A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures (2010)

I watched this movie as a Blue-Ray DVD in 3D on television. So far I thought that a movie could not be that bad that stunning 3D effects wouldn't make it fun to watch anyway. At least this was my experience until Sammy's adventures. Although the 3D effects were partly impressive, especially the underwater scenes, it was almost impossible to watch the movie until the end. There are two reasons.

First I had to fight massive tiredness. Already after about 5 minutes you feel that this movie will probably become boring. And this feeling is right, it's one of the most boring movies I have ever seen. This is because there is no coherent plot, the characters are dull and you just don't care about what happens to them.

More important is the movie's intention which is so flat, not to say primitive that you get annoyed quickly. In short term: humans are bad. They put oil in the water motiveless, cut trees, kill whales, hunt fishes, pollute the environment, make global warming. There is no good about them, with two exceptions: Greenpeace is good and hippies are good. The rest is just a pain in the ass for the world. It is funny to see that the smoke coming out of the pipe of the Greenpeace boat is a thin light gray cloud, while the other boats spit out massive black clouds. This example gives an impression of the way the movie tries to manipulate, especially the targeted audience which are kids. So it is just a long sequence of cruelties the humans do to the nature without connection and without traceable motivation.

Probably the writer/producer share a hardcore view of the world where humans are just an error of nature disrupting the system. In this case they could do something better for the environment by saving the electric energy which was dissipated making this movie.

Fmovies: To be honest, I wasn't expecting to enjoy it, let alone like it. Although I didn't hate Fly Me to the Moon(also directed by Ben Stassen) as much as others did, it did have a number of problems. In every way, A Turtle's Tale:Sammy's Adventure is a big improvement.

I won't say the film is perfect. The narrative is not as predictable or as saccharine as Fly Me to the Moon, in fact it is actually quite cute and appealing complete with a good message, but it does occasionally have its mundane and dull spots particularly with some scenes with the humans. The animation was in general amazing, but I did think some of the human character designs left a lot to be desired.

That said, when it comes to the 3D, this is one of those rare exceptions where I'd say the 3D version is a must-see. Because it is clear and sharp enough, and doesn't distract too much. And when it comes to the animation in general, a vast majority of it is amazing, with gorgeous colours and stunning underwater sequences. The soundtrack fits very well, the characters are very likable and endearing mostly, the writing is much funnier and smarter with the jokes not going as overboard as badly as they could have done(I'll drop a hint, no fainting female flies in sight!) and even the pace is snappier. The voice work is very good, with John Hurt the standout as older Sammy.

All in all, much better than expected. Beautiful to watch and much more appealing to a family audience than Stassen's previous effort. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Perfect film for its target audience. It seems to me that the other reviewers did not see this film with the intended audience. 4 to 8 year old kids love it. It's a simple story but the 5 kids I took to see this film for a birthday party loved it (in Paris, last Summer) and so did the other 150 or so film goers in the theater. The characters are adorable. Much better turtles and underwater environments than in the dated "Finding Nemo". The message about the environment was great too. Not patronizing, just the right amount. I wonder how they can do it, at a fraction of the cost of the US budgets for animation. But best of all: the 3D. By far the best use of the technology I have seen so far. Not even Avatar comes close. This alone is worth the price of admission. I have seen several 3D films since and they seem to be getting from bad to worse.

A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures fmovies. I have finished watching the movie right now and I am totally satisfied with it.

I am fond of animated movies till i watched "The Monster Ink". While I started "Sammy's Adventure" I was a little bit confused about it. As the plot of the movie is the ocean and one of my most favorite movies (Finding Nemo) also plotted there, I thought, better to say was afraid, the movie will fail to reach my level of satisfaction. But at the end it got a good score from me.

Finding Nemo is certainly a classic movie and I guess with a similar plot no movie will be able to overtake its image and appeal. But this adventure touched me with one of its unique feature that HUMAN DO THINK FOR THE NATURE.

Someone may find this one too easy going, may be slow moving, but I assure you take your kids with you, go back to your childhood and watch the movie. You will enjoy I am sure. If you don't have a kid, no matter go to your old days.

So, I think this is a good movie for kids... but enjoyable to anyone!!

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.

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If "Sammy's Adventures" seems rather predictable and dull, it is probably because Belgian director Ben Stassen seems so carried away by its anti-pollution and environmental messages that he misses out on the plot and the action. However, the visuals in this underwater opus are top-notch (especially in 3D) and way better than Stassen's last effort "Fly Me To The Moon".

I also like the way Stassen tells the story from a turtle's eye view - which will go a long way in educating children on undersea life and protecting those creatures and our ecology. The movie is about a green sea turtle who is hatched in 1959 and spends the next 50 years travelling the world while it is being changed by relentless whale and shark fishing, pollution and global warming. Hours after being hatched, Sammy (voice of Yuri Lowenthal) finds and loses the love of his life, a pretty hatchling called Shelly (Isabelle Fuhrman of Orphan fame).

On the epic journey across the oceans that all turtles must accomplish before returning to the beach where they were born, Sammy dodges every danger in the hope of meeting Shelly again. On the way, he also has encounters with humans, both good and bad, as well as toothy sharks and piranhas.

It is easy to root for Sammy and his pals not only because they are cute but also because they are sporting and gutsy. With its story spanning over 50 years, Stassen marks the milestone periods with human events (like the hippies of the Sixties and the Greenpeace protests) and with classic songs on the soundtrack. Of course, the Beatles are represented with their hit, 'Across The Universe' (what else?).

On the downside, character development seems to be at a minimum for some - and the 3D thrills (read action and stunts) are nowhere as impressive as those of "Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole". Indeed, from the numerous death-defying scraps that Sammy escapes from, we wonder how he can have such an 'enchanted' life indeed if not for far-fetched plotting. Nevertheless, it is an entertaining sea-world documentary for the kids. - LIM CHANG MOH (limchangmoh.blogspot.com)