Nim’s Island
Nim’s Island is directed by husband-and-wife team Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin and is written by Joseph Kwong with Paula Mazur. The movie stars Abigail Breslin as Nim Rusoe, Jodie Foster as Alexandra Rover, and Gerard Butler as Jack Rusoe. Nim’s Island is a unique combination of different genres; Adventure, Comedy and Family and is set for a theatrical release this month.
Nim’s Island details the life of a young girl, Nim, who with her father begins to reside on a magical island. Nim finds her life interesting, especially when she starts to communicate with the hero from the adventure book she is reading, Alex Rover. When Nim’s father goes missing, Nim has to find the courage to conquer the island, and Rover is there to give her a hand.
The New York Times reports that “this is a story about hiding from the world — whether on a remote island or inside your head — and the film’s sensitive notes are too often jarred by its attempts to score cheap comic points from sea lion flatulence and obese Australian tourists.”
The island in question lies deep in the South Pacific (beautifully played by the Gold Coast of Australia) and is home to Nim (Abigail Breslin) and her father, Jack (Mr. Butler). Motherless and near-fatherless (Jack spends his days studying plankton), Nim amuses herself with a stable of performing pets and the literary adventures of an Indiana Jones-style hero named Alex Rover. When Jack is trapped by a storm at sea, and Nim sends an e-mail message to Rover for help, she’s unaware that the recipient is his agoraphobic creator, Alexandra (Ms. Foster).
According to the Los Angeles Times, Nim’s Island touches on the important differences between fantasy and reality, but it manages to envision a place kids will want to return to their adventure stories.
It’s a fun story, particularly in its playful, creative sense of the relationship between fiction and reality. When Nim reads the latest Alex Rover book, her room falls away, and he fights his fiendish enemies next to her bed. As Alexandra fights her fears, her inner Alex Rover — also played by Butler — hangs around, mocking and urging her on by reminding her of the exploits she’s invented for him and how she has failed to live up to them.
Here is the official trailer. It is full of delightful scenes and dialogue.