Help! I'm a Fish
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Help! I'm a Fish (Danish: ''Hjælp, jeg er en fisk'') is a Danish animated feature film originally released in Scandinavia in late 2000, and produced by Denmark's well-renowned A. Film studios. It was directed by Stefan Fjeldmark and Michael Hegner.
The movie follows three children--a skateboarding mischief-maker named Fly; his sweet sister, Stella; and a young genetics scientist, Chuck--who discover an eccentric professor's secret formula that, once drunk out of, can turn anyone into a fish. The three, now stuck in the sea, must find its reverse within 48 hours, or else they forever stay that way themselves.
An English-language version of the film, with Alan Rickman and Terry Jones (the Professor) as voices, premiered at the beginning of April 2005 on the Latin American version of the Cartoon Network.
[edit] Plot
After an interesting journey through an ocean seeing several computer generated fish, the film opens up on Fly. He has created a fishing bait for his line. As he heads out to go finish, he learns that his parents Lisa and Bill are off on a date, while his large Aunt Anna and cousin Charles (nicknamed Chuck) babysit. Aunt Anna falls asleep while reading bedtime stories to Fly's little sister Stella. Seeing this as an advantage, Fly heads for the door taking Stella and Chuck with him. Chuck is forcefully dragged out after Fly threatens to destroy a backup disk Chuck has of a programme on his laptop.
Arriving at a fishing spot on a large rock, Fly, Stella and Chuck fish up a tiny seahorse by accident. Stella immediately claims the seahorse as her pet, naming it Sasha. The boys instruct her to drop Sasha into the ocean or she'll die. Stella sadly does so. The trio realise the tide is coming and it looks like the end. They unexpectedly discover a hidden door in the clifface that leads to a small ship hiding in a cave on the other side of the island. Here, they discover a laboratory full of interesting fish (Fly taking interest in a stuff "Californian Fly Fish"). They meet the ship's owner, Professor H.O. MacKrill (voiced by Terry Jones in the English version), an eccentric marinebiologist. MacKrill shows them some of his experiments, one involving all of the world's land flooded during global warming. He is most impressed with Chuck's knowledge. MacKrill then reveals his most grandest creation: The Fish Potion.
The potion can transform a human instantly into a fish. MacKrill explains (by song) what makes up the potion: A light of an angler fish, a whisker from a codfish, an octopus' ink, some sea anemenies and then some fish eggs. The professor decides to test the formula on himself and instructs Fly to immortalise the moment using a video camera. The professor is almost about to drink the potion when he jumps a step and nearly forgets the antidote to the boys. It is the same as the Fish Potion except it has one extra ingredient, which is some krill. Oblivious to three, Stella walks about in curiosity and comes across the potion. Mistaking it for lemonade, she drinks it and the world around goes warped. Stella falls unconscious from the experience and accidentally stops the generator. The professor panics, and turns the generator back on to save his fish from dying. Fly wonders where Stella is and as the three search for her, Fly picks up a starfish. Chuck advises him to put it in the water. Fly goes to throw it into the ocean. Chuck examines the video footage and he gasps in horror. The starfish is in fact Stella, transformed from the effects of the potion. Chuck is too slow to save Stella as Fly tosses her into the sea.
Later, the boys and the professor scour the sea for Stella in a tiny boat with the fish potion and its antidote on board. Fly decides to take the potion and become a fish to search for his sister, but MacKrill warns him that he must have the antidote in 48 hours or he will be a fish for life. Fly disappears into the ocean, and a storm upsets the boat. Chuck and MacKrill go underwater, Chuck drinking the potion.
Around this time Aunt Anna discovers the children's disappearance and she, Lisa and Bill go off in search of them.
In the ocean, the antidote has floated to the ocean floor, and its mixture is floating across the ocean. A great white shark and its pilot fish minion swim by and drink the potion, amazingly transforming into more human-like forms. The pilot fish, named Joe (Alan Rickman), is more intelligent that the shark and vows to become king of the ocean. He starts creating an army, making a king crab a dim-witted militarist styled minion.
