I watched this movie with very low expectations and only sat through it because I was chaperoning a group of preschoolers. I didn't think it was anything special, but I was fine with it.
It's about a girl, Nim, and her father living on an island, cut off almost completely from the world. Eventually, the girl's father goes missing, and she must seek help. She ends up getting in contact with her favorite author, who Nim believes has the experience to help her because of the adventures described in the books he has written. The author agrees to come help her with her father as well as a tourist invasion. But this writer is not who Nim thinks she is...
I felt like this movie was completely unnecessary, being that Swiss Family Robinson had similar situations done much better. If you've seen the sequence where the Robinson family pulls out all the stops to defend their island against the pirates, you can't help but be underwhelmed by Nim' attempt to make the tourists leave by getting her pet seal to pass gas.
I did like Abigail Breslin, and I think she will continue to be a talent to watch. She shows signs here of being capable of some very good physical comedy, and definitely outshines the adults, particularly an unfunny Jodie Foster and an out-of-place Gerald Butler. I thought the movie's best strength was its visuals, which did an excellent job of telling the story. When you watch a movie with young children, you become aware at how well it shows you rather than tells you. This one had enough to keep the elementary-age audience I was with into it. Too bad the story wasn't a little better.
It's about a girl, Nim, and her father living on an island, cut off almost completely from the world. Eventually, the girl's father goes missing, and she must seek help. She ends up getting in contact with her favorite author, who Nim believes has the experience to help her because of the adventures described in the books he has written. The author agrees to come help her with her father as well as a tourist invasion. But this writer is not who Nim thinks she is...
I felt like this movie was completely unnecessary, being that Swiss Family Robinson had similar situations done much better. If you've seen the sequence where the Robinson family pulls out all the stops to defend their island against the pirates, you can't help but be underwhelmed by Nim' attempt to make the tourists leave by getting her pet seal to pass gas.
I did like Abigail Breslin, and I think she will continue to be a talent to watch. She shows signs here of being capable of some very good physical comedy, and definitely outshines the adults, particularly an unfunny Jodie Foster and an out-of-place Gerald Butler. I thought the movie's best strength was its visuals, which did an excellent job of telling the story. When you watch a movie with young children, you become aware at how well it shows you rather than tells you. This one had enough to keep the elementary-age audience I was with into it. Too bad the story wasn't a little better.