Opening Day: 9 December 2010

Synopsis:

Join Sammy the sea turtle on a fun and exciting fifty-year journey through the ocean. This wonderfully crafted, 3D animation combines entertainment with an important environmental message.

Born on a Baja, California beach in 1959, new hatchling Sammy must do what his fellow newborn sea turtles are doing: race across the beach to the ocean before they are captured by a seagull or crab. After a slow start, Sammy is nearly at the water's edge when a seagull snatches him. In the air and struggling to escape, Sammy notices another turtle in the beak of a nearby seagull. Thinking quickly, Sammy spits sand into the seagull's eyes causing the two birds to collide and drop the young turtles to the ground. Sammy lands upside down, while the other turtle lands right side up. Her name is Shelly and, thanking Sammy for rescuing her, she encourages him to turn over and continue the last leg of his dash to the ocean. But exhausted after an eventful day, Sammy is unable to muster the strength to go any further.

Thankfully, Sammy has landed on a wooden raft that the tide carries out to sea. Thus begins Sammy's incredible ocean journey. Along the way he meets his best friend, a fellow turtle named Ray, and overcomes obstacles both natural and man-made while trying to fulfill his dream of travelling around the world. Throughout his voyage, Sammy never forgets about Shelly - the turtle he saved on his first day and loves passionately from afar.

Movie Review:

What is the most effective way to make a person feel guilty for being part of the human race? Try making him or her sit through a movie about a cute-looking, adorable-sounding baby sea turtle who struggles to survive against environmentally unfriendly human activity. Swimming through his adventures in the open ocean, Sammy has as much fun as an undertaker on his first day of work. As if contending against natural predators isn’t bad enough, he has to dodge plastic litter, trawl fishing nets, illegal dump and oil spills, with only his fragile little shell on his back.

Though the praiseworthy green message behind the movie is no less deserving of being explored on the big screen, its delivery is all quite off-putting. For one thing, Sammy’s Adventures is presented like a kids’ picture book on sea turtles facts – too direct and simple with only a watered-down plot regarding a turtle’s desire to see the world to hang onto. Think: this is how sea turtles look like and this is what they eat, this is where they go when they’re swimming around in the ocean, this is what they have to go through to survive and this is what we as people, need to do to help them. In fact, at the end of the movie, after going through all of the terrible events of his life, Sammy literally tells us, almost word for word that ‘humans should be more environmentally-conscious and that sea turtles need their help to survive, now, more than ever.’

Granted, the makers are probably trying to reach out to young audiences with its simple language and story – the target group of this type of genre, but it sounds just a tad too preachy for the rest of us. On a whole, it just lacks the charm and humour that both children and non-children alike, would look forward to in an animated cartoon. They do try to inject some light-heartedness with the funny sidekick character of Sammy’s best friend as voiced by Anthony Anderson. If you think he sounds like that black computer hacker genius guy who was taken in by the secret service for looking at the thumbdrive with the secret information in it, then you are right – it is him.    

To be fair, it’s not by Disney Pixar, but the look of the movie is decently entertaining for anyone of any age. And, we have to most probably thank 3D technology for that. The various fast-motion travelling scenes are enjoyable to sit through because tricking your brain into thinking that your body is moving when it’s actually not and having things popping up and flying into your face, is always fun. 

Movie Rating:



(A decent school holiday movie for the kids, but remember to go for the 3D version)

Reviewed by Siti Nursyafiqa