Tuesday, August 6, 2019

A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventure Review

So I know I review anime on this blog (and sometimes music) but I decided for once to review something non anime. I know I would be doing more anime tournaments but OI will postpone it to do this review. A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventure or Sammy's Adventure: The Secret Passage is a 2010 French-Belgian 3D computer animation film about 88 minutes long released by StudioCanal (France). About 7 years ago I stumbled across this on Netflix and decided to rewatch it again to do this review. There are two different versions of the movie, one with voice actors from the UK and another with voice actors from the USA. While it is a kids movie, I've done reviews on stuff I'm kind of embarrassed so it doesn't matter and I'm anonymous to most of you reading this anyway. While it may look and sound like Finding Nemo, there's no such thing as an original idea nowadays so I wouldn't call it a copycat or ripoff. I really liked A Turtle's Tale and I think it is a underrated movie but I also do love sea turtles and therefore this movie appeals to me. It follows the stages off life very well and has good themes of coming-of-age and not giving up. There is also a 2012 sequel A Turtle's Tale 2: Sammy's Escape from Paradise (Sammy's Great Escape in UK), but like most sequels it's not as good as the original.


Summary
A Turtle's Tale is an adventure, coming-of-age, romantic, drama that follows a young green sea turtles through his life from meeting his best friend Ray, finding his mate Shelly, as well as facing the changes caused by humans.

Music
If this movie doesn't sound familiar then the music in it will. The music was composed by Ramin Djawadi. It includes artists Bruno Mars, Donavon Frankenreiter, Dry Spells, Mika, Justin LaVallee, The Mamas & the Papas, Mishon, Self, and V V Brown. There is also a cover of Michael Jackson's "Ain't No Sunshine."


My Thoughts
I really liked A Turtle's Tale and it really reminded me of the movies I watched during my childhood, most of which were from Disney. While it may not seem original, it gave me a kind of good-feeling, and trust me, nowadays, there is no such thing as an original idea. I really liked the coming-of-age concepts as well as the portrayal of the life of a sea turtle and the importance of a natural ecosystem such as the ocean. I'm a biologist though so there are things that are inaccurate but the filmmakers had to make it that way so it would be suitable for little kids. To me this film had some important life lessons of never giving up and the power of love and friendship which I never get tired of watching. Because I'm a sucker for romance I do have to point out that I think Sammy and Shelly are a pretty cute couple. I love sea turtles so A Turtle's Tale did appeal to me and it hit the spot pretty well.


My Conclusion
I would give A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventure 4.5/5 stars or a 9/10 score. I would probably give it 5 stars if I was a little kid but it has kind of lost some touch with me. Nevertheless it is a really good movie with good life lessons and I would recommend it to kids and even teens and adults who still enjoy kids flicks will also really like it too. To me this movie is just one of those hidden gems.