Nims Island

Nim's Island (2008) stars Jodie Foster, Gerald Butler, and Abigal Breslin.  Butler and Breslin are father and daughter on a remote tropical island.  Butler gets lost at sea, Breslin, through coincidence, is talking to her favorite author, Foster, and invites her to help her find her father and defend her island against tourists from a cruise ship. 

The movie is a children's movie that does't rely on making the adults into dumb idiots although it isn't exactly smart either.  It follows a predictable plot that at times descends into a Home Alone spoof as Breslin defends her island against a horde of fat tourists with homemade traps.  Foster (as a fish out of water author---see Romance and the Stone) and Breslin (who can't really act but does 'cute' very well) each carry their own weight, Foster as an agoriphobic author who leaves to help the child, and Breslin the child who should be (but isn't really) wise beyond her years.  Butler isn't very good here.  He's fantastic at being violent and sneering at people he's about to murder but as a loving father, no (call me crazy).  The movie is cute, harmless, and won't make you gag.  Not every children's movie can be smart but not every children's movie doesn't want to make the adults vomit.  I left this movie feeling fine (except I kept expecting Butler to kill someone or something).