The Media Man Reviews: Help! I'm A Fish

I imagine a large portion of my readers who are reading this are looking at the title and going "What the hell is Help! I'm A Fish?" And for good reason too for it's one of those animated movies that few have heard of.

Released in 2000 in Denmark and in 2001 in the UK, Help! I'm A Fish is a Danish animated film that had a production time of around four years and when it was released in its home country, it was a box-office bomb to the point it couldn't even make its budget back, grossing $5.6 million against a 101 million DKK ($18 million) budget. In the UK, it performed even worse, not even being able to pass £1 million! No joke, it only made about £81,908 after performing in 157 cinemas. It's not often we get movies that gross so little at the box office, is it? So that already explains why this movie is mostly unheard of, because so few people actually went to go see it. But like most media that's relatively obscure, this film has grown a bit of a following in recent years and more people are discovering it thanks to the rise of internet reviewing and animation reviewers on YouTube with even Saberspark covering the film at one point.

So you may be curious, what's my experience with this film? Sadly, I didn't see it in cinemas like most people didn't. I DO remember seeing adverts for the film on TV and wanting to see it because it looked fun, but back in my childhood we weren't able to go to the cinema a lot, so I missed that chance. It wasn't until we got our first DVD player that I got the chance to watch it. Not only did we get our new DVD player back then, but we also got the movie on DVD and it was our first time watching a movie via the new technology at the time. Yes, believe it or not, THIS movie of all movies was the very first movie I ever owned on DVD, and I still have my copy to this day. I mean, it's my first DVD! Of course it's going to be valuable to me! As you can imagine, this is yet another piece of media I'm VERY nostalgic towards.

So without further ado, let's drink ourselves a potion and swim into Help! I'm A Fish. Is it truly underrated or is there a reason it bombed so badly? Let's find out...

Section 1: The Story

It's the story of three kids named Fly, Chuck and Stella who end up discovering the lab of a scientist named Professor MacKrill. The professor has invented fish potion as a means for mankind to survive mass flooding, believing that climate change will cause the polar ice caps to melt and flood everything. But when Stella becomes a starfish and is lost at sea, Fly and Chuck have to take the potion in order to find her. There's a catch to this...if they don't get the antidote within 48 hours, they'll be fish forever. And it's not helped by the fact the antidote is in the hands of a power-hungry fish named Joe who gains intelligence after accidentally ingesting some...

I bet you're all thinking "That's the stupidest plot I've ever heard of!" as I'm describing it to you. And yeah, the plot does sound pretty ridiculous when you describe it like so. The fact it's driven by a professor who's clearly not that great at his job since even if the polar ice caps melted, the entire world would NOT flood like he says it would, doesn't help either. But as I've stated numerous times in my reviews, it's not the idea, it's the execution that makes or breaks a story. So despite a silly sounding premise, does the execution make it work? YES IT DOES.

Seriously, don't judge a book by its cover, or in this case a film by its synopsis, for the story of this movie manages to be really engaging in spite of its absurd premise. Hell, I think the premise works to the story's advantage as it truly makes it feel like our heroes are on this big adventure beyond our wildest dreams. Once they turn into fish and end up in the ocean, everything just feels huge and epic and it makes for a very engaging watch as our heroes explore the ocean and face many threats along the way. And the fact there's a ticking clock at the heart of the story what with the whole "get the antidote before 48 hours passes" plot point adds tension and drama to the story to make things more exciting. As time passes and our heroes race against the clock to turn back human, we can only hope they make it in time.

