Customer Reviews

Nim's Island (Full Screen Edition)

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

This lightweight bit of fluff actually has a bit more substance than I expected, but nearly enough mass to bog it down. On the surface, it's a kid-empowerment movie. Nim, the nine year old girl, is adventurous, interested in everything, and fiercely self-reliant. Alex (that's Alexandra, much to the surprise of people expecting a male Alex) is too timid to open the front door, and gets carsick before the car even starts moving. Nim is fearless and Alex is omniphobic. Still, once their friendship forms, Alex overcomes her fear of everything but her shadow to help Nim when disasters leave her alone, hurt, and frightened.

The two main characters balance beautifully. Nim is yound and bold, by nature, but still a little girl who gets scared when truly scary things happen. Alex embodies timidity, but has a core of mousy bravery that rises to the occasion. Nim lives in the world of Alex's adventure stories, which turn real around her as she reads them; Alex lives with the characters she writes, too, but has a much more argumentative relationship with them. A few other things come across nicely, too: the pervasive love of reading, nearly lost in today's media-mad world, and the image of scientist-geek as loving, strong, and physically competent. The girl-power message is there too, without being exclusive or overbearing. And despite a positive view of science, Nim brings a touch of magic, too.

I might not remember this one a week from now, but it's great entertainment for any kid in your life (with a very few slightly scary moments). If you have a rainy afternoon, have a blast.

-- wiredweird

I'm sitting on the fence. I liked Nim's Island because it feels a little bit like Holes. Hovering around the real and blending with fantasy and quirky visuals, this story is an exercise in imagination and is entertaining most of the time. I liked the casting overall. Jodie Foster played the angst-ridden adventure novelist with the whole gamut of human emotion.Gerard Butler got to exercise his acting muscles as well.

I appreciated the ingenuity and attitude that Abigal Breslin as Nim Russo displays. A breath of fresh air when so many of our kids are bored even with all the technology and toys that money can buy. The value of family and the importance of others in life is an underlying theme that strengthens the movie.

The negatives...well, there was really only one. I really struggled with not getting sucked into the story. I spent more time "yeah-right"ing than buying what was going on. The frantic pace of parts of the movie, the outlandish happenings and the blending with the real made it almost feel like a tall-tale that doesn't quite get beyond a middling-tale.

Parents of four to ten year-olds (depending on maturity level) will likely find Nim's Adventure to be a treat for the whole family. If my kids were younger, I'd probably purchase Nim's Island.

This is exactly the kind of film I've been waiting for Jody Foster to do. I always knew she had this well-hidden comedic side. In addition, Gerard Butler makes a great Scottish Indiana Jones!

Again, Amazon has done a nice job summarizing the film, so not much of that here. This is just a special film to me because I just love how this family friendly film intertwines fantasy, adventure, relationships and love into one clever package. Gerard Butler does terrific double duty as Abigail Breslin's father and Jodie Foster's alter ego who gives her the courage to face her fears to save Breslin who has been separated from her father on their island, which has been "invaded" (another clever storyline). Foster must get over her fear of the outside world in order to get to Breslin's character on that isolated island and those moments when she battle with herself and her alter ego (Bulter) are the show stopping moments for me.

The films sparkles with originality and heart. I was delighted by the performances and left smiling when the closing credits ran. This film may not delight all though. It is an awkward mix and bounces around wildly as if the writer and director had forgotten to take their A.D.D. medications, but for some, like me, that is the charm of this film, but for others, that can grate on one's nerves. It's a matter of taste.

Although just a bit too uneven at times, I completely enjoyed this film.

My three children have all read Nim's Island at some point and loved it so we decided to check out the movie and purchased it for Christmas this year. I should clarify this review is based on our love of the book, which is short and could have easily been made into a movie without changing it. Well, Hollywood was lucky (or unlucky) enough to get the wonderful Jodi Foster and Gerard Bulter (who are both great), however, it ended up causing them to change the story completely to "satisfy" the big names. While the book focuses on Nim's life on the island (her daily routines and getting food etc), her relationship with the animals and her relationship with Alexandra via email, the movie does none of those things. It instead, focuses on the big stars of Jodi Foster and Gerard Butler and creates a dialogue between her character Alex Rover (Butler) and the extra-reclusive Alexandra (Foster). I don't think they had much of a choice landing such big stars, they had to use them but it totally changes the story in the book. The most endearing aspect of the book is the wonderful relationship of Nim and Alexandra via email and Nim and her animals. Those relationships are diluted down and lose all potency as we are forced to endure the Alexandra's (Foster) agoraphobia/social anxiety disorder and have Nim endangering her animals by flinging them in a catapult? What? I am not an animal expert but I would consider flinging your "pet" a hundred yards in a wok-catapult is abuse! So in summary this has the characters of the book but doesn't follow the story there. Nothing is the same as the book save for the very beginning and the very, very end. So if you are looking for a cute story and nice acting but don't expect this to follow the story then it is worth watching, as for us, we wanted the book relationships not a study on the psychology of overcoming agoraphobia! I was going to list all the differences of the book versus movie but it would be everything! They even changed Trop Tourists and their interesting hats to Buccaneers and gave their unlikable tourists a lot of screen time. Too bad really. Hope that helps!

