too. Every time he appeared onscreen, the movie immediately became more charming. He’s such a unique presence and such a huge part of what makes this story memorable that I found myself wishing the adaptation had leaned into him even more.

But even with that, I still thought this was an incredibly successful adaptation overall.

Whether you’ve already read the novel or you’re going into the story for the first time, I think there’s a lot to appreciate here.