Tonally, this movie feels like a classic Disney movie to me, which isn't that surprising considering this movie came out at the end of the Renaissance era and at the start of the new millennium. It wouldn't surprise me if this film had some Disney influence in the writing there. So what do I mean? Well, like a classic Disney movie the film is at one minute the most whimsical, goofy fun you're experiencing for several minutes and then the next minute it's throwing you for a curveball by suddenly getting dark and intense. I'm not even joking here! There's a scene where Fly gets clobbered by a huge crab and WE SEE BLOOD TRICKLE OUT OF HIM! Oh and we get a lovely, charming scene of the villain being tricked into drowning himself and we watch his corpse float away into the abyss. Yeah, that totally won't traumatize the kids watching this movie! =P Then again, I was a kid when I watched it and I wasn't traumatized. XD Still, this is one of those movies that seems innocent enough when you look at the cover and start watching it, but then it surprises you by showing it has a lot more grit to it than you'd expect. Do the tones clash at all? Not really. I actually think they work well together. The tone getting more serious in the third act of the movie just helps in making the climax feel more exciting and it feels like a natural escalation of stakes. At first it's just the kids needing the antidote, and then by the end it's the kids needing the antidote while Fly is badly injured, time is running out and Joe is on their tail. The darker scenes are pretty shocking and do throw you off-guard, but I don't think they're out of place at least and they contribute to the story rather than being there for the sake of it.

That isn't to say the movie isn't without its fun moments of course. It does have a relatively light-hearted tone that makes the movie easy for children to enjoy while also giving us adults something fun and easy-going if we're in the mood for it. It's just with the tone gradually getting darker as it goes along, it shows that the movie has more meat to its bones and isn't just a silly kid's cartoon, and it's all the better for it. It's the perfect family friendly package if you ask me: it has light-hearted and fun moments, it has dark and intense moments and it really plays with your emotions at times with some REALLY effective sad scenes and some enjoyable comedy to give us a good laugh. It has everything for everybody, and that makes it a good movie in my eyes. I wish animated movies these days would stop overprioritizing being for kids and be more like this movie in where animation is for everybody, not just kids.

Does the movie have any flaws? Not major ones I can say, just a few nitpicks here and there. As I already mentioned, the premise of the movie falls apart under basic science knowledge since again, if the polar ice caps all melted, the world would NOT flood entirely. According to this film's TVTropes page under Artistic License: Geography, if that did happen, the worst we'd get is losing coastal cities and sea levels would only raise about 70 metres (230 feet). So yeah, Professor MacKrill's a bit of a fruit loop and his entire plan is based around faulty science. XD Then again, it's a movie. Science is always faulty in movies. =P

What I find to actually be a problem is how forced the setup for the climax is. Remember how I said that Fly gets clobbered by a crab and is badly injured for the rest of the movie as a result? Well that's because he STOOD THERE LIKE AN IDIOT AND DIDN'T GET OUT OF THE WAY! I get that he was scared of the crab but still, what was stopping him from attempting to dodge his attack? He just stands there and gets walloped for his troubles! They could've had that happen in a way that didn't make Fly look like an idiot.

And I'm sure I'm not the only one pointing this out, but the film just ends with no real resolution to Joe's empire. Sure the kids are back to normal and everything, but Joe's empire is still a thing by the end, remember? There's just a bunch of intelligent fish that are still around with nothing done about it. So what's going to happen now Joe's gone and they're still around? Are they going to keep things going as normal with a new leader? And what if humans discover them? Are they going to kill them all, study them for science or just leave them to keep expanding as they are? And if the fish keep expanding with their new intelligence, what then? Will they make an entire underwater kingdom full of intelligent fish? Will all the normal fish die out with the intelligent fish taking over?! Will the intelligent fish rise up and take over humanity Planet of the Apes style once they've grown powerful and intelligent enough to figure out how to do so because they've gone unchecked after all this time?!

You said it Batman!

But that's just me overthinking things as us film critics are one to do. Nitpicks with the story aside, Help! I'm A Fish is still a very enjoyable movie that has more grit to it than you'd expect and is enjoyable to watch in so many ways. It takes advantage of its premise and truly makes the story into something that's fun, exciting, gripping and emotional all at once, and I think that's what makes it such a good story...

Section 2: The Characters

It still surprises me how good the characters are in this movie. You'd think they'd be one-dimensional and very simple, but some have more to them than that.

