The Reef (2006)

by Tristi Pinkston | More from this Blogger

06 Dec 2007 09:06 PM

Take a small orange fish who has been separated from his parents by persons in a boat who are carrying a net, and then add to the mix a long journey of discovery, and what do you get? "Finding Nemo," right? Well, you would be right, but you'd also be right if you said "The Reef." The two plots are pretty similar, except that in "The Reef," it's the parents who are taken in the net and the kid who's left behind.

Pi (voiced by Freddie Prinze Jr.) sees his parents scooped up in a giant net that captures hundreds of other fish as well. As they are hoisted out of the water, his mother tells him to go to the reef and find his aunt Pearl. Pi is taken in by a group of porpoises who escort him to the reef, a fairly long journey as he goes from being a little boy fish to a teenager fish along the way. When they reach the reef, Pi is immediately taken with a beautiful pink fish named Cordelia (Evan Rachel Wood) who models for National Geographic. All the guy fish on the reef have a thing for her, but she's too busy for that sort of thing.

When Pi finds his aunt Pearl (Fran Drescher) he's surprised to find that she's a fish fortune teller. Also along the way, he makes friends with a mysterious old turtle, who possesses a beautiful pearl. According to the legend of the ocean, when a boy fish wants to propose, he'll give the girl fish a pearl, and that seals the agreement. Troy, a big bad shark, wants to propose to Cordelia, so he hunts down the turtle's pearl and takes it for his own use. Pi wants to protect Cordelia from Troy, but Troy's just too big and mean. In fact, you may want to preview the film if you have sensitive children.

But, of course everyone lives happily ever after in the end.

I found this movie to be very disjointed. They'd introduce a subplot and it just didn't work well with the overall story - but then, identifying the overall story was a little tricky too. It wasn't a horribly terrible waste of time, but if you're in the mood for a story about a fish, I'd stick with "Finding Nemo."

If you'd like to rent this DVD, it's found exclusively at Blockbuster and is rated G.

Related Blogs:

Finding Nemo

Madagascar

Dinosaur

Learn more about Tristi Pinkston

I've been a blogger for Families.com since August of 2006.

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