Sammy's avonturen: De geheime doorgang (2010)

A sea turtle, who was hatched in 1959, spends the next fifty years travelling the world, while it is being changed by global warming.

Directors:

Ben Stassen, Mimi Maynard

Writers:

Ben Stassen (story), Domonic Paris (story)

Stars:

Anthony Anderson, Ed Begley Jr., Pat Carroll

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Anthony Anderson	...	Ray (voice)
Ed Begley Jr.	...	GreenPeace Worker (voice)
Pat Carroll	...	Old Female Turtle (voice)
Stacy Keach	...	Grandpa Sammy (voice)
Yuri Lowenthal	...	Young Sammy / Ollie (voice)
Kathy Griffin	...	Vera (voice)
Melanie Griffith	...	Snow (voice)
Jenny McCarthy	...	Shelly (voice)
Gigi Perreau	...	Whale (voice)
Darren Capozzi	...	Robbie (voice)
Scott Menville	...	Jacko / Additional Voices (voice)
Kierstin Koppel	...	Female Turtle #2 (voice)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pamela Adlon	...	Additional Voices (voice) (as Pam Adlon)
Gemma Arterton	...	Shelly (voice)
Sydney Hope Banner	...	Loggerhead Turtle (voice)

Storyline

A sea turtle, who was hatched in 1959, spends the next fifty years travelling the world, while it is being changed by global warming.

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Plot Keywords:

sea turtle | animal protagonist | friendship | journey | 3 dimensional | 

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Family

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for mild peril

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan] Studio Canal [France]

Country:

France Belgium USA

Language:

English Danish

Release Date:

4 August 2010 (Belgium)

Also Known As:

A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$71,594,792

Company Credits

Production Co:

nWave Pictures, Illuminata Pictures, uFilm

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Greenpeace, one of the sponsors of this film, had their rescue ship featured as fighting a whaling ship.

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Quotes

Sammy: Maybe this is Snow's present to me?
Fluffy the Cat: Doubtful.

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Connections

Followed by A Turtle's Tale 2: Sammy's Escape from Paradise (2012)

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Soundtracks

Count on Me
Written by Ari Levine, Bruno Mars, and Philip Lawrence
Performed by Bruno Mars

User Reviews

A decent school holiday movie for the kids, but remember to go for the 3D version

What is the most effective way to make a person feel guilty for being part of the human race? Try making him or her sit through a movie about a cute-looking, adorable-sounding baby sea turtle who struggles to survive against environmentally unfriendly human activity. Swimming through his adventures in the open ocean, Sammy has as much fun as an undertaker on his first day of work. As if contending against natural predators isn't bad enough, he has to dodge plastic litter, trawl fishing nets, illegal dump and oil spills, with only his fragile little shell on his back.

Though the praiseworthy green message behind the movie is no less deserving of being explored on the big screen, its delivery is all quite off-putting. For one thing, Sammy's Adventures is presented like a kids' picture book on sea turtles facts – too direct and simple with only a watered-down plot regarding a turtle's desire to see the world to hang onto. Think: this is how sea turtles look like and this is what they eat, this is where they go when they're swimming around in the ocean, this is what they have to go through to survive and this is what we as people, need to do to help them. In fact, at the end of the movie, after going through all of the terrible events of his life, Sammy literally tells us, almost word for word that 'humans should be more environmentally-conscious and that sea turtles need their help to survive, now, more than ever.'

Granted, the makers are probably trying to reach out to young audiences with its simple language and story – the target group of this type of genre, but it sounds just a tad too preachy for the rest of us. On a whole, it just lacks the charm and humour that both children and non- children alike, would look forward to in an animated cartoon. They do try to inject some light-heartedness with the funny sidekick character of Sammy's best friend as voiced by Anthony Anderson. If you think he sounds like that black computer hacker genius guy who was taken in by the secret service for looking at the thumbdrive with the secret information in it, then you are right – it is him.

To be fair, it's not by Disney Pixar, but the look of the movie is decently entertaining for anyone of any age. And, we have to most probably thank 3D technology for that. The various fast-motion travelling scenes are enjoyable to sit through because tricking your brain into thinking that your body is moving when it's actually not and having things popping up and flying into your face, is always fun.

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