Peereddi
I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.
Sanjeev Waters
A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
Abegail Noëlle
While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.
Stompgal_87
As I have mentioned in some of my other reviews, I used to live in a residential care home with staff support because I have Asperger syndrome and I went to the cinema with the majority of them. This may sound tiresome for those of you who have read my previous reviews but this is yet another film I saw at the cinema with one of those staff members and we both found it very sweet and the 3D was incredible in both the film and the trailer. I gave this film another shot upon watching it on LoveFilm Instant and I enjoyed it as much as I did first time around although it wasn't quite the same without the 3D effect.The film is reminiscent of other CGI films set under water such as 'Finding Nemo,' 'Shark Tale' and 'The Reef,' which may not make it the most original film in the world but to be honest, having turtles as the main characters did indeed give this film a hint of originality. Although turtles have been used as main animated characters elsewhere (for example in childhood favourite 'Teenage Mutant Hero/Ninja Turtles'), the concept of having them in an underwater adventure film is entirely new. All the turtle characters were cute, especially Sammy and Shelly (a clever name for a turtle) and the underwater scenes especially were gorgeously rendered. The most distinctive historical part was that of the hippies on the beach, which made it easy for me to tell that particular scene took place in the 1960s. This was shown by the hippies' clothing and vehicles as well as the use of 'California Dreaming' by the Mamas and the Papas, which was one of my favourite songs on the soundtrack. Other songs I liked were Mika's 'Love Today,' the cover version of 'Ain't No Sunshine (originally recorded by Bill Whithers whose version I prefer),' 'Talking To The Moon' by Bruno Mars and VV Brown's incredibly underrated 'Shark In The Water' that played over the cut-out pop-up book part of the closing credits. The other songs were quite pleasant if rather forgettable but I liked the incidental music as well, especially the harp-led and calypso-inspired tunes that accompanied some of the underwater scenes and I also liked the sitar arrangement of 'Jingle Bells' that played during the hippie beach scene at Christmas. The story had some twists and turns such as Sammy getting separated from Shelly a few times but reuniting with her and it had a decent environmental message that was similar to that in 'Happy Feet' especially. The voice acting was full of clarity and I liked Fluffy's French accent as well as the seagull's Scottish twang while the dialogue has something for both children and adults with references to mating and flirting and good messages about friendship and encouragement, although children may find the mentions of turtle soup distressing. Other positive assets of the film were the inter-cut 2D segments that showed the progress of Sammy's adventure, the character animation and the opening title resembling the Universal logo.Overall this is a sweet film that is original in its own way and carries a somewhat valuable environmental message if not as outstanding as that in 'Happy Feet.' 8/10.
Jim Harris
Going beyond the mediocre attempt at 3D, this global warming propaganda movie was such misinformation, that I had to watch it with my daughter (who was home sick from school), so that I could explain all of factual errors. First off, I agree with global warming. It's been happening slowly for the last 18,000 years, and during the Holocene Maximum, between 6,000 and 9,000 years, the earth was 10 degrees CELSIUS HOTTER than now, and yet polar bears somehow survived. Hmm. Our planet is a cyclical planet, and there has been a warming period before every ice age. The climate on earth was also hotter between 1910 and 1940 than it has been from 1970 to the present. But if it helps Al Gore sell more green toilet paper...
Cesar Santos
This is a beautiful animation with fun 3D sequences. It has a simple story with an ecological message but as the movie is aimed at kids that is actually a good thing. The story and message will not fly over the little ones' heads.The characters are likable and the story's pace go on the right speed, not dragging itself or going too fast.Good fun for kids and parents as well.I've watched a dubbed version on Brazilian Portuguese so I can't speak for the original voice work, but this version I watched was very well done.The English version features the voices of stars like Melanie Grifith and Tim Curry.I highly recommend the 3D version as the movie has many sequences that will not be as entertaining and good looking on the 2D version.
p-stepien
Sammy (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal) was born during the hippie era. One of the last to leave the nest in a rush for the ocean his fate seemed doomed to be short and tragic. But some wit and bravado enables him to reach the ocean, whilst unwittingly saving Snow (Melanie Griffith) as well. Soon after he embarks on a journey through life that will see him meet a plethora of friends and venturing around the world in the process...I did have some initial doubts about commenting on this movie - being undeniably spoilt with the charm and wit of Miyazaki or Pixar. How well are adults prepared to voice their opinion about an animation, whose target audience seems inevitably to be below the teen-line and would have probably never seen this movie were it not for my child. Nonetheless I decided to venture into an opinion basing my review on a purely adult perspective.And in this context Sammy's adventures fail to impress or even engage, unlike the already mentioned Miyazaki creativity, which manages to capture the warmth in adults, take a grip of it and indulge everyone concerned into childhood fantasies. Sammy basically drifts through life and unfortunately the way of life is also predominantly the feel of the movie: slow, unfocused and with no real point to it.The animation is really tremendous and a pleasure for the eye, which makes it a visually appealing experience for all involved. As a parent I much prefer such beauty to captivate my child's eye than the harshness and grossness of most of Cartoon Network's offering. With this perspective in mind I didn't feel my time was wasted on the movie, even though several almost visceral and realistic chase sequences with piranhas or sharks seemed a bit out of place given the overall tone of the animation. At times it did make the film seem more like something from the Animal Planet and not a children's story.The life of Sammy may be a visually stunning and happy affair, but it is unable to invoke the emotions necessary to make it anything other than an adequate Sunday child timewaster.
