Nim's Island (2008)

A young girl inhabits an isolated island with her scientist father and communicates with a reclusive author of the novel she's reading.

Directors:

Jennifer Flackett, Mark Levin

Writers:

Joseph Kwong (screenplay), Paula Mazur (screenplay)

Stars:

Jodie Foster, Gerard Butler, Abigail Breslin

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Abigail Breslin	...	Nim Rusoe
Jodie Foster	...	Alexandra Rover
Gerard Butler	...	Jack Rusoe / Alex Rover
Michael Carman	...	Captain
Mark Brady	...	Purser
Anthony Simcoe	...	First Mate
Christopher James Baker	...	Ensign (as Christopher Baker)
Maddison Joyce	...	Edmund
Peter Callan	...	Edmund's Father
Rhonda Doyle	...	Shirley - Edmund's mother
Russell Butler	...	Old Fisherman
Colin Gibson	...	Cruise Director
Bryan Probets	...	Australian Tourist #1
Andrew Nason	...	Australian Tourist #2
Dorothy Thorsen	...	Blue-Haired Woman

Storyline

Nim Rusoe is a girl who joins her father, a scientist, when he does research on marine life on an island. It's just the two of them but she spends her time making friends with all the animals she encounters, chatting on the computer and reading the adventure books of Alex Rover. When her father goes to do some research but when a storm strikes the island he doesn't come back, she gets worried and frightened. She then e-mails Alex Rover hoping that he will come but what she doesn't know is that Alex Rover is a woman who is agoraphobic and germaphobic. But her creation comes to life and eggs her to go. Unfortunately she has never gone anywhere before and is denied her necessities like her sanitary gel by the customs officer at the airport. In the meantime, Nim tries to be strong while waiting for Alex to arrive.

---

Plot Keywords:

island | girl | author | reading | scientist | 

---

Taglines:

Be the hero of your own story.

---

Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for mild adventure action and brief language

Details

Official Sites:

MySpace Official site [Spain]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 April 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Die Insel der Abenteuer

Filming Locations:

Bowen, Queensland, Australia

Box Office

Budget:

$37,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$13,210,579 (USA) (4 April 2008)

Gross:

$48,006,503 (USA) (22 August 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walden Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby DTS SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Alex is running on the hall in Borneo Airport, there's poster on the wall that promotes Jogja Tourism. Jogja (Yogyakarta) is a different province in Indonesia located on a completely different island, Java Island.

---

Goofs

The captain of the cruise ship wears captain stripes on the sleeves of his jacket but lieutenant commander epaulets on his shoulders.

---

Quotes

Captain: What on earth are you doing?
Alex Rover: I'm just having a nervous breakdown!

---

Connections

Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Episode dated 5 April 2008 (2008)

---

Soundtracks

Beautiful Day
(2000)
Written by Adam Clayton, The Edge (as Dave Evans), Bono (as Paul David Hewson), and Larry Mullen Jr. (as Larry Mullen)
Performed by U2
Courtesy of Island Records Limited
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Bland

My friends and I decided to see Nim's Island tonite, I work at a theater and have walked in on a couple parts and it looked cute, so I figured it might be a fun watch. Honestly, Nim's Island is a good family film, decent enough for a watch, but I'm a little disappointed with what I was expecting. Just I think the ideas are a little beyond out there and I don't think this is the type of film that is going to keep a lot of kid's attention. It's just not memorable, it has it's cute moments here and there, now Abigail Breslin pulls in a decent enough performance to make the film watchable, but again, like her last film Definitely Maybe, it seems like she's getting the star's bug, which worries me because she has so much potential and her performances she doesn't seem to care too much since her Oscar nomination. But it's Jodie Foster's performance that majorly disappointed me, it was too forced and made the story more ridicules that what it already was.

Nim is a little girl who lives on an island with her dad who is an adventurer. Now they have not told anyone where they are and their living place, good idea if they need help, right? Well, her dad goes on a research assignment, and gets hit by a nasty storm stranding him in the middle of no where. When Nim gets an E-Mail from famous author, Alex Rover, who she thinks is a real life hero, Alex wants answers about volcano's for her next book, but Nim wants help since she's alone on the island and her dad hasn't returned. Alex has one problem, she's agoraphobic, but gets the strength to go on an adventure and help Nim out with the help of her famous character Alex Rover to get through this Indiana Jones ordeal.

Nim's Island is a cute movie, I would never ever say in a million years that this is a bad movie, because it is worth a look. Just I would recommend that you wait for the rental, this is not the Horton Hears a Who of the year, it's a movie that is forgettable unfortunately, it just needed more help with the script and the actors needed to bring it a little more down to Earth since the story is supposed to be fairy tale like, you'll see what I mean if you see this movie. But like I said, wait for the rental, it's a nice family film, but isn't the best movie of Spring 2008.

5/10