Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10891 in DVD
• Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
• Released on: 2008-08-05
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 96 minutes

Features

• Welcome to Nim's Island, a tropical paradise where imagination runs wild and adventure rules! Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine), Jodie Foster and Gerard Butler shine in this fun, "exhilarating and enchanting family picture" (San Francisco Chronicle) based on Wendy Orr's beloved novel. Nim Rusoe (Breslin) lives on a deserted island with her scientist father Jack (Butler) and

Album Description
Nim Rusoe (Abigail Breslin) lives on a deserted island with her scientist father Jack (Gerard Butler) and her best friends: Selkie, a sea lion; Fred, a bearded dragon lizard; and Galileo, a plucky pelican. But when Jack goes missing at sea and the island is "invaded," Nim reaches out via e-mail to the adventurous author (Jodie Foster) of her favorite books, and together, each discovers what it takes to truly become the hero of your own life story.

Amazon.com
Adventure doesn't always begin with pirates on the high seas or explorers deep in the desert; sometimes it starts with an idyllic life on a private island in the middle of the South Asiatic Sea. For 11-year old Nim (Abigail Breslin) and her father and microbiologist Jack Russo (Gerard Butler), life is perfect thanks to their love of nature, Jack's mechanical ingenuity, and regular deliveries via supply ship. Loneliness is never an issue for Nim because of her special friendships with Selkie the sea lion, Galileo the pelican, and Freddie the iguana and her education is intensive, if rather unique. Adventure and imagination are ways of life for Nim whether she's heading out to sea to help her father collect plankton specimens, playing soccer on the beach with Selkie, or delving into the latest Alex Rover adventure novel, but everything changes when Jack departs on the boat for a two-night expedition to collect plankton specimens and gets caught in an unexpected storm. Alone on the island, Nim begins to worry about her father's safety as well as her own and, through a chance email, connects with Alex Rover (Jodie Foster) whom she begs to come help find her father. Problem is, author Alexandra Rover is an unbalanced big city shut-in who's afraid to leave her townhouse, not the fearless adventure hero portrayed in her books. Nim, Alexandra, and Jack embark upon the adventures of a lifetime in which each must overcome his or her own fears and perceived powerlessness and limitations in order to grow and help one another. The question is; can each prevail against his or her own insecurities and the fury of nature? Based on the novel Nim's Island by Wendy Orr, Nim's Island is first and foremost a captivating adventure full of suspense and peril which also offers a touching look at the love between a father and daughter. (Ages 7 and older) --Tami Horiuchi

Beyond Nim’s Island on DVD

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Stills from Nim’s Island (Click for larger image)

Customer Reviews

Excellent time for kids of about 6-8 and up
"Nim's Island" is a tale of courage. Our three main characters each face trials of the spirit.

Jack Rusoe (Butler), a marine biologist, is a single father who is raising his young daughter (Breslin) at the foot of a volcano on a deserted island they found while the two sailed the seas searching for a blue whale that'd swallowed Nim's Mom, Emily. They live alone and like it that way. Nim (Breslin) is "Island schooled" by her father and has lizards and sea turtles for playmates.

Alexandra 'Alex' Rover (Foster) a writer of adventure stories featuring a brave man bearing her name. Alexandra calls herself a borderline agoraphobic. She hasn't left her apartment in San Francisco for sixteen weeks.

She's also got a problem--she's three weeks' late getting a draft of her latest "Alex Rover" novel to her editor, Buffy, and can't get Alex (also played by Butler) out of a trap in a volcano in Chapter 8. Like many writers, her character is real to her and he's tired of being stuck in the same predicament and wants Alex to get on with the book and both their lives.

Jack leaves on a specimen collection run and Nim stays home alone for the first time to assist with the birth of sea turtles. She's told to tell anyone emailing Jack that he'll return on Thursday and never divulge the location of their island. Alexandra becomes Nim's inadvertent penpal when she writes Jack asking about volcanoes and thinks that Nim is Jack's assistant. Nim thinks Alex is her hero, Alex Rover, and will do anything to help him.

