The Pout-Pout Fish

When it comes to animated films, we have the usual companies such as Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, even Blue Sky to create many animated flicks, but now we have an Australian film company, Macmillan Publishing to create "The Pout-Pout Fish" to sink our teeth into. 

Living on a rundown shipwreck, Mr. Fish (Nick Offerman) one day discovers a hyperactive young sea dragon Pip (Nina Oyama)--who had mistaken his home for a junkyard pilfering his belongings. The heated argument that ensues leaves both their houses in ruin. But there is hope. Embarking on a seemingly impossible quest in search of a mythical "Shimmer" (Jordin Sparks) to grant them a wish, there's only one problem: someone else is on the hunt. 

Others to round out the cast are Remy Hii as Benji, Miranda Otto as Marin, Nazeem Hussain as Archie, Andrew Buchanan as Red Starfish, Amy Sedaris as Pink Dolphins, Mark Coles Smith as Hector, Bessie Holland as Baz, Mel Buttle as Shaz and Grant Denyer as Beautiful Mike. 

This was directed with heart by Ricard Russo ("The Wishmas Tree" '19, "Combat Wombat" '20, "Daisy Quokka: World's Scariest Animal" '20 "Scarygirl" '23, "Combat Wombat: Back 2 Back" '23, "A Sloth Story" (co-director) '24, "Mission Santa: Yoyo to the Rescue" '25) plus TV and shorts, and it was co-directed by Rio Harrington (visual effects). I could truly appreciate the staging, pacing and the different angle shots this director used to achieve the effects he was looking for. Even though the co-director had no other feature films to his credit, he was still pivotal with the impact he was able to convey. It was cleverly written by Elise Allen, Elie Choufany and Dominic Morris, based on the book by Deborah Diesen and illustrated by Dan Hanna. This film has a somewhat childlike format, but since it is based on a children's book series, the script was aptly written. The message? overcoming bad moods with an element of joy--something we can all learn from. Other than a couple of places of slowness (I know, it's only 90 minutes long), it, after a point moved right along and ultimately conveyed the message it was intending to unfold. Even though these writers have virtually no feature film experience, all of their massive amount of TV, shorts and video experience have certainly served them well. They will undoubtedly receive more work. 

If you like animated films, this will hit home. It was purposely written in a childlike format hence its base being a children's book. This is something for the entire family--if fact since it is about ridding of consistent bad moods and replace them with joyful situations, it's definitely something we all can learn from and take to heart. It has heart and soul and will truly move you. 

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                                  Rated: PG                                         91mins'