Nims Island (Fox Walden)
Kids Will Love the Action, Adults the Acting
Jodie Foster, Abigail Breslin and Gerard Butler star in the family adventure film Nims Island. The movie concerns a young girl and her father who live on a deserted island. A series of misadventures brings the childs hero to her rescue. Kids will love all the action that ensues while adults will admire the acting talents of the trio.
Nim (Breslin) lives with her widowed father (Butler) on a deserted island in the South Pacific. She is home schooled and spends most of her time exploring the island and playing with a coterie of animals who inhabit the place. This includes a sea lion, a pelican and some sort of reptile.
Nim is also an avid reader with the adventure stories about the fictional hero Alex Rover being her absolute favorite. When her father goes missing Nim somehow manages to communicate by e-mail with Alex Rover (Foster) who she thinks is the actual adventurer. In fact it is Alexandra Rover, the author of the stories.
Alexandra has some emotional problems that make her almost agoraphobic, so getting her out of her house and on her way to rescue Nim takes a powerful effort. But make the effort she does, and this trek to where Nim is takes up most of the movie. This is a little different from the story suggested in the trailer which has Nim and Alexandra having adventures together on the island.
Foster is great in the acting department but she looks older than her age in this movie. Breslin is as cute as ever and is the real star of the film. She handles the physical activities with as much ease as the acting ones. Butler is rugged and romantic in dual roles as Nims father and as Alexandras alter ego Alex.
The various animals provide some humor to the story, plus the pelican gets to be absolutely heroic. Breslin interacts with the animals in such a way as to thrill the children in the audience.
The movie is rated PG for mild violence.
This is a movie made for kids to enjoy. It has tricks played on adults, animals who add to the delight of the story, a pre-teen girl who is the heroine of the film, and enough action to keep the kids entertained. For adults there is the joy of seeing the kids entertained and some fun watching the actors act. But be prepared, this movie gets a little slack in the middle and just when it should start up it ends.
Foster, Breslin and Butler are all good in their roles but a faster pace and some judicious editing would have gone a long way.
I scored Nims Island a deserted 6 out of 10.
