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Review: Nim’s Island

by Jane Boursaw on April 5th, 2008

You know how it is when you’re looking forward to a movie, and it ends up being ok, but you were expecting so much more?

That’s Nim’s Island. It boasts some real star power, beautiful locales, and the awesomeness of Walden Media, a production company known for bringing best-selling books to life on the screen. This book was written by Wendy Orr, and the movie directed by the husband-and-wife team of Mark Levin and Jennifer Flackett (Little Manhattan).

Still, my 10-year-old daughter and I both came away feeling like something was missing.

It stars Abigail Breslin as Nim Rusoe, a feisty and surprisingly resourceful girl living with her scientist dad Jack (Gerard Butler) on a remote island in the South Pacific. It’s a blissful existence, with the two sharing a glorified treehouse-type abode, surrounded by her exotic animal friends, including a sweet little lizard and a happy sea lion.

Read more after the jump!

When Jack must sail into the ocean for four days on a scientific expedition, Nim begs to stay behind and care for her newborn turtles. But a tropical monsoon blows up, leaving Jack stranded in the ocean and Nim alone on the island — well, alone except for her animals friends. Not only that, a passing cruise ship has targeted the island for day trips, bringing scores of overweight, pasty-white passengers to the beach. Nim must do something to protect her precious island.

She begins corresponding with her favorite author, Alex Rover, whose adventure books she soaks up one after the other. What she doesn’t know is “Alex” is actually Alexandra (Jodie Foster), a scared-of-her-own shadow, Purell-obsessed author who never ever leaves the safety of her New York apartment, not even to get the mail at the end of her walk.

But when Alexandra learns of Nim’s predicament, she gathers up every ounce of courage and sets off on the adventure of a lifetime. Thank goodness for the “fictional” Alex Rover (also Gerard Butler, in swashbuckling attire), who takes real-life shape and encourages her all the way.

The premise of this movie is good and the actors are fantastic, but my daughter and I kept waiting for something more to happen. The plot kept getting stuck in the same mode, bouncing between scenes of Alex in New York, Nim on the island, and Jack in the ocean. Rinse, repeat. Also, the cruise ship storyline seemed unoriginal and, well, a little lame. Like there wasn’t a whole lot of thought behind it.

It’s a cute movie, and the scenery is beautiful — it was shot on the stunning beaches of Australia’s Gold Coast and the lush rainforests of Hinchinbrook Island. Just don’t expect any big plot twists. You can see the ending coming a mile away — although it did leave things open for a sequel. If that happens, I hope they put a little more thought into the next movie.

The good thing is this movie has a great message, especially for girls: Be the hero of your own life story. In short, don’t wait for someone else to make things happen. Get out there and make them happen yourself. Both Nim and Alexandra learn to do this in their own way.

Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin co-wrote the upcoming Journey to the Center of the Earth (in 3-D), also by Walden Media, hitting theaters July 8, 2008. I’m looking forward to this movie, but I just hope it has some original and creative elements based on the book by Jules Verne.

Images: Nim’s Island, Fox-Walden, 2008 

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