The Incredible Mr. Limpet

I loved this movie when I was a child so I bought the video for my children. They got so caught up in the movie that they found themselves cheering for Henry and Crusty while they dodged the "torpedees" (as Crusty called them).

However, they weren't impressed with Mrs Limpet (the human). They thought she was too mean spirited for poor Henry. Early in the movie my daughter said she didn't blame Henry for wishing to be a fish. Anyone would with a wife like that!

As most good films have a good versus evil slant in the plot, this film also does in a sense. I don't mean the obvious Democracy vs Nazi fight, but the good, kind Henry vs the sneering, lecherous Stickle. As children's movies should be, it is toned down, but you still get an immediate sense of sympathy for Henry while secretly wishing Stickle would get his head stuck in a "torpedee" tube! All in all, a terrific film and one of my favourites!

This film takes me back many years to when I had an argument with a cousin who was into all things aquatic and he wanted to see this film. Being two years older and more mature about these things I scorned seeing The Incredible Mr. Limpet at the time when it was first out.

Well almost fifty years later I can admit I was wrong. The Incredible Mr. Limpet which seems to have a dopey premise is a really charming mixed live action animation story which Don Knotts is perfectly cast in. And what's wrong with a film where a man achieves his life ambition, in this case to be a member of the piscatorial community.

Don Knotts plays Henry Limpet, a shy bookish sort that years before Danny Kaye would have played who has all kinds of ailments including bad vision that keep him out of World War II, at least as a human. One day out at Coney Island, Knotts falls off the pier and drowns. Drowns as a human, but through an unseen power returns as a most unusual Mr. Ed kind of fish.

Knotts keeps his nearsightedness and the glasses he wore as a human as well, but he's developed a kind of sonic blast that keeps predators like sharks away. It all proves most useful to the US Navy because even though Don Knotts is a fish, he's patriotic American fish.

Carole Cook plays his frustrated wife and Jack Weston, Knott's best friend and man ready to catch Cook on the rebound as Knotts seems more interested life under the sea than the motion of the ocean with Cook.

Despite these sly adult innuendos, The Incredible Mr. Limpet is a nice family film that holds up well after half a century. And Knotts finds true love in the ocean and by now there are untold thousands of Limpet fish in our sea world.

At least I hope so.

I remember seeing this as a child, being totally mesmerized that Don Knotts, of Barney Fife fame, turned into a fish! It's a great movie for children, too. Such a wonderful fantasy about a meek man who just wishes he were a fish, or be enlisted in the Navy. Fortunately his wishes come true and the USA is able to win WWII! There's a couple of bloopers, too, which were fun to catch including wardrobe and hair styles. The romance and love story plots are included, so don't worry....

Overall, after all these years, it's still an enjoyable movie and quite a fantasy fairy tale. He careful what you wish for....

This film holds universal appeal for people who dream of one day turning into fish. Henry Limpet is one of these people, and the dream comes true suddenly when he falls off the pier at Coney Island. From this point Henry finds his destiny, finding true love and working for the US Navy to help defeat the Nazis. Sort of a piscatorial Walter Mitty tale, with a very happy ending. Recommended also because it affords viewers the once-in-a-lifetime chance to see Don Knotts serenading a goldfish.

This little oddball film from the mid 60's is hard to characterize. In the days just before the attack on Pearl Harbor, a nerdy, winsome misfit who is yet very amiable and loved by others, feels something just isn't right about his life. He interacts far more effectively with the little marine creatures inhabiting the aquarium in his house, than he does with his wife, friends, and co-workers.

Nobody but Don Knotts (doesn't that slightly knotted-up Knotts face slightly resemble a fishy to begin with? lol), could have pulled off a way-out live action/animation fantasy comedy like this. That high-pitched, nasally voice talent of his fits this role to a tee. Limpet sees (what he perceives to be) the carefree life of a fish, and wishes with all his might to be one of them. Presto, change-o, morpho! Welcome to the Atlantic a new bespectacled fish that has a unique ability that comes in handy for survival and in other ways you simply won't expect.

Odder still than all of that is the way the plucky little fish finds himself enmeshed in the naval battles of World War II. Although WW2 would seem like a stark place to set a fantasy comedy, this wacky little film manages to take all these elements and run with them for playful laughs. I'm not sure how I (or anybody else) would handle seeing a friend talking from the water as a fish, and the supporting cast are all perfect in the humorous "playing down" reactions they have to this bizarre situation.

Fun stuff.