One of the objectives of the discussion Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghesedelightful animated comedy Lesbian Space Princess resists the urge to ruin all the brilliant jokes scattered throughout the film – a task made even more difficult when you consider the huge wave of verbal and visual jokes running throughout the film.
Surprisingly poignant and heartfelt in equal measure, Hobbs and Varghese create a truly crowd-pleasing adult animation work that is sure to be one of the hidden gems of the year. Taking viewers on a journey across planets, Lesbian Space Princess introduces viewers to Saria (voiced by Pitt's Shabana Aziz), a 23-year-old princess whose love life is as low as her self-esteem.
Living a somewhat sheltered life on the planet Clitopolis – a place that is hard to find, but once found, offers a land of joy and pleasure for its lesbian inhabitants – Saira's life has been one disappointment after another.
Constantly upstaged by her royal parents – the epitome of the ideal lesbian couple – the princess's clinging to stage five causes her friend of two weeks, a bounty hunter named Kiki (Bernie Van Til), to abandon her in a cringe-inducing public manner.
Adding further salt to her emotional wound is the fact that the princess has yet to realize her birthright by creating the mythical weapon known as Labrys, a feat her mother accomplished on her first try.
Shackled to her home by an invisible chain of shame, Saira is forced to step outside the cozy bubble of Clitopolis and into the volatile reaches of “straight space” when she learns that Kiki has been kidnapped by straight white villains. Once the dominant group in the universe, the three Mylens (imagine tearing a blank piece of paper into three strips and sticking hands and a face on them) find themselves at a confusing crossroads. Fragile creatures with bruised egos are no longer the center of everything, can't even figure out how to talk to women.
Desperate to attract the opposite sex, which lesbians seem confident in courting, the pale creatures have resorted to purchasing a real chick magnet. However, when the Natural White Maliens discover that powering the device requires Labrys, which they believe Saira has, they decide to use Kiki as a bargaining chip for an offer the princess cannot refuse.
As Saira navigates the strange and unpredictable nature of space, with the help of a talking ship (Richard Roxburgh) and a songwriter named Willow (Gemma Chua-Tran), Hobbs and Varghese pepper their film with a variety of jokes, ranging from smart to downright stupid. Even when it grabs the low-hanging fruit, like when “Lonely White Villains” discusses the difference between being a lesbian and being an actor, the film still manages to deliver big laughs throughout the film.
Using humor as the key to unlocking the door to personal growth, Hobbs and Varghese offer a colorful exploration of the power of self-acceptance. Saira's insecurities and self-doubt serve as quicksand that constantly drags her down, preventing her from seeing the potential opportunities for love literally staring her in the face. The wonderful thing about Lesbian Space Princess is that the filmmakers make it clear that the princess is not the only one who needs to have an honest conversation with herself.
Gleefully holding a lighted match to the fragile and extremely irascible male ego, Hobbs and Varghese clearly urge men to pull themselves together and get treatment. Made before the “male loneliness epidemic” became one of the overused terms of 2025, the filmmakers use Single White Baddies to point out why it's time for men to look deeper within themselves rather than blaming their own problems on women. The fact that the Malienese's main problem is their inability to communicate is not lost on the audience.
Lesbian Space Princess washes down the bitter pills of truth with copious cups of laughter, creating an edgy and entertaining comedy experience not to be missed. Proudly waving the pride flag from the cockpit, the film gleefully takes the idea of self-love into new orbits.
