At the very start, and through out the movie, it's made clear that Sammy is telling the story and that it's his life. He's born, and as the last one of the bunch, he struggles to climb out of his nest. It's in these moments that the movie so well shows the imminent dangers many animals face at birth that many kids don't even think about. Sammy doesn't get to the ocean in time and he and another turtle from his nest are captured by birds and he manages to fight them and save them both. Very...unrealistic. But whatever right, it's a kids' movie after all.
Sammy lands on a raft and floats about, rather than actually swimming around. Weird, but okay. And the movie portrays it as normal for turtles to just float around when they're young rather than actually swimming. Especially strange in a movie that is advocating caring for the ocean. Although, I must compliment the overshot of the Earth, it's really lovely and captivating. The movie also manage to attain the same level of artistry with their ocean overviews.
Soon, we meet Ray, Sammy's future lifelong best friend. The two discuss and not only is Ray's voice perfect for his character, but these day-old turtles show off their knowledge of the world around them. I'd excuse it if it was just basic survival skills, but Sammy somehow knows what a brother is--despite the fact that if it weren't for this encounter, he would've spent his days alone.
Anyhow, the "brothers"spend their lives discovering the oceans together. They grow up together in one of the cutest adolescence montage I've seen in a while. However, they maintain a naive outlook on the world and are nearly eaten several times. While I understand they were meant to be just gags, this does make me wonder how they've survived for so long.
In the fashion of growing up, the topic of mating comes up between the two. They're much more mature and while it's only natural, the amount of focus this movie puts on the romantic elements does irk me slightly. I feel as though it should focus more on the animals and their homes, but I'd say at least a third of the movie revolves around the main couple, and there're still many moments scattered throughout that hint towards them getting together.
Anyhow, when asked who he's into, Sammy recalls his memory of saving a turtle's life back when he was a newborn. Shelly, her name was. However, comma, Ray is Sammy's brother because they "might be from the same beach." So then, this girl that was born from the same nest as him, most definitely the same mother, is she not his sister??? Or is this simply not important because not once is it mentioned.
We move on, and the tone of the movie is flipped on its head. Not a single word is uttered for two/three minutes, long enough for the score to put genuine dread in my stomach as we were given an eye full of an oils ship and Ray was no where to be seen for a good while. I was afraid. And the movie goes on to emphasize the bliss animals had to man-made dangers by continuing on with an eerily lighthearted scene where all the fish in the area prance around.
This makes way for a heart-jerking scene showing us the damage of irresponsible human behaviors. Not only is it implied that the jolly old octopus won't make it, but this is the start of many surprisingly emotional scenes. Time after time, I really feel authentic pity and terror for Sammy. The next moment is when Ray and Sammy are separated by fishermen.
Sammy manages to escape his fishing boat, but at this point he's too far from Ray and pulls up on the beach. Which, by the way, is a decision I'll never fully understand. But it does allow a human to find him and take him in. It's here where he learns about the "secret passage" and develops his dream to explore the world. Though it's never really explained what this secret passage is exactly.
Due to a mixture of pure luck and Vera's almost unbelievable awesomeness, Sammy manages to save Shelly's life. Just like he did as a child. And almost instantly, she's enchanted by him and my alabameter went through the roof. After some time, she agrees to follow him to find the secret passage. After a series of mad luck and almost dumb persistence, Shelly ends up getting hurt. For a moment, we're all left to think she's dead. And if I'm being honest, I'd rather that than the goose chase Sammy ends up going on based on nothing more than vague directions given by random animals who had seen Shelly. In his travels, he manages to meet up with the one and only Ray and save him from death.
As best friends do, Sammy spills his story to Ray and he decides to take him to the turtle version of Tinder. It's a beautiful, sunny area, known to be a place where turtles get together to hook up. Sammy even walks in on two of them...moving on.
With his immense amounts of lucks, Ray's mate admits to having seen Shelly and that she was in the shipwreck. Sammy then swims through the wreck, excited to reunite with her, only to see another guy flirting with her. He jumps to conclusions and doesn't even bother to confront her. Instead, he runs out to Ray to sulk. I'm not too upset with that, but rather what happens next.
Ray and his mate explain that the turtle Shelly was seen with was known to be a huge flirt and was even taken already. They push him to return to Shelly, but he chickens out so Ray comes up with the idea to scare her with a shark to replicate the two times she almost died and Sammy saved her. Sigh. This works too and they all live happily ever after. Though, they're still siblings.
I'll admit the movie was nice in the first half, but once Shelly got involved, it seemed to forget its purpose and started to center itself around its main
Really nitpicky mentions:
- There's a moment where Sammy is almost eaten by a fish and he asks the fish "do I look like food to you?" Instead of charging at his possible dinner, the fish nods, smiles, and swims away. Because...the children, I guess.
- The two of them just rammed into a group of innocent and seemingly helpless seahorses. I just wondered why???
- Ray and Sammy have a little moment where they ride a spring and relax. But I'm wondering, how'd they get down without hurting themselves? The rock was way too big for them to have jumped, so I'm confused.
- How do they know what bananas are?
- The human tried to mate Sammy and Vera mate, despite them obviously being different species???
- How does a paint mark remain so prominent on his shell? Throughout the whole movie it barely even chips.
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