At times charming and funny, at times borderline environmental lobby propaganda, "Nim's Island" is a movie that should not be seen without a child in tow.
The plot centers on Nim (Abigail Breslin) and her scientist father, Jack (Gerard Butler), who move to a secluded island in the South Pacific after the death of Nim's mother. Jack is searching for Protozoa Nim - a new species that he hopes to name after his daughter - so he embarks on a sea trip. After a bad storm, Jack becomes lost at sea and Nim is all alone to defend the island from every ecologist's worst nightmare - obese Australian tourists. Nim calls on her favorite author for help. That author must brave the world and cross the ocean to save Nim.
"Nim's Island" is unabashedly environmental. "Take care of the island, and it'll take care of us!" Jack yells to Nim as he leaves his 11-year-old in the care of a seal. A cruise ship called "The Buccaneer," whose captain's greatest crime appears to be littering, then invades the island. While "save the environment" is a good message, hearing it over and over again gets old after a while. The repetition makes it clear the movie is aimed more at potential subscribers to "Ranger Rick."
This film makes one attempt to entertain adult audiences, to much success. The gem of this movie is Jodie Foster, who appears in a brilliant performance as an agoraphobic and delusional adventure writer who must find Nim in the South Pacific. Her character is genuinely entertaining; adult audience members laughed out loud at her role. Despite this being a late-career role in a children's movie, she's never over the top or unbelievable, even during fights with her main character/imaginary boyfriend, proving once again that her fame is deserved, despite the infrequency of her work in recent years.
In stark contrast is Nim's father Jack. For the bulk of the movie, he's trapped on a sinking ship, and he acts like it - nervously, uncomfortably, and with death (of either himself or his career) imminent. While his simultaneous performance as the main character in Foster's books is slightly better (perhaps because his thick accent dulls the pain of his shoddy performance), he's at times so irritatingly bad that, children's movie or not, one thinks that perhaps the circling sharks waiting for his boat to sink have the right idea.
Breslin proves herself again. While the bulk of her role consists of stirring envy in the audience over her beautiful surroundings, her occasional emotional displays show a depth that, in someone her age, can only mean a bright career ahead; or, alternatively, a tragic burnout.
While the plot is fairly unremarkable, routine shots of the beautiful island where the movie is set and occasional moments of humor made the movie, at the very least, watch-able, and at the very best, entertaining. Foster steals the show, and her scenes, far and away the best in the movie, redeem "Nim's Island" for the adult viewer. However, should a child insist on you accompanying him or her, you might enjoy it.