The next day, Stella awakens in her new form and discovers she is underwater. She soon finds Sasha and they become friends. Fly (who is now a Californian Fly Fish) joins them and they have some fun as fish. Fly bumps into Chuck (after being flung away by a seahorse after trying to copy Stella and Sasha's friendship). Chuck is now a jellyfish and is on a mission to find the antidote. He reveals to Fly he can't swim and that the professor might have drowned. The three come across a trio of fish who are waiting for a bus (a large fish in reality). The fish explain they can talk thanks to Joe and his "magic potion" - the antidote. Fly manages to confuse the bus driver of the bus they get onto the let them on free of charge. The fish bus takes them through ocean into the bulk of a giant sunken ship - possibly the Titanic. They discover a giant city in the ship.
Arriving at the middle of the ship, the kids sneak into a meeting hall where they see a crowd of humanoid fish. Joe (in song) explains his plans for the ocean by making all fish intelligent and he will lead the fish in a new empire. Fly tries to steal the antidote but he and his friends are arrested. They are later spoke to by Joe who gets angry when Fly tells him there is no more formula left. The kids are imprisoned while Sasha is sent to the work camp. Sasha escapes and helps the kids defeat the Crab that is guarding them. Shark and Joe appear, but Joe is pummeled by Crab, and Shark fails to catch the kids as they escape. Later Joe puts Shark and Crab on trial and decides to execute them. He makes a random sea bass chief executioner, but it gets eaten by Shark. Joe realises to be a great leader he must be forgiving. He makes Shark the offensive commander. Joe, Shark, Crab and an army of swordfish and crabs head out in search of the children.
The children meanwhile decide to remake the antidote, which is a hard challenge for them. Meanwhile, the parents find MacKrill's ship and find the professor reaching shore at that moment. He reveals to them the video footage of Stella's transformation, causing Anna to faint. Back underwater, the kids only have to find an octopus to collect the final ingredient. An octopus emerges from the ground and suddenly flees. The kids are saved! Suddenly Joe and his army appear. Joe fires both the Crab and Shark for their stupidity and tries to tempt Fly. Fly and his friends flee but the crab hurts Fly and drinks the newly-made antidote, becoming the King Crab! The professor and Bill and travelling overhead in a boat made from a bath tub. They create an underwater tornado that sucks up all the villains. Inside the tornado, the three primary villains argue. Shark eats the King Crab and tells Joe he is now in charge. Shark's head gets trapped in the pump on the boat, stopping the tornado. Fly is wounded from the Crab's attack. Chuck takes control of the situation.
Chuck plans to take Fly and Stella through the Professor's plumbing to the ship. There is an antidote inside. Stella and Sasha must say goodbye and it is hard for Stella. The three go through the plumbing using a series of items Chuck found on the seabed, with Joe following behind, getting hurt on the way. The fish flood the lab and head for the antidote. Joe steals the antidote and makes a getaway, while Chuck must battle a group of pirahna. Fly swims after Joe and tricks him into becoming a human, and he drowns in the water. Time is nearly up. The fish try to trick the potion and they are sucked up to the deck above. Stella and Chuck return to normal but Chuck finds Fly still as a fish, on the floor unconscious. Chuck starts to go mad and Aunt Anna accidentally treads on Fly! Suddenly, Fly emerges from the pump, as a human. Anna discovers the fish she treaded on was the stuffed fly fish.
In the epilogue, the family and the Professor are spending time on the beach. Chuck is now more fun-loving and Fly (who has a cast on his leg) plays games of the laptop. Stella is united with Sasha. Chuck and MacKrill come up with an idea and create a new formula which results in Sasha literally becoming a sea-horse (part horse, part fish). The film ends with all the remaining cast watching Stella ride about on Sasha.
