Movie Review: Nim’s Island

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Nim’s Island

Based on Wendy Orr's popular children's novel, Nim's Island is an engaging, family-friendly adventure with charming performances from Abigail Breslin and Jodie Foster. Nim (Abigail Breslin) and her dad, Jack (Gerard Butler), have been tucked away on their own private tropical island since Nim's mom died. They live in a tricked-out treehouse, hang out with sea lions and marine iguanas, and only communicate with the rest of the world via email and satellite phone. It's all sunshine and blue waters until Jack heads out for a short research expedition and gets stranded by a nasty tropical storm, leaving Nim to fend for herself. At first she takes it in stride, but eventually, worried and lonely, she confesses some of her fears to her cyber pen pal/favorite writer, adventure novelist Alex Rover - never guessing that the intrepid hero she's imagined is really a neurotic, scaredy-cat woman (Jodie Foster). When tourists threaten the island, Nim asks Alex for help, challenging the writer to overcome her fears and become "the hero of her own story."

When your movie takes place in a tropical paradise that comes complete with the coolest jungle abode this side of Swiss Family Robinson, beautiful beaches, and even a slightly rumbly volcano, you don't need to do too much except point the camera at the action. Directors Mark Levin and Jennifer Flackett do a fine job on that front, turning Nim and her sanctuary into something out of a kid's wildest imagination. That makes some of the movie's weaknesses forgivable. Bottom line? In an era when so many kids' movies rely on special effects and flashy animation to grab an audience's attention, an old-fashioned adventure like Nim's Island is a refreshing island breeze.