Anything can happen on Nim's Island, a magical place ruled by a young girl's imagination. It is an existence that mirrors that of her favorite literary character, Alex Rover - the world's greatest adventurer. But Alexandra, the author of the Rover books, leads a reclusive life in the big city. When Nim's father goes missing from their island, a twist of fate brings her together with Alexandra. Now they must draw courage from their fictional hero, Alex Rover, and find strength in one another to conquer Nim's Island. If you have any children or the child you once were still lives inside you somewhere, then you should definitely see Nim's Island. Wonderful Little Kid - Big Kid Movie.

This is one of my favorite movies. I viewed it at the theater when it was first released and ordered it when it was released on DVD. It's a wonderful family movie with lots of laughs and beautiful scenery.

**1/2

Recapping the plot of "Nim's Island," which is based on the novel by Wendy Orr, is no easy task. Suffice it to say it involves the unlikely meeting of two people from opposite corners of the world: an eleven-year-old girl named Nim (Abigail Breslin), who lives, "Tempest"-like, all alone with her biologist father (Gerard Butler) on a small island in the South Seas, and a writer of popular adventure novels (Jodie Foster), living in San Francisco, who's afraid to leave her own house. The fourth major character comes in the form of a floating incarnation of the author's signature creation - an Indiana Jones-type adventurer (also played by Butler) - who periodically appears out of thin air to offer sage advice both to the writer and to the young girl stuck on the island.

While "Nim's Island" earns some points for putting a young girl and a middle-aged woman up-front-and-center in an action scenario, the movie, as a whole, is a bit too cutesy and corny to be of much interest to an adult audience. It works too hard at being clever when what we really want is for it to settle down and tell a halfway believable story (even for a fantasy, this one unduly strains credibility). Instead, what we get is an assortment of lovable animals doing stupid pet tricks and Foster emoting away as if her life depended upon it. Yet, ironically, the scenery-chewing performance by Foster is probably the best thing in the picture, since at least we get a few laughs out of this neurotic agoraphobe/germaphobe finding herself suddenly and reluctantly living out a real life adventure of her own.

For a far better take on this whole literature-come-to-life thing, my advice would be to set your course for the truly wonderful "The Fall" - or even the less impressive "Inkheart" - and paddle away from "Nim's Island."

I saw Nim's Island today with my 3 1/2 year old daughter and a friend of mine and her 6 year old daughter. We all loved it. It was very entertaining for all of us. At first I thought it might be a bit too mature for my 3 yr. old, but she sat through the whole movie and was very interested the whole time.

This is a great movie with excellent acting! The kids loved it. Parents loved it. There are already great reviews out there...I just wanted to add my vote for this great DVD.

"Nim's Island" is a charming, whimsical little movie about an 11-year-old girl named Nim (Abigail Breslin) who lives on a secluded island in the South Pacific with her marine biologist father (Gerard Butler). When Nim's father appears to be lost at sea, Nim reaches out to the author of her favorite adventure novels, Alex Roper (Jodie Foster), via e-mail. Unfortunately, Alex is far removed from the hero she writes about in her books. In reality, Alex has as little contact with the outside world as possible (she's been cooped up in her San Francisco apartment for 16 consecutive weeks) and is extremely OCD. However, when Alex realizes that Nim is all alone and needs her help, she faces her fears and travels halfway around the world to get to the island where Nim is desperately waiting for her father to return to her.

I enjoyed the movie, which is extremely cute and a bit hokey at times. Breslin is a delightful young actress, Butler is adorable as always, and Foster's character is pretty funny, although she's pretty annoying in the beginning. The film wraps up a little too quickly for my taste, but overall, this is a fun movie that I enjoyed.