Sammy (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal) was born during the hippie era. One of the last to leave the nest in a rush for the ocean his fate seemed doomed to be short and tragic. But some wit and bravado enables him to reach the ocean, whilst unwittingly saving Snow (Melanie Griffith) as well. Soon after he embarks on a journey through life that will see him meet a plethora of friends and venturing around the world in the process...
I did have some initial doubts about commenting on this movie - being undeniably spoilt with the charm and wit of Miyazaki or Pixar. How well are adults prepared to voice their opinion about an animation, whose target audience seems inevitably to be below the teen-line and would have probably never seen this movie were it not for my child. Nonetheless I decided to venture into an opinion basing my review on a purely adult perspective.
And in this context Sammy's adventures fail to impress or even engage, unlike the already mentioned Miyazaki creativity, which manages to capture the warmth in adults, take a grip of it and indulge everyone concerned into childhood fantasies. Sammy basically drifts through life and unfortunately the way of life is also predominantly the feel of the movie: slow, unfocused and with no real point to it.
The animation is really tremendous and a pleasure for the eye, which makes it a visually appealing experience for all involved. As a parent I much prefer such beauty to captivate my child's eye than the harshness and grossness of most of Cartoon Network's offering. With this perspective in mind I didn't feel my time was wasted on the movie, even though several almost visceral and realistic chase sequences with piranhas or sharks seemed a bit out of place given the overall tone of the animation. At times it did make the film seem more like something from the Animal Planet and not a children's story.
The life of Sammy may be a visually stunning and happy affair, but it is unable to invoke the emotions necessary to make it anything other than an adequate Sunday child timewaster.
I did have some initial doubts about commenting on this movie - being undeniably spoilt with the charm and wit of Miyazaki or Pixar. How well are adults prepared to voice their opinion about an animation, whose target audience seems inevitably to be below the teen-line and would have probably never seen this movie were it not for my child. Nonetheless I decided to venture into an opinion basing my review on a purely adult perspective.
And in this context Sammy's adventures fail to impress or even engage, unlike the already mentioned Miyazaki creativity, which manages to capture the warmth in adults, take a grip of it and indulge everyone concerned into childhood fantasies. Sammy basically drifts through life and unfortunately the way of life is also predominantly the feel of the movie: slow, unfocused and with no real point to it.
The animation is really tremendous and a pleasure for the eye, which makes it a visually appealing experience for all involved. As a parent I much prefer such beauty to captivate my child's eye than the harshness and grossness of most of Cartoon Network's offering. With this perspective in mind I didn't feel my time was wasted on the movie, even though several almost visceral and realistic chase sequences with piranhas or sharks seemed a bit out of place given the overall tone of the animation. At times it did make the film seem more like something from the Animal Planet and not a children's story.
The life of Sammy may be a visually stunning and happy affair, but it is unable to invoke the emotions necessary to make it anything other than an adequate Sunday child timewaster.