Despite Jack's admonishment. Nim answers the author's questions about the volcano and accidentally injures herself rappelling down from the top. From the heights, she sees a cruise ship called the Buccaneer landing and believes the men to be pirates. When the ship returns with a boatload of tourists to enjoy the island, Nim thinks she's being 'invaded' and asks her hero, Alex Rover, for help.

Prodded by her character, Alex packs her bags and her courage, and heads literally toward uncharted waters to help a little girl alone. Pretty brave, since she's got to confront fear of just about everything.

Out on the open sea, Jack's encountered a storm and his ship's damaged. He may not make it back to his daughter.

Meanwhile, the tourist ship has come back and Nim's launched an attack on the invaders with the help of her animal friends. Poor Alex is struggling to make it to the island, and Jack's cobbling a ship together to get back home to his daughter.

The story's written for children, but the tale's so engaging you really are lost from the moment Nim (Breslin) starts telling us about the loss of her Mom and their travels. All the actors are people you want to see accomplish their goals.

WARNING: This story may not work for very young children. A little girl of about 4 next to us whose Daddy was in Iraq was pretty distressed when she thought Nim's Daddy was lost and was frightened through several of the scenes. "Nim's Island" is a wonderful adventure, but it could be scary and the issues of abandonment, scary spiders, sharks, etc. might be too much for them.

Rebecca Kyle, April 2008

Cute one for the kids
This lightweight bit of fluff actually has a bit more substance than I expected, but nearly enough mass to bog it down. On the surface, it's a kid-empowerment movie. Nim, the nine year old girl, is adventurous, interested in everything, and fiercely self-reliant. Alex (that's Alexandra, much to the surprise of people expecting a male Alex) is too timid to open the front door, and gets carsick before the car even starts moving. Nim is fearless and Alex is omniphobic. Still, once their friendship forms, Alex overcomes her fear of everything but her shadow to help Nim when disasters leave her alone, hurt, and frightened.

The two main characters balance beautifully. Nim is yound and bold, by nature, but still a little girl who gets scared when truly scary things happen. Alex embodies timidity, but has a core of mousy bravery that rises to the occasion. Nim lives in the world of Alex's adventure stories, which turn real around her as she reads them; Alex lives with the characters she writes, too, but has a much more argumentative relationship with them. A few other things come across nicely, too: the pervasive love of reading, nearly lost in today's media-mad world, and the image of scientist-geek as loving, strong, and physically competent. The girl-power message is there too, without being exclusive or overbearing. And despite a positive view of science, Nim brings a touch of magic, too.

I might not remember this one a week from now, but it's great entertainment for any kid in your life (with a very few slightly scary moments). If you have a rainy afternoon, have a blast.

-- wiredweird

Home Alone - Island style
Nim Rusoe: "Nobody invades my island and gets away with it."

Short Attention Span Summary (SASS):

1. No man is an island, but Jack Rusoe (Gerard Butler) finds an island for himself and his daughter Nim (Abigail Breslin)
2. They're not exactly "Lost" but they'd rather no-one knew where they are
3. Plankton hunting on the high seas can be rather dangerous
4. Nim plays "Home Alone" when intruders arrive at the island
5. Animal co-stars do most of the work
6. Alex Rover is an Indiana Jones-type fictional action hero
7. Alexandra Rover (Jodie Foster) isn't
8. An exchange of e-mails brings Alex and Nim together, and getting there is more than half the fun
9. Lame and predictable ending
10. Cue U2 track

Foster and Butler tackle easy roles without having to stretch out of their comfort zones, Breslin's as sunshine-y as ever and the animals practically steal the show.

A relatively low budget comedy-fantasy adventure for the whole family, but might be just a little too cutsie-pie for adults to enter the theater without being accompanied by a minor.



Amanda Richards, May 24, 2008