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Starring Abigail Breslan, Jodie Foster
Directed by Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin
On a remote island deep in the South Pacific (Hinchinbrook), a young girl lives alone with her scientist father.
With a tree-hut for a home and animals for company, Nim has the idyllic childhood.
One utterly divorced from reality mind you, but that’s not the point: Nim’s Island is inspiring escapism for youngsters uncertain about what reality really is.
When Dad goes missing on a research trip, Nim turns to her hero for help, a literary Indiana Jones penned by the borderline agoraphobic Alexandra Rover.
Spurned on by her alter ego, Alex responds. There are no surprises on Nim’s Island – human and anthropomorphised animal casts are suitably daring.
The setting is pure 60s TV – dialogue and delivery likewise. So far, so Skippy. While there are many reasons to have a bad time with Nim (Rover’s new-found courage is of the jump-and-shriek variety, and a sub-plot concerning Australian holiday-makers is caricatured and boorish), there’s also an appealing, old-fashioned gentleness about the film.
Plus there’s the added bonus of seeing Foster in a rare comedy turn. If sub-teen youngsters in your care need low-key, morally certain and violent free entertainment (unless you count lobbing lizards at tourists), set sail for Nim’s Island.
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