Let's begin with the main trio, Fly (voiced by Jeff Pace), Stella (voiced by Michelle Westerson) and Chuck (voiced by Aaron Paul). They're the ones who get turned into fish by the professor's potion and the ones we follow on this big undersea adventure. While Stella is the least interesting of the group due to just being the cute kid character and the reason why our heroes are underwater in the first place, Fly and Chuck are the ones more worth talking about. They undergo the most development in the movie as they start off as cousins who clash a lot with Fly as the reckless, fun-loving one while Chuck is the serious, logical smart one and by the end of the movie, they become closer and even see the value in each other's strengths. I also love how after Fly is beaten the crab, the two pretty much switch personalities with Fly becoming more cynical and serious while Chuck becomes more brave and even gets to kick some ass by fending off a whole swarm of piranhas single-handedly. No, I'm not kidding, he really does that! And it's awesome! Those two just had a great dynamic in this movie and I watch it as much for them as anyone else.

Speaking of dynamics, as bland as Stella is compared to her brother and cousin, I LOVE how Fly and Stella are a sibling duo that get on well and aren't just brats to one another. Especially in kid's media, that is SO damn rare and it's so refreshing to see it for a change. They could've easily made Fly treat Stella like crap like he's Bart Simpson treating Lisa like crap or something, but they didn't. They made him and Stella a brother and sister that genuinely love each other and they don't bicker and argue all the time. For any writers who have a story in mind for a movie, book, comic, audio play or whatever, take notes here. Sibling rivalries are overused. Let's follow this movie and Frozen's examples and have more sibling love instead!

Anyway, let's move onto the other characters. There's the eccentric Professor MacKrill (voiced by the late Terry Jones) whom is your typical absent-minded professor that while quirk and eccentric, he does have a serious side to him when warning the kids about the time limit of the antidote and given how this mess was pretty much his fault for letting three strangers into his lab, he clearly has a sense of responsibility for the kids and is doing what he can to try and fix everything. Ultimately his subplot doesn't amount to much, but still A for effort I say.

We also have the parents of the kids with Fly and Stella's parents Lisa (voiced by Teryl Rothery) and Bill (voiced by John Payne) and Chuck's mum, Anna (voiced by the late Pauline Newstone). Lisa and Bill are the loving parents of Fly and Stella who are determined above all else to get them back with Bill especially taking a pro-active role, while Anna is the one who's the most driven to get her son back to the point she's about ready to beat Professor MacKrill up whilst interrogating him! Seriously, if anything happens to Chuck, you better hide from her! Jokes aside, I like how the movie handled Anna. On paper, she seems like the typical jerk relative who is overly rude to everyone, but in execution she's just an overly worried mother who just wants her son back. I'm sure any parent out there can relate to her here. And when you consider she was supposed to be babysitting the kids and they got out under her care because she fell asleep, the poor woman is carrying tremendous guilt on her shoulders for she feels it was her own fault. They could've easily made her just a jerk with no redeeming traits, yet they made her a more complex and sympathetic character with how they executed her and I'm glad they pulled it off.

And then there's Sasha, a seahorse that Stella bonds with and uses as a means to ride around the ocean. Sasha's pretty much the team pet who's mostly there to look cute, but she does get to help out throughout the movie with her biggest contribution being helping the kids to escape their cage. And I'm sure plenty of people cried their eyes out when Stella had to leave her behind in the end. Not that it mattered as when Stella returns to being a human, she gets to reunite with Sasha and Professor MacKrill turns her into a horse in the end. No, really.

And now we get to the character I think EVERYBODY remembers from this film, Joe (voiced by the late Alan Rickman). While "Joe" isn't exactly the most threatening name ever, a name isn't everything in this case for Joe is a chilling, darkly charismatic villain who just oozes with evil every time he talks. I mean he's voiced by Alan Rickman, of course he does. XD After being transformed by the antidote, Joe becomes this power-hungry leader with delusions of grandeur who transforms part of the ocean over night into his own personal empire that he can rule over and do as he pleases, and all the fish look up to him for it because he's the one with the antidote that grants them their intelligence. Naturally like any power hungry leader, he craves more and wants the kids to help him make more of the antidote, and he's willing to go to ANY lengths necessary to achieve it. I didn't think it was possible for a fish to be such a devious and memorable villain, but this movie proved it is.

