DVD Review: Nim's Island
From 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Nim's Island
Nim's Island, featuring young Abigail Breslin in the title role as an adventurous girl living on an isolated tropical isle with her scientist dad, Jack (Gerard Butler) did passing well at theaters as a family film and attracted a few Butler fans but Jodie Foster, trying a comic turn as Alex, an agoraphobic writer of fantasy/adventure novels became a bit annoying at times.
Abigail and her many island critters are winning however, as are a few bonding scenes between her character Nim and fish-out-of-water Alex. Hot Butler looks buff, both as a dad and fantasy action hero. A sub-plot, involving an annoying tourist invasion, is somewhat funny but kind of falls flat. Based upon a popular novel by Wendy Orr, overall, the film is a fun adventure romp for you and your younger siblings.
Video/Audio: The widescreen DVD looks super colorful with both dark jungle and bright beach scenes coming through beautifully. Sound of storms, sea lions barking etc. is well-balanced throughout your sound system.
Special Features: "Nim's Friends" features all of Abigail's fun animal co-stars and shows her getting acquainted and working with them. A lot of fun! "Abigail's Journey" targets the young star's transition to action heroine as the cast and directors discuss working with her and Abigail talks about climbing mountains, running on the beach and going to school on set. "Working on Water" focuses upon all the storm scenes, many shot in a huge tank. You see and learn that Abigail wasn't a great swimmer but improved radically and enjoyed swimming with the sea lions and holding her breath underwater. Both Abigail and Jodie Foster talk about how freezing they were while shooting "tropical" water scenes in winter!
"Deleted Scenes" are very interesting and add a whole new dimension to the film. They feature Nim's three imaginary literary friends Huck Finn, Alice in Wonderland and scary Long John Silver interacting with her . Fun to watch. You'll also enjoy some scenes in which isolated novelist Alexandra had a funny assistant who brought in her mail and groceries. All these characters have been excised from the film so it's nice to get to know them here.
Abigail and Jodie provide one "Commentary", the directors another. You'll most enjoy the two actresses in their "Adventure Commentary" as they chat about working with the animals, funny things that happened on set, things they learned for the movie etc. It's almost non-stop chatter but a fun listen.
Wrapping Up: If you loved the novel or liked the film in theaters, you'll really enjoy the extras on this DVD. Good to add to your collection but certainly worth a rental if you haven't seen the film.
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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.
