• Movie Preview •

Jodie Foster, Abigail Breslin, Gerard Butler. Action/adventure/sci-fi/comedy.

FILM SYNOPSIS: A young girl’s imagination rules the island she and her dad call home. It is an existence that mirrors that of her favorite literary character, Alex Rover - the world's greatest adventurer. But Alexandra, the author of the Rover books, leads a reclusive life in the big city – just her, her quirks, and the imaginary protagonist of her bestsellers. When Nim's aquatic scientist father gets lost at sea, the ten-year-old (played by the much older Breslin) gets spooked by a suddenly smoking volcano, the scrape on her knee and the approaching ship with the name Buccaneer. With the aid of a laptop and a twist of fate, Nim is about to be rescued by the phobic author of her favorite books.

PREVIEW REVIEW: Rather than a love/hate response to the screening, my emotional reaction is more of a like/ho-hum response. For non-discriminating children, it’s passable entertainment. After all, it’s a kid ruling an island surrounded by adoring sea lions and smarter-than-the-average pelicans, and a volcano to explore. But once they get to the point where children ask questions about credibility, I think even they will become disenchanted.

As for accompanying adults, most will become fidgety after the promising beginning begins to remind them of TV’s Flipper. Ms. Breslin is nearing that awkward age, when cuteness takes a backseat to adolescent awkwardness. As for Ms. Foster, well, her performance explains why she doesn’t do more comedy.

Nim sleeps with her head resting on the back of a walrus that never seems to get into the water, and her pet pelican squawks and honks communication to his (or her) humans with all the reasoning ability of Bullwinkle’s Mr. Peabody, the pedantic dog who traveled through time. Alexandra Rover displays every neuroses of TV’s Monk, without the comic prowess of Tony Shalhoub, and Nim, who’s supposed to be bright and helpful to her scientist father, doesn’t know how to care for a scraped knee. And the invading pirates turn out to be non-threatening tourists from a cruise ship, disappointing as there is no climatic battle scene. Then there’s that volcano that threatens to erupt. By film’s end, it’s quickly forgotten. Not a phrase studio publicists want to hear – “quickly forgotten.”

But it’s not a bad film. Like I said, kids may get a kick out of it. Parents, bring a book.

Distributor: Fox/Walden