Joe has a couple of henchmen, a Shark and a Crab (both voiced by David Bateson). And yes, they don't have names, they're just called "Shark" and "Crab" respectively. Very creative. =P They're just the typical dumb henchmen who are all muscle and no brains, but they still prove to be a threat thanks to their strength and size, especially as the Shark can literally eat anyone he likes and the Crab is like this overly loyal army general who takes his military position way too seriously. He also heavily injures Fly in the climax and attempts to usurp Joe after stealing the antidote the kids had been making together. It just goes to show that even dumb henchmen can be threatening and leave a big impression.

This is one of those few films where there's no bad characters to be found. True not all of them are interesting or developed characters but they are all memorable for a variety of reasons, some have surprising depth to them and some especially leave a memorable impression. It's a pity this film isn't more well known because this a cast of characters that I guarantee you'll enjoy watching should you finally check it out...

Section 3: The Animation

For those who haven't seen the movie yet, I'm telling you this as an absolute fact: you are missing out on some absolutely GORGEOUS visuals.

It's always interesting to see what animation outside of the mainstream can give us and Help! I'm A Fish is no exception. The animation in this movie is easily on par with the masters at Disney and DreamWorks, and even with the best of Don Bluth's animated movies. What we get here is some of the most beautiful 2-D animation ever put to paper. The art-style has a bit of a Disney look to it with cartoony character designs that are able to be very expressive and show a lot of emotion in their body language and facial features. You have the humans in where they look most realistic and close to regular humans rather than cartoon characters while the fish have more cartoonish designs that makes it easier for them to be expressive and be playful with their movements. To contrast the sea life that's had the antidote and the sea life that hasn't had any, the transformed fish have the cartoonish designs while the untransformed fish look more realistic. Weirdly enough, the untransformed fish are depicted with CGI rather than being hand drawn and that just makes them stand out like sore thumbs, especially with how the CGI has aged a bit so it only stands out even more. But there are times where the CGI does work, especially on the scene where the kids are attacked by an octopus. Its huge size and realistic design make the octopus look very menacing and the CGI brought it to life brilliantly.

As for the designs, I like how when the kids are turned into fish, they have some traits of their human selves to make it clear that they're transformed humans. You have Fly as a California fly fish where he still has his cap and blonde fringe and his body is coloured orange to reference the orange shirt he was wearing. Stella becomes a starfish and maintains her freckles, pigtails and skirt (somehow) and Chuck becomes a jellyfish that still wears his glasses and is coloured blue, much like how Chuck's clothes were mostly blue before transformation. And then there's the villains where Joe is depicted as purple, white and black and is draw with sinister facial expressions to match his evil personality. The white, purple and black colours also emphasize his villainous nature and when he drinks more of the antidote, he starts becoming more mutated and grotesque with his "Human" form especially being rather horrifying. It's like he's truly become the monster he always was by the end.

Most of the gorgeous visuals come from the underwater scenes with lots of different sea life onscreen and many moments devoted to just the characters exploring and taking in the world all around them. It's quite breathtaking to watch those moments. I also like the moment where the kids ride on the whale bus, and we're given long lingering shots of Joe's undersea empire. It's quite fascinating to watch to see what he's created just by giving all the fish the intelligence to pull it off. And I love how they made it so Joe's empire was pretty much built in the wreckage of the Titanic, even if it's not depicted accurately. That was pretty funny. XD

The movie's visuals are also able to get pretty trippy at times, namely the scene where Stella drinks the potion and transforms into the starfish. They really made it look like one heck of an acid trip! See for yourself. And then there's the darker scenes in where the animation really makes those moments seem intense. One particular moment of course is when Fly gets hit by the crab. It's done in slow-motion so we REALLY get to see how much it hurt and the entire colour palette goes completely red as if to emphasize how painful that blow was. Seriously, if any scene in a movie will make you go OUCH, this is it!

While we're on the subject of colours, the film is overall very colourful and that's what makes it so visually striking to watch. Most of the underwater scenes show off a lot of colour and the lighting effects make the scenes during the day or at sunset look very pretty.

Help! I'm A Fish is one of the most visually pretty movies I've seen from the animation industry, and I don't exaggerate. If you ever watch the movie, I guarantee you're in for a visual treat from beginning to end. If this is what Danish animation has to offer, I wonder what else they can do that looks as good as this...

