Back to the Sea

When it comes to films about fish, Pixar's 'Finding Nemo' (which 'Back to the Sea' has been inevitably and constantly compared to, perhaps not exactly fairly but understandably) is very hard to beat. As unfair as it is to say, the quality is vastly inferior here in 'Back to the Sea' in comparison and, after viewing it online, it's a pretty lame film on its own terms too.

There are worse animated films revolving around fish characters certainly, nothing is worse than one of the worst animated or ever films 'The Reef', 'Izzy's Way Home' and 'SeeFood' are also worse. 'Back to the Sea' however is one of the blandest and dullest, not in a while has a journey back to the sea been as bland, dull or easily forgettable as here. There is not much to recommend with 'Back to the Sea', there are a few heart-warming moments here and there and the soundtrack fits nicely and while not a truly memorable one doesn't make either mistake of being too intrusive or low-key.

Regarding the voice actors, they do their best, with Yuri Lowenthal, Tom Kenny, Mark Hamill (despite not being in it enough) and Tara Strong voicing their characters with a lot of spirit.

However, the story could have been better executed. It was potentially very identifiable but let down by dreary pacing, a paper-thin story structure, being too out-of-kilter dark in places (which muddled the tone) and too much of it not being particularly logical. Too much of it is very vague and the clarity factor is low, due to a lot of elements begging for an explanation that either are half-baked or never comes altogether. The parent-child relationship could have had a lot of heart but is not featured enough and is under-cooked dramatically. The voice cast did deserve much better, some make valiant efforts but others suffer from having very little to do.

Christian Slater is too hyperactive, and how can you have one of the best prolific voice actors there's been with one of the most distinctive voices ever Tim Curry and make him practically anonymous and almost like you can't tell who's he's voicing.

Further disadvantages are very flat humour, one has to search deeply for anything that resembles humour let alone find anything close to funny. Even flatter characters, there is not an interesting or likable one here and many are underused). An even more tedious and lacking in flavour script, with very little for children or adults alike in terms of engaging antics, humour, pathos or nods and references, so much so target audience and focus is called into question, especially with the jarringly darker elements tossed in. And a general lack of emotional attachment.

Animation-wise, 'Back to the Sea' is adequate at best, some of the backgrounds are nice and detailed. Most of it is uninspired though, with a very low-budget late-80s-early-90s look that makes one question when the film was actually made. Evident in some lifeless colours and less than smooth character designs. So not terrible or amateurish, but there is nothing in the animation quality that makes one leap out of their chair in amazement.

In conclusion, not a shipwreck, but as a lifelong animation fan to me this was very bland and dull. 3/10 Bethany Cox

Imagine; It's your birthday.

Someone buys a knock off "Finding Nemo" film from a small chain box store as a joke. As common courtesy, and from honest curiosity, you watch it. I could never have been more amazed.

This film was fantastic. It had it all. A Plots, B Plots, C, D, E, and even F plots. There were so many plots they had to tie one up in the credits. They had so many plots, they had to admit to "giving up" on a character motivation. This was a buffet of plots. A Chinese Buffet, if you will.

Just saying; Jack is superhuman. First, he has many disguises. Second? He became the star villain over HALFWAY through the film, after three other villains were presented. He was such a villain that one of the other villains was just FORGOTTEN. He also drowns for a solid 10 minutes and SURVIVES with no hospital visits.

Imagine a fever dream. One that you might have after watching "Finding Nemo" and eating half a chocolate cakeandn falling into a sugar induced coma. That was this film. The fish are walking, talking about "unaliving", dropping lore about living in a tank in a seafood restaurant, all while living under the yoke of a super authoritarian squid dictator with the voice of DC's animated Joker. Why should we trust a creature with 8 arms, a fancy chef hat, and shifty eyes? Because it's PLOT CONVENIENT to think he's the villain for half the movie. Do we casually forget that this SAME octopus has sent countless fish to their deaths as some crazy mock ceremony that rivals "fishbreath" from Nemo? YES. Yes we do. We are happy that he survives all the way to the end and laughs cheerily. Even though we WITNESS the murder of three fish during a feigned escape attempt in Act II of the film. They scream. It's disturbing. Horror films have fewer headcounts. Just saying. It's amazing. The original villains are in the end credits, talking about this cooking competition that LITERALLY is forgotten halfway through. The film just STOPS talking about it until they roll credits. Like "Oh yeah! We wrote that in! Well how are we gonna end that one? ... uh... IDK let's just throw some storyboards in the end. Oh yeah, and that one hot fish lived in the end, too. No need to save them. They just... they lived. The end."

ALSO. Do yourself a favor and pause the film on the newspapers. They are insane. The articles are Wiki blogs of World War II. It's an amazing amalgamation of history. Enjoy.

Also? This film blends 3D and 2D animation unapologetically and without warning. It seems they blew all their money on big name actors, and left pennies for an animation studio to struggle with MS Paint and the free version of Blender.

Do yourself a favor. Spend the money. It's like 3 dollars on youtube. Treat yourself to "Back to the Sea".

This movie was my childhood. I watched it over and over again for weeks at a time, and the memory became ingrained in me. I looked for pretty much my whole life since then to find this movie, and today I finally did and got to rewatch it again.

I literally almost cried. The sheer emotion I felt from watching these characters on screen again had that much effect on me. I'm still in tears as. I'm writing this, so it's not the best review, but just wow.

The artstyle is freaking adorable too. It reminds me of anime, which I watch a lot, but even if I didn't its just so endearing and unlike any other movie I've watched ASIDE from anime. The story is fun too, though I honestly wasn't paying that much attention this time because of how invested I was in just crying from being so happy. Seriously, this movie is the best. It's something I'll never forget, and I'm so glad I've found it. Please please PLEASE give it a watch, it's such a cute and fun movie with adorable graphics and character design, plus super memorable.

The animation is good. Not bad for a foreign studio. The plot is not so good. There are many plot holes and doesn't come together well.

You find yourself asking many questions.

But for children, it's fine. My 4 year old enjoyed the movie.

I was actually surprised that Tom Kenny voices Ben. Definitely interesting to hear another voice from him. Guy is talented.

Tim Curry and Mark Hamil are also star voices.

The ending is mediocre. Again, more questions. But, I watched until the end of the credits to find out more of what happened.

I rated it fairly high for the entertainment factor and the ability to keep my kid still. Lol.

I enjoyed it too despite the movie's flaws.

Nuff said.

All the scenes are a cheap copy of the excellent movie of the Studio Pixar, but worse. When something has been reinvented and creates a reboot, that it is supposed to improve a bad product, or one that it has become obsolete for new generations. But in this case Finding Nemo is a film for which have not passed the years, and for which I believe will not pass. It is simply classic animated film without following aggressive tendencies that may remain in disposal.

This film is a lack of respect and I hope that the team pay the consequences, since stealing intellectual property is an offense.