L'Ile de Nim

There’s a glut of movies based on successful literature for younger viewers right recently. Most of it is disgusting calculative rubbish designed just to be wow. But that cannot be claimed of this movie. Here it is purely to impress. We see cute animals, the right values and other things to please, but if I take into account what segment of audience this is aimed at, it isn’t so bad after all. In terms of filmmaking, the creators themselves must have spent the last couple of decades on a forgotten island and have not the slightest idea about how to make movies for young people, although in fact I found their peculiar, old-fashioned way of filming rather pleasant. Not much goes on in this movie, and when it does, they include a lot of superfluous “chapters" (especially the Buccaneer), but all this is drowned out by the central acting trio. In similar types of movies the big names tend to be there just for effect. They give their standard performance and that’s it. Here you can see clearly that they are having fun. Especially Jodie Foster, who is as important for Nim’s Island as Michelle Pfeiffer is for Stardust. Because Jodie does such an excellent job with the role of the “troubled woman from Acapulco" that I don’t find the character irritating. It is Jodie who in the end ensures that this picture remains in the safe waters of a solid, regular movie for the whole family. (21/06/2008)

I've been known to act like a little kid sometimes (what man doesn't, right?), which is why I loved Nim's Island so incredibly much. Sure, the story is predictable from the start, but who cares? For an hour and a half I watched an originally-filmed spectacle (the wonderfully animated prologue, the writing and reading of emails, the scene where Nim reads a book in bed - in the desert - while the badass Rover next to her beats the bandits senseless...) with great music by Patrick Doyle, a funny Jodie Foster overcoming her phobia, Abigail Breslin, who tears us up when she cries, and Gerard Butler, who plays two heroes - the real one and the book one. Just great! (23/01/2010)

Family films are grateful, even better when they are very good films. "Forgotten Island" is not a very good film, but it can be tolerated. There are elements that go beautifully together, they stir the imagination, fit perfectly into the children's world. Just imagine a little girl who lives with her father on a deserted island. There is something beautiful and romantic about it. They live their adventurous life here, beautiful, unrestrained, connected with nature and nothing disturbs them. But then the father goes out to sea and gets lost. The girl is desperate, but fortunately, at that time the author of adventure books that Nim loves contacts her. But she thinks it is Alex Rover, the hero of the books, fearless, tough guy with Gerard Butler's face, with the face of her movie father. But the author of the books is a fragile woman who suffers from fear of open spaces and doesn't step outside. Now she must help a frightened girl who wants her daddy back. As a romantic film, "Forgotten Island" completely fails, but as a family film, it works quite well, it is funny in places, with interesting settings and animals that are friends of humans. It is nice to watch, but the film doesn't leave much of an impression on you. More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2012/12/milk-az-vyjde-mesic-trhak-noc-v-muzeu-2.html (03/03/2013)