Eleven-year-old Nim narrates major events that happened during her life. When she was a baby, her mom was swallowed by a whale. At age 4, she and her dad moved to a deserted island in the South Pacific.

Nim has a sweet relationship with her dad. She also has close relationships with her animal companions. There’s Selkie the sea lion, Fred the bearded dragon, Galileo the pelican, and Chica the sea turtle.

Nim’s father gives her a book about a character named Alex Rover. She falls in love with it and reads it for a while.

Meanwhile, the author, Alexandra Rover, is writing her book about the character in San Francisco. She emailed Nim’s dad a question related to his knowledge as a marine biologist. But Nim answers it, and they have back and forth conversations.

Her dad is about to go off on a voyage to find a new species of plankton. He wants her to come with him. But she prefers to stay behind. Her father respects her wish and leaves.

Nim has a good time… until a storm occurs. She is left scared. If that’s not bad enough, the same ship company that got her mother killed by the whale comes in boats. Nim is unable to reach her dad because he was also affected by the storm. She feels threatened and contacts Alex Rover.

Alexandra is hesitant to leave her home due to being highly germophobic. She also has a psychotic condition where she talks to her main character, Alex Rover. “Alex Rover” pushes her to go. She resists, but eventually does.

At some point, a bunch of Australian tourists are on their way to the island Nim lives on. After they arrive, Nim, who sees them as threats, hides and finds secret ways to get them off. She succeeds.

When Alexandra finally finds Nim, she almost drowns. Nim saves her. But since she is not like what she imagined (brave like her book’s main character), she demands she leave. And she continues to worry about her father and island.

I found this movie to be quite beautiful, whether it was with Nim’s relationship with her dad, her animals, or even her island. She was a strong character who really loved her island and wanted to protect it, even if that meant using her pets to go after unwanted visitors.

Speaking of which, the portrayals of the lizard and pelican seemed a bit cheesy. I know that they were CGIs, but their sounds made them feel more stereotypical cartoonish.

Alexandra was also a bit unlikable throughout a lot of this movie, even though her germaphobia was necessary. I find it hard to like characters who almost never make the right choices.

Even though I liked Nim, I did not appreciate how rude she was to Alexandra after she came to her. I was expecting her to thank her for coming all the way to protect her.

But those are really my only criticisms. Otherwise, the plot is strong, especially its approach using two characters who contact each other. There are also a lot of twists and turns, all of which are strong.

Overall, I enjoyed Nim’s Island. I think it would make a fun, heartwarming, and adventurous watch for people of all ages.

I give this film 4 out of 5 stars.