"Help! I'm a fish ”- The 2000 animated film

October 1, 2020

"Help! I am a fish"( Hjælp, jeg er en fisk in the original Danish version) is an animated film on the musical fantasy genre. The film directed by Stefan Fjeldmark, Greg Manwaring and Michael Hegner was born from a Danish, German and Irish collaboration. "Help! I am a fish”Was made in 2d graphics with the traditional animation method. The animation production was split between A. Film A/S in Denmark, Munich Animation in Germany e Terraglyph Interactive Studios in Dublin, Ireland.

The story of “Help! I'm a fish "

Fly, Stella and Chuck go fishing

Fly is an impulsive teenager who lives with her younger sister Stella and parents Lisa and Bill. One evening his parents and Fly and Stella entrust their aunt Anna and her son Chuck, an overweight boy with a passion for science and genetics. When Anna falls asleep while telling little Stella a fairy tale, the three children sneak out to go fishing. Due to the sudden high tide they take refuge in a cave, where they meet Professor Mac Krill, an eccentric and brilliant marine biologist. Reasoning that climate change will melt the polar ice caps within the next century, Mac Krill reveals to the boys that he has invented a special potion, which manages to turn humans into fish. The process is reversible thanks to an antidote that must be drunk within 48 hours.

Transformation into fish

The little girl Stella mistakes the orange potion for a fresh orange soda and so she accidentally drinks it, turning into a starfish. Without realizing what happened, his brother Fly throws the starfish out the window, into the sea. Thankfully Chuck discovers the mistake after Stella's transformation is captured on camera. The trio rushes in search of Stella, but their boat sinks in a storm. Fly and Chuck drink the potion to keep from drowning, becoming a California flying fish (Fly) and a jellyfish (Chuck). Bill and Lisa return home and find Anna desperate with worry. Noticing that Fly's fishing gear is missing, Bill, Lisa and Anna realize that the three boys have gone fishing and head to the beach to look for them. Unfortunately they only find Fly's rollerblades and for this reason they fear that they have drowned. Bill, Lisa and Anna meet Professor Mac Krill, a survivor of the storm, who shows him the video of Stella's transformation.

Fish get smart

Underwater, the lost antidote by the boys, is seen by a great white shark and a pilot fish, which drinks it and thus acquires human intelligence and anthropomorphic features. Joe, the pilot fish, decides to use the antidote to found a civilization of intelligent fish, intending to rebel against the sharks, who thus become their servants.

Fly and Chuck find Stella

Fly, Chuck find Stella riding Sasha, a seahorse friend of Stella. If they don't find the antidote within 48 hours, their transformations into fish will be irreversible. The trio swims to Joe's kingdom, located in a sunken and abandoned oil tanker. Here Fly tries to steal the antidote, but the trio is captured and questioned by pilot fish Joe, about their intentions and origins. He asks that they produce more antidote, otherwise they will be eaten by the shark. Children are imprisoned and guarded by a terrible crab. Luckily, Sasha arrives, the seahorse who frees the boys, who manage to escape.

The boys try to replicate the antidote

The children decide that their only hope is to reproduce the antidote formula themselves, so they search for the ingredients in the ocean floor. Just about to complete the potion, Joe arrives with his army. Joe drinks the last remnant of the original antidote and completes the anthropomorphic transformation, with his fins becoming hands. The children try to escape, but Fly is injured by the Crab, who drinks the new antidote, declaring himself a King Crab. At the same time, Mac Krill and Bill pass over them, on a makeshift boat powered by a water pump. The pump causes a violent underwater typhoon, which sucks up the entire army of fish. The shark eats the king crab but in turn gets sucked into the pump.

The return to the laboratory

Chuck recalls that Mac Krill has another antidote in his lab. Formulating a plan, Chuck intends to bring Fly and Stella back to the lab through dangerous seawater intake pipes. Stella finds herself forced to abandon her friend Sasha. The children flood MacKrill's laboratory to reach the potion, but Joe follows them and manages to steal it. Fly chases after Joe and challenges him to repeatedly drink the antidote, so Joe evolves into a monstrous human being, who drowns in water having to breathe oxygen.

The boys become human again

Fly drags the antidote back into the lab, Chuck uncorks it just as Lisa and Anna open the door to the flooded lab. Chuck and Stella become human again, reuniting with their parents and Mac Krill. After a few moments of tension, in which a stuffed fish is mistaken for Fly's limp body, Fly arrives in his human form, emerging from one of the laboratory tubes with a broken leg.

The end

Some time later, the whole family, together with the scientist Mac Krill, play happily on the beach. At one point the seahorse Sasha appears. Chuck and Mac Krill turn her into a real horse, which little Stella can ride with joy and remain her friend forever.

The original movie trailer

The production of the film

On October 4, 1997, Stefan Fjeldmark (the film's writer), Michael Hegner and Greg Manwaring were hired and tasked with directing Help! I am a fish, also known as A Fish Tale . Karsten Kiilerich, John Stefan Olsen and Tracy J. Brown wrote the screenplay for the film. Anders Mastrup and Phil Nibbelink produced the film which was released in 2000.

On 12 April 1999 it was announced that Søren Hyldgaard would compose the music for the film. In 1996, a pilot trailer was completed, which resurfaced on the Internet.

The film's development and storyboard have been completed in Denmark. Production then moved to Germany and Ireland for the final stages of animation, lighting, color and production in order to maximize the tax credits offered to foreign film projects in Germany and Ireland.

The soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film contains ”Help! I'm a Fish (Little Yellow Fish) "played by Little Trees," Agloubablou "played by Cartoons," Ocean of Emotion "played by Meja Beckman," People Lovin Me "played by Lou Bega," Ocean Love / Ton Amour Ocean "Performed by Anggun," Close Your Eyes "performed by Patricia Kaas," Interlude "performed by Terry Jones," Fishtastic "performed by Terry Jones and" Intelligence "

The awards received by the film

2000 - Chicago International Children's Film Festival
Jury Award for Children

The data

English title: Help! I am a fish
Original title: Hjælp, jeg er en fisk
Country Denmark, Germany, Ireland
Year 2000
Duration 82 min
Gender animation, fantastic, adventure
Regia Stefan Fjeldmark, Michael Hegner, Greg Manwaring

Original voice actors and characters

Jeff Pace: Flight
Michelle Westerson: Stella
Aaron Paul: Chuck
Louise Fribo: Sasha
Alan Rickman: Joe
Terry Jones: Professor Mac Krill
John Payne: Bill
Teryl Rothery: Lisa
Pauline Newstone Anna
David Bateson: Shark and King of Crabs

Italian voice actors and characters

Alessio De Filippis: Flight
Letizia Ciampa: Stella
Paolo Vivio: Chuck
Paul Buglioni: Joe
Massimo Lodolo: Professor Mac Krill
Luke Ward: Bill
Pinella Dragani: Lisa
Paola German: Anna
Maximum Raven: Shark and King of Crabs