Camrus Johnson, a Black actor, voices the human prince Agloval, and Cynthia Kaye McWilliams voices a merperson queen—introducing racial diversity into a Slavic/European fantasy setting drawn from source material where such characters are not described that way. The central conflict pits greedy humans overharvesting resources against merfolk, echoing post-colonial or environmental exploitation narratives.

The star-crossed romance between the human prince and mermaid princess follows fairy-tale tropes but culminates in the prince transforming into a merman, with explicit emphasis on finding 'a body that clearly matches his soul,' which multiple reviews flag as carrying trans subtext. These elements sit alongside the core monster-hunting and war-prevention plot without fully overtaking it, yet they represent deliberate updates that go beyond organic source fidelity. Audience and critic reactions note the changes and subtext without widespread 'go woke go broke' outrage, indicating the messaging is noticeable but secondary to the action-adventure structure.