Nim's Island | Rotten Tomatoes

Nim's Island

PG

Released Apr 4, 2008

1 hr. 34 min.

Kids & Family

Adventure

Comedy

Fantasy

List

53%

106 Reviews

Tomatometer

46%

100,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Life is an adventure for a courageous youngster named Nim (Abigail Breslin), who lives on an exotic island with her marine-biologist father. and a menagerie of animal friends. When Nim's father goes missing, she turns to the only person she knows who can help her: adventurer Alex Rover (Gerard Butler). But what she doesn't know is that Alex Rover is really Alexandra (Jodie Foster), a timid recluse. Though faint of heart, Alexandra must find the courage within herself to come to Nim's aid.

Read More

Read Less

Watch on Fandango at Home

Premiered Mar 01

Rent Now

Fandango at Home

Apple TV

Rent Nim's Island on Fandango at Home, or buy it on Apple TV.

Critics Consensus

Despite good intentions, Nim's Island flounders under an implausible storyline, simplistic stock characters, and distracting product placement.

Read Critics Reviews

quinto a

Great movie adaptation of the book!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Jordan J

Nims Island is a good film in its own right however it will only be better if they had done better in the writing stage.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

09/05/22

Full Review

Audience Member

This family-friendly take on Robinson Crusoe is okay. Nothing special but it has good acting, likable characters, a decent plot and okay development. Plus, Jodie Foster's character's agoraphobia suddenly becomes less of a laughing matter after the new decade we're currently in at the time I'm writing this had us being welcomed by a global pandemic. All of a sudden, her staying at home for months and ordering an absurd amount of hand sanitisers comes off more as being properly paranoid. It is sadly lacking in adventure, there's some stuff with tourists where our heroine pulls glorified Home Alone antics on them that feels pointless save for one brief moment, the comedy isn't anything remarkable and there's a weird production choice where it's obvious whenever the real animals are swapped for CGI doubles which don't look very good, given that this film came out in 2008. I don't really have anything else to say about this movie. If anything, I feel like I was grasping at straws to make this review not last more than a simple, laconic sentence. Still one of the more watchable family movies that came out at the time.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I enjoyed it as a kid.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A cute movie with fine performances. That borrows from Romancing the Stone.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/23/23

Full Review

steve d

The great cast makes it a blast. Good family fun with heart and engaging characters.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Jennifer Flackett

Director

Mark Levin

Director

Abigail Breslin

Nim

Jodie Foster

Alexandra Rover

Gerard Butler

Alex Rover

Michael Carman

Captain

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

75%

61%

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

TRAILER

for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

66%

73%

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

TRAILER

for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

73%

57%

Sky High

49%

46%

Mirror Mirror

27%

55%

Bedtime Stories

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

RT on DVD: Watch an Exclusive Clip from Starship Troopers: Marauder

UK Box Office Breakdown: Carrie Beats Indy

UK Box Office Breakdown: Summer Season Begins With a Bang

View more photos

Karl French

Financial Times

This film wants to be cute but is instead nauseatingly twee, and features what is by a great distance the weakest performance of Foster's career.

Oct 7, 2018

Full Review

Nell Minow

Movie Mom

Rated: B+

Feb 14, 2012

Full Review

Drew Toal

Time Out

Rated: 3/5

Nov 24, 2011

Full Review

Rachel Wagner

Hallmarkies Podcast

A terrific family adventure

Apr 7, 2022

Full Review

Betsy Bozdech

Hollywood.com

In an era when so many kids' movies rely on special effects and flashy animation to grab an audience's attention an old-fashioned adventure like Nim's Island is a refreshing island breeze

Rated: 3/4

Sep 27, 2021

Full Review

Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

Merits a modest recommendation for its strong performances.

Rated: 2.5/4.0

Sep 18, 2020

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

Life is an adventure for a courageous youngster named Nim (Abigail Breslin), who lives on an exotic island with her marine-biologist father. and a menagerie of animal friends. When Nim's father goes missing, she turns to the only person she knows who can help her: adventurer Alex Rover (Gerard Butler). But what she doesn't know is that Alex Rover is really Alexandra (Jodie Foster), a timid recluse. Though faint of heart, Alexandra must find the courage within herself to come to Nim's aid.

Director: Jennifer Flackett, Mark Levin
Executive Producer: Stephen Jones
Screenwriter: Mark Levin, Jennifer Flackett, Paula Mazur, Joseph Kwong
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: Walden Media
Rating: PG (Mild Adventure Action|Brief Language)
Genre: Kids & Family, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 4, 2008, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 1, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $48.0M
Sound Mix: Dolby SRD, DTS, SDDS
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

Most Popular at Home Now