Section 4: The Songs

Yep, this is a musical everybody! Shouldn't surprise you as this movie did come out at the start of the 2000's and animated movies were still riding on the Disney Renaissance hype train. I dunno if this actually had anything to do with this movie being a musical, but it wouldn't surprise me.

As is, this is a strange case as a musical because at least two characters, Professor MacKrill and Joe, get their own musical numbers but nobody else sings in the movie. The rest of the songs are just pop tunes that play in the background.

We open up with "Ocean Love" which is a soft, romantic sounding tune that plays over the opening credits. While the vocals aren't the best, the song is very easy on the ears and is nicely accompanied by scenes of sea life swimming around. It's almost like seeing one of those therapeutic videos out there where they combine music and underwater footage to make it relaxing. It's a nice, easy way to get the movie started and invite the viewer into the movie.

Next we have "Fishtastic", the song sung by Professor MacKrill. Lyrically, it's literally just the professor telling us in song form how he makes his fish potion. It's a fun little song and Terry Jones sounds like he's having a lot of fun performing it as his character, which makes it even more enjoyable. While it didn't really need to be a musical number, it does make the scene more fun by executing it as a song number. Though it goes without saying that don't try what the song says here, you won't make a fish potion with all that stuff the professor lists in it. XD

Next we have "Suddenly" which is a catchy pop tune that plays while Stella, Sasha and Fly are having fun. The song fits the tone of the scene well with how upbeat and energetic it sounds and it does sound like it's from the perspective of kids having fun. Though I imagine some people might snicker like immature idiots at the line "Suddenly I'm feeling so high, I could almost cry."

And then we have the best song in the movie, "Intelligence", the villain song performed by Joe. WAY back in 2022 when I did my villain songs list for Halloween, I put this song on the list and even now I STILL consider it one of the best villain songs ever recorded and performed. The song is not only catchy but it oozes with dark charisma as Joe sings what is essentially propaganda about how awesome he is as this provider of a magic brew that grants intelligence. It's the kind of song befitting a ruler like Joe and with how sincere, inviting and charismatic he sounds, you kind of buy into his propaganda. It's a pity the song gets abruptly interrupted by Fly but still, every time I watch this movie, THIS is the song I'm always looking forward to hearing the most.

Finally, we get "Do You Believe In Magic?", another pop song that plays during the montage where the kids are gathering ingredients for their own antidote. I don't have much to say about the song other than it's another fun pop tune to listen to and the lyrics are very saccharine with its theme of friendship and love. It's a fun song, but probably the most unnecessary one of the bunch. Also why is there a random rapper at one point in the song? That was weird...

During the credits, we get "Help! I'm A Fish (Little Yellow Fish)", performed by the Danish pop group Little Trees. The song is pretty much the overall theme song of the movie and is another really enjoyable and bouncy tune. Lyrically, it fits in well with the movie due to mentioning things like "magic potion" and "stupid shark" and how the singer is basically calling for help because they've been turned into a fish. It's bouncy tune and energetic pace make this a song you can dance to and it's such a great listen. It's a pity Little Trees didn't go anywhere after this movie because they really gave us a great tune to enjoy here.

The soundtrack is overall quite enjoyable to listen to and while this movie probably didn't need to be a musical, I'm glad it was otherwise we would've missed out on such a fun soundtrack. I'm sure if you watch the movie, you'll come out of it with a song you'll remember and sing to yourself for some time after.

Overall

Help! I'm A Fish is one of the most underrated animated movies ever made and more people should see it. It's really that good! The story is more than what it seems, the characters are well developed and memorable, the animation is visual eye-candy and the soundtrack is really enjoyable. If you haven't seen this movie, I recommend you do so. If you want to check out animated films outside of the mainstream, then this is a great watch for you. I hope this movie can grow in popularity and become more known. If my review can help give this movie more attention, I'll consider it a job well done...

And that's it for this review. I hope you enjoyed it and I invite you to leave your comments on the movie down below. Do you like the movie? Is this your first time discovering it? Do tell. Next week, I'll be doing an analysis essay on the infamous Kalos League battle between Ash and Alain. See you then media fans!