Nim's Island (2008)

NIM'S ISLAND  (2008)  ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Jennifer Flackett, Mark Levin
    Jodie Foster, Abigail Breslin, Gerard Butler
This is like two movies in one: a kid's adventure story starring Abigail Breslin as an 11-year-old girl living on a tropical island with her best friends Fred the lizard and Selkie the sea lion, and a fish-out-of-water comedy starring Jodie Foster as an agoraphobic writer of adventure novels who sets out on an adventure of her own. Gerard Butler plays both the girl's father and the novelist's fictional hero, and what's interesting about all these characters is the way the plot plays off the parallels between them. Kids, especially young girls, should enjoy the stuff on the island, and Foster, playing a character who's barely functional in the safety of her home and a complete basket case outside it, shows a real knack for physical comedy.