Jacob Tremblay makes a child's trust feel ordinary, even when the circumstances are unbearable. We rate his unforced work in Room highly, though The Little Mermaid shows how little a voice can do without an expressive face.
Fi1m perspective
In Room (2015), Jack takes from his mother's explanations only what he can use. Jacob Tremblay lets curiosity and dependence coexist without making the child seem wise about his own predicament. He trusts Ma because she is his mother; he cannot know the effort her reassurance costs. We were moved by that ordinary trust, particularly when Brie Larson lets the tiredness behind Ma's reassurance show.
Lenny Abrahamson keeps those exchanges central, rather than treating the captivity as an invitation to sensationalism. Emma Donoghue's adaptation follows Jack's understanding of captivity, and Tremblay keeps his curiosity from becoming precious. Nathan Nugent's editing preserves the pressure of their situation without hurrying past what they need from each other. The occasional excess comes from Stephen Rennicks's score, which insists on feelings the actors have already made clear.
That performance was his breakthrough, followed by Wonder (2017), in which he played Auggie Pullman, and the brief, intense part of Bradley Trevor in Mike Flanagan's Doctor Sleep (2019). A lead voice role as Luca Paguro in Luca (2021) took him into lighter animation. Tremblay describes a practical change of method for voice work: larger facial expressions in the recording booth help him put the emotion into his voice. It is a useful distinction for an actor whose live-action work relies on restraint.
The Little Mermaid (2023) is the clearest warning that vocal effort can only do so much. Tremblay supplies Flounder's voice, but Rob Marshall's remake gives the fish a realistic face with almost nothing to act with, while Dion Beebe's grey-green underwater photography makes the setting harder to read. It would be unfair to blame the actor for a character whose alarm is easier to register than any personality. We cannot recommend the film on the strength of his contribution, though the failure tells us little about his abilities. Start with Room; the fish can wait.
Biography
Jacob Tremblay is a Canadian actor. He was born on 5 October 2006 in Vancouver, British Columbia. He began acting in television and made his film debut in The Smurfs 2 (2013).
Tremblay is known for his role as Jack in Room (2015), for which he received the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer and became the youngest nominee for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role. He later appeared in Wonder (2017) and Good Boys (2019). His voice roles include the title character in Luca (2021) and Flounder in The Little Mermaid (2023). His sister Emma Tremblay is also an actress.
