Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage

I started writing this review like a month ago, but never finished... better late than never...

Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage is yet another 3D animation not produced by the two major studios. This time, the film is produced by the Belgian StudioCanal. It's in English though, and uses American actors for voice work. It tells the tale of the early years of a turtle named Sammy. His birth and initial trek from the nest to the sea is fraught with drama including being snatched by a bird. He does however encounter a female named Shelly whom he instantly falls in love with but they are separated.

Once in the sea, he eventually meets another turtle named Ray and they become lifelong friends. The rest of the movie focuses on their travels around the world and their eventual separation. Alone, Sammy encounters ships, humans, and a devious cat. He also makes friends with other turtles and meets Shelly and Ray again.

The movie has fairly obvious environmental undercurrents, starting in 1959. It's never really preachy but shows what it might be like from an unknowing animal's point of view to see the slow pollution of the oceans by human activities. A pleasant enough movie if not entirely original, it's certainly no Finding Nemo. It does however have cute characters (the cat was especially amusing), pleasant colours, and a bit of that animation magic often absent in many animation efforts like the recent Legend of the Guardians which had good animation but no heart.

The 3D effects were very apparent in this movie and it is clear that it was not only added as an afterthought. So here's to more good animations. Personally I look forward to it.