Help! I'm a Fish

Not many animated films from non-English speaking countries manage to make it into the western mainstream, but with Denmark’s Help! I’m a Fish they’re giving it a red hot go, and good luck to ‘em. This rivals any animation brought out for the big screen here and I have to say I am impressed - I expected less and got more and that’s always a good thing. Originally when I got my hands on this film, I thought to invite a Danish animator I’ve worked with over to give a live audio commentary. She had told me she worked on this film back in the studio and so I got a couple of other folks we used to work with and we made a night of it. Then, due to my misunderstanding of her Danish/English, I found out she didn’t work on it, but had come to the studio as that film was finishing production. Damn. Oh well, we watched the film and critiqued it as a collective effort and we decided we were impressed (I wasn’t too impressed the next day, but that had a lot to do with liquor consumption).

Fly and his sister Stella are regular kids with regular problems and a love of fishing. When their nerdy cousin Chuck comes over they show off and all end up in a secret cavern where the mad Professor Mac Krill (Terry Jones in perfect voice) has created a fish elixir that makes humans into fish and vice versa. When Stella drinks some and hits the ocean, the others have to do the same to rescue her. The only trouble is, the antidote has fallen into the sea as well and has been procured by a nasty fish, Joe (Alan Rickman), and a shark duo that have tasted it and are becoming intelligent. Now the kids have to rescue the antidote before it disappears and save thousands of other fishy friends from enslavement by the evil Joe!

"Hmmm... I believe we have acquired the power of speech, my voracious friend."

Exploring some darker themes than Disney does, this has blood in the water and death and some classic George Orwellian 1984 overtones, but isn’t done with gruesome detail. Rather, it tells it like it is, instead of sugar coating it.

This is fun animation that the kids are bound to enjoy. It’s also SO refreshing to see a film without the myriad advertising accompaniments and crappy toys given away with burger combos and nappies. A lot of love has gone into the production of this film and it’s been farmed out to several studios rather than being created within one house. It still manages to maintain a similar feeling throughout, although instances of digital animation are varying in quality. Who cares though, right? The kids sure won’t because it’s a good simple story with likeable characters and nice colourful images.

And thankfully no Nemo to be seen anywhere.

For the most part this is rich and colour soaked, but there are instances of almost old-fashioned (now) jitters and shakes in the opening titles. There are not a lot and they're very short when they occur, but the Hanway logo is the real evidence. Also note that the final credits are a bloody shocker; barely legible as very blurred blue on black. But then, I doubt many will complain about this oversight.

When using so many earthy colours on earth and cool colours under the sea, the earthy stuff tends to look a trifle washed out. Not heaps, but I suspect it may be a way of making under the sea look so much more vibrant. At any rate, the colour is still fairly rich and well planned.

Flesh and such are fine, as are blacks. Shadows are well detailed, but this is usually quite deliberate in animation, of course. There are some rather dodgy computer animation bits (as previously noted), the worst one being the digital shark before it becomes ‘intelligent’ (and its Aussie accent is so wrong it’s funny). As far as overall animation goes, though, this looks just great.

From the main menu we get two play options: Dolby Digital 5.1 or 2.0. Nice, choice rules! I went with the 5.1 of course, but I did check out the stereo version and it also sounds just dandy. The soundscape is well balanced all round and nothing attempts to dominate anything else. Dialogue is well spoken (though there are one too many ‘yee-haa!’s) and easily understood. There aren’t any Danish accents here either; it’s all been voiced by English or Americans.

Sound effects are used comically and well, and some of the undersea sounds are fabulous. Music is nice and pleasant ranging from Morcheeba-sounds through to Aqua-sounds. All are aimed at kids, obviously, as is the title track by Little Trees. I’d never heard of these guys (well, gals) but I’ll come back to that in a minute. All up a great soundtrack that is clearly defined and plonks us in the ocean very well.

A rich haul from the sea to keep the kids busy once the (lame) titles have rolled. The animated menus are a nice opener, though some repeated animation gets a little irksome. Anyway, first up we have the UK trailer at 1:19 long and the US trailer at 2:22. Both are at 1.85:1 and 16:9 enhanced.

Now comes the music video by Little Trees. This is the average European three-piece 13-year old girl group replete with Britney style moves and garb. The lead ‘singer’ seems to be the one the camera likes best, because the other two don’t get much of a look in at all. When I first heard this song I immediately thought it was Aqua (and who else could be so appropriate?) and am unsure as to whether I was disappointed or not to learn it wasn’t. Much of a muchness I guess.

The image gallery plays next and this runs as a short film of 2:30 with stills from the film. Rather pointless, considering the pause button works while watching the movie. However, then come some very interesting production notes that may not excite the kids, but I definitely found them pretty informative. These have info on the storyboard, workbook, layout, animation, computer animation, colouring and final assembly. More text follows with biographies on the producer and the animation companies who worked on the picture.

A multi-angle feature is next and this utilises three angles to look at two scenes from the film in storyboard, animatic and final film versions. This is a very sweet inclusion and not so long as to bore us to tears as some do. There’s still plenty to go at this point, so we press on to the making-of featurette. It’s in 4:3 and only runs for four and a half minutes, but thankfully nobody shows us wireframe 3D rendering. (I think we get it by now). It does, however, feature soundbite interviews with Alan Rickman and Terry Jones discussing the film, plus some lead animators thrown in.

Now comes the filmographies and interviews that feature Alan Rickman (again) and Terry Jones (again as well) with co-directors Stefan Fjeldmark and Michael Hegner and animator Jesper Moller. Then to fill the rest of the disc out roundly, we get six character bios on the lead characters in the film and an unusual inclusion of a six page director’s statement. This reminded me of the Dogme 95 statements directors add to those DVDs - until I read it.

So, a Davy Jones’ lockerful of booty.

This film runs for a brief 77 minutes that has plenty of room to pad the story out to 90 or even a hundred, but thankfully the makers realised that kids (and grumpier adults) have short attention spans so they kept it brief. There are some wonderful images of the sea here and some super animation that everyone will appreciate, regardless of age or inclination. Slightly darker themes than Disney (that inevitable comparison cornerstone) but used honestly and without gratuity. This makes the film fresher and less sterile than some more popular titles and keeps the interest peaked for the slightly more jaded animation fan. By no means unsuitable for children, this film was made for them and any brief grisly bits are sure to be met with a squeal of grossed out delight by most kids. A pleasant change from the heavy hitters of animation with a busy selection of extras for the inbetween times. Get hooked!