In these days of animation, with the industry so monopolized by America, and the big studios therein, for instance Walt Disney, DreamWorks – which if rumors are correct, could very well be coming to a close sooner than we anticipated – and Pixar, it is very hard for European animation to get attention from the mainstream public, or indeed become regarded as animated classic. This little 2000 gem from Denmark, however, seems to have become just that. While I cannot recall, therefore comment on, the success or advertising of the film’s UK release in August 2001, after being plucked from success in festivals such as the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival (where I had a film shown as a matter of fact), it has certainly been seen, or at least heard of, by a large number of the public and is now very much in the public consciousness and nostalgia. Indeed, it is so highly regarded, probably due to its quality, by those who remember it that they may not, for its production values, have even realised that it was foreign, perhaps naturally assuming it was British or American. Certainly, that point deserves to be stressed. As far as European animated films go, Help! I’m A Fish is, without a doubt, one of the best cartoons to have been released in decades. A pleasure to revisit 15 years on, it has more than enough freshness, imagination, spirit and even boldness and daring to earn its rightful place as animation classic that I loved as a child when it was first released. While the pleasantly fast pacing and clever, smartly-structured screenplay make it an enjoyable, gripping adventure for both young and old, it has the rare, exclusive originality in both story and tone yet such an engaging, captivating soul to see why it would have been a hit at festivals, and, indeed, why it began its road to release there.
Telling the adventures of three young children, Fly, his younger sister Stella, and their cousin Chuck, who stumble upon a mad professor in his laboratory, who, in an attempt to save humanity from the eventual floods caused by global warming, has devised a potion that can turn fish into humans, and an antidote that will reverse the process. After Stella accidentally drinks the potion, becoming a fish in the ocean, and the professor is caught in an accident, and presumed dead, Fly and Chuck have no choice but to search for Stella in the sea by becoming fish themselves. Major obstacles and danger come when the antidote, which can grant fish human-like speech and intelligence, falls into the hands of one fish, Joe, who plans to use its power to build and control his own underwater empire with his sidekick shark. He needs more potion, and he needs Fly, Chuck and Stella to tell him how to make it. The children need to drink the antidote before sundown of their second day as fish or they will remain mutated forever.
There is an incredibly strong, original story here, the stuff of which the best tales are made – time locks, genuine danger, a strong villain, identifiable and likable lead characters, stunning set pieces and sensational animation to tell the fable. Indeed, the filmmakers and storytellers make no attempt to tone down the peril the children at the heart of the story find themselves in, with absolutely palpable obstacles to overcome in order to remain alive and get back to their families as humans, and the film is all the better for it. It talks down to no one and makes us care for the characters through pure jeopardy. It’s dark, Danish and delightful. And it is one of the only times in an animated film that I have ever seen where one legitimately believes that the unhappy ending being alluded to may actually be the closing of the motion picture. I won’t spoil it for those who have not seen the film but it is sinister, grim, hopeless, dramatic and somber. For an animated film aimed at children, the climax is incredibly brave and gutsy. But again, the film is improved for it.
The film features a wonderful cast of voice actors, including stars, people who were unknown at the time but – life being as wonderful as it is – are now celebrities, and people who were remarkable in their roles but disappeared off the face of the Earth after working on the film. Alan Rickman and Terry Jones, the two actors in the film who provided the star power at its time of delivery, are both excellent in their divergent roles, as a heinous fish hellbent on domination, and a mad professor who has concocted the potion that transforms our heroes. Rickman in particular sounds like is having tremendous fun as the tyrannical little monster who is one of the most callous, merciless antagonists of recent cartoon history. The three children, Fly, Stella and Chuck, are voiced respectively by Jeff Pace, Michelle Westerson and – unbelievably – a very young, at the time unknown, Aaron Paul. While Pace and Westerson have never acted in a film since (according to IMDb), Paul has of course become remarkably prominent since appearing as Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad, which began about eight years after this film was distributed, and there is something noticeably peculiar and almost spooky about revisiting this, it being one of his first films and many years before he would achieve stardom and recognition. He sounds very different too, playing a youthful nerd obsessed with numbers and science, but it works marvelously. Equally however, Jeff Pace and Michelle Westerson, who never gained celebrity status years afterwards, are just as perfect in their roles and perform to an admirable quality. There are noticeable moments nonetheless where the characters have rather distinctly been voiced by different actors, for whatever reason, my guess being script changes and the unavailability, or perhaps the voice change, of the original actors. But the three have tremendous chemistry and all make for enjoyable and above all relatable protagonists.
The animation in the film is as wonderful as anything ever produced by companies such as Disney and DreamWorks but in perhaps a different, more creative way. Certainly the acting of the three drawn adventurers is as good as anything a Disney animator could conjure up. There is an impressive blending of hand-drawn animation and CGI, which can be especially appreciated when one remembers the film was first released in 2000, before even Shrek or Monsters Inc. had been discharged. The computer graphics are splendid even without the hand-drawn animation to complement it by mixing sublimely with it in scenes. The animation performances of the characters are superb, especially in some of the film’s sadder moments – again, no spoilers.
While this film is remembered relatively well by the public, it is not perhaps mentioned enough to be truly regarded as up with the big American leagues like the films produced by Disney or Pixar. By judge of quality, it absolutely deserves to be, so this is melancholic. Perhaps over time, Help! I’m A Fish will earn its rightful place among the Disney classics, but for now it is worth either revisiting, checking out or spreading the word about the film, or actually passing it on to the new generations and seeing that it is carried through the ages as it should be. A true, authentic bona fide classic cartoon.
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