About.com Rating



MPAA Rating: PG, for mild adventure action and brief language
Genre: Adventure/Family
Age range: Ages 6 and up
Runtime: Approx. 95 minutes
Starring: Jodie Foster, Abigail Breslin, Gerard Butler
Studio: Fox Walden

Release Date: April 4, 2008

Nim's Island - Overview

After losing her mother at sea, Nim and her father Jack found a remote island and settled there to live together. Alone, away from all civilization, daddy and daughter live off the land and study nature.

One day, Jack needs to head out to sea in order to study plankton. Because her turtle's eggs are about to hatch, Nim refuses to go along. And so, Jack heads off, planning to leave his 11-year old daughter alone only for two nights.

When a huge storm comes through, Jack is stranded at sea, and Nim is left to pick up the pieces alone. Because the storm had destroyed Jack's means of communication, he has no way to contact Nim, and Nim doesn't know if he's even alive. The one thing that offers Nim a diversion from the scary situation is the book she is reading about a hero named Alex Rover. So, imagine her surprise when she checks her father's inbox and sees a message from the famous Alex.

In actuality, Alex is Alexandra, the writer who wrote the adventure books, and she is a self-proclaimed "borderline agoraphobic" who is afraid of everything. Nim replies to Alex (thinking she is talking to the hero of the books), and the two begin to correspond. It isn't long before Alex realizes that Nim is a child, alone and scared on an island.

Despite her fears, Alex decides to go to the island and help Nim, but with miles between them and a monstrous storm brewing, it will be difficult for Alex to reach Nim.

Nim's Island - Guide Review for Parents

Kids who have read the book Nim's Island may be disappointed in some of the movie variations. The general story remains in tact, but a few of the fun details are decidedly missing. The movie still brings to life an exciting and interesting tale, however, with an intriguingly self-sufficient young heroine. Children will enjoy seeing young Nim and imagining what it would be like to be in charge of their own island.

For young viewers, several perilous situations occur in the movie which may be scary or unsettling. At the beginning of the movie, we learn that Nim has lost her mother, and for pretty much the rest of the movie she is in danger of losing her father to the sea as well. Kids may be sad for Nim and unsettled by the thought of losing a parent. The scary scenes in the movie mainly involve wild storms and the unruly ocean, but there are also some tourists Nim fears will discover her father's island home, and a potentially dangerous volcano.
*For more detailed examples of possibly offensive content, please see "Content Overview" below.

Nim's Island - Content Overview

The following lists a few of the most prominent examples of possibly offensive content in the movie (may contain spoilers):
Violence(Low)
- As Nim reads the book about hero Alex Rover, we see scenes from the book played out. The same thing occurs while Alexandra writes a new book. In these scenes, Alex fights with some bad guys in the desert, and he is shown in other perilous situations such as being thrown into a lava filled volcano.
- In trying to protect her island, Nim launches lizards at a bunch of tourists.
- Several scenes in the movie involve perilous situations wherein various characters are in violent storms and tossed about on or thrown into the ocean.

Sex/Nudity(Low)
- Alexandra is shown in a bathtub, but nothing explicit is shown.
- A few women in the movie show some cleavage, including one obviously well-endowed plus-sized tourist in a bathing suit.
- One scene in the movie shows hula dancers who are wearing the grass skirt hula costumes with bikini tops.

Profanity(Low)
- The phrase "Oh my God" and other variants of the phrase are used.
- The word "damn" is used.

Alcohol/Drugs(Low)
- Some tourists are shown holding drinks.

Bad/Disrespectful Behavior(Low)
- Men from a ship come to Nim's island and announce that they will bring tourists to the island in two days. One man litters on the island. Nim devises a plan to make them hate the island, and she later carries out her plan, playing pranks on the tourists until they get scared and leave.

- Upon learning that Alex is a woman writer and not a hero, Nim yells at her to leave the island.
- Nim climbs a volcano and tells her lizard that they should not mention the excursion to her father.

Scary Scenes(High)
- As Nim reads an Alex Rover story, a scene from the book plays out around her bed. Some kids may be frightened by the fighting going on all around her as she reads.
- Nim's father is lost at sea on a sinking boat. He is threatened by sharks, and he is tossed about by a terrible storm. Nim and Alexandra also fall into several storm related perilous situations. These scenes will be especially frightening to kids who are afraid of storms.
- See also, scenes listed under violence.

Sad/Unsettling Scenes(High)
- We learn that Nim's mother was lost at sea and possibly eaten by a blue whale.
- Throughout the movie, Nim is scared that her father has been lost to the sea, and in one part of the movie she feels sure that he is dead.

Nim's Island - Topics to Talk About

• After watching Nim's Island, children may have questions about the following topics: agoraphobia, talking to imaginary people, a child being alone on an island, talking to animals and animals' ability to communicate back, eating worms, storms and monsoons.