A Fish Tale

"Help! I'm A Fish" is a Danish-Norwegian-German-Irish co-production with additional animation done in Spain, England and Bangkok, plus voice work (in the English-language version) done in the UK, Canada and the US. So it's a good advertisement for international cooperation, but as a movie it's less effective.

The actual story isn't bad (three stereotyped kids - a sporty lad, his cute little sister and their fat brainy cousin - go fishing, stumble into the lair of an eccentric scientist and, thanks to his special potion, turn into fishes (a flyfish, a starfish and a jellyfish respectively); and unless they can get the antidote within 48 hours they'll stay fishes forever), but the handling doesn't have the extra touch that could lift it into something great. As is often the case in live-action films, Alan Rickman livens things up no end as the voice [again, in the English-language version] of the movie's villain, a fish who drinks some of the antidote and wants to use his intelligence to take over the undersea world, or something... it's never really clear thanks to the script.

The animation's often quite good (but the opening titles of fish swimming clash with the first scenes with the human characters - the quality is a bit jarring), some scenes are genuinely effective such as the final faceoff between heroes and villains, and it's inoffensive - unless you consider montages set to Europop songs and the presence of American voices offensive (incidentally, why are the children voiced by Americans and their parents voiced by Canadians?) - but it's not really too memorable, either. "Help! I'm A Fish" is preferable to some Disney films and is certainly closer to a proper movie than other European animated features (at least I managed to get through this, which is more than can be said for "Millionaire Dogs"), but while it's not fair to expect "The Little Mermaid," ultimately it's not nearly as cute and endearing as... well, that Little Trees song you hear over the credits.

"I'm a little yellow fish in the deep blue sea... won't somebody save me?"

This is a fun kids movie with beautiful animation! Some of the Disney movies could learn a thing or two from the Norwegians. Alan Rickman and Terry Jones do brilliant voice work on this. The songs get a little tiresome, but overall the movie is unbearably cute.

I bought this movie for my 5-year old son who loves sea creatures. I bought the movie on a Friday and over the weekend, he watched it at least 10 times. It's his favourite movie and I must say I like it very much as well. The animation is very well-done and the angles are unique and interesting. My son still watches it twice a day, every day.

Does anyone know of any other sea-related cartoons, other than Finding Nemo?

I think this is an excellent movie for children. It's educational (teaches about sea creatures) and the story line is one of the most original I've come across.

A harmless little flick, that shows Disney is not the only one who can pump out "love it or hate it" cutesy animated features. It is done in the standard formula for kids movies, but drew me in.

I was sucked in by the ads I heard on French TV. The euro pop beat is a little cliché but still catchy. The title song is so nihilistic yet upbeat, I couldn't help but like it. The karaoke bonus on the DVD is even more fun for the kids. And a good way to help the kids learn French.

Unfortunately, it has not been released for Region 1, so I can't get a copy to my family in the US.

This movie which almost immediately appeared on DVD at an ultra budget price should be snapped up quickly by anybody with young kids. This movie has been played more times than any of the Disney titles since its been purchased and given the name "Help I'm a Bish" by one happy little girl... It may not have the Disney credentials but its certainly beautiful to look at and with some not bad songs thrown in to the mix will put a smile on any youngsters face (or just keep them quite for a while, which will put a smile on your face).

So don't overlook this little gem if you have a youngster of pre school age, they will love Help I'm a Bish :-)