Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage (2011)

44% of critics liked it
(16 reviews)
30% want to see it
(1,938 ratings)

nWave Pictures presents this animated adventure surrounding a sea turtle's 50-year journey around the globe, featuring the voices of Anthony Anderson, Ed Begley Jr., Tim Curry, Melanie Griffith, Stacy Keach, and Jenny McCarthy. Fly Me to the Moon 3-D's director, Ben Stassen, heads up the project,… More nWave Pictures presents this animated adventure surrounding a sea turtle's 50-year journey around the globe, featuring the voices of Anthony Anderson, Ed Begley Jr., Tim Curry, Melanie Griffith, Stacy Keach, and Jenny McCarthy. Fly Me to the Moon 3-D's director, Ben Stassen, heads up the project, written by Domonic Paris. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: PG, 1 hr. 25 min.
Directed By: Ben Stassen
Written By: Domonic Paris
Genres: Action & Adventure, Animation, Kids & Family

Studio: nWave Pictures

Critic Reviews

James Luxford, The National
far too reminiscent of films that have gone before it and suffers from being overly didactic about its environmental themes.
Philip French, Guardian [UK]
Falls several sea miles of open water behind Pixar's Finding Nemo.
Alistair Harkness, Scotsman
Here, director and co-writer Ben Stassen shows as much contempt for characterisation as he did with his previous feeble effort, the offensively banal insect adventure Fly Me to the Moon.
Alex Zane, Sun Online
You can't fault the film's message - it just doesn't know where to take it other than just pointing it out.
Charlotte O'Sullivan, This is London
It seems guaranteed to infuriate anyone over seven.
David Edwards, Daily Mirror [UK]
Originality isn't the film's strong suit and Sammy's adventures never come close to the escapades of Nemo, but the 3D certainly earns some points with the ocean brought to dazzling, spectacular, colourful life.
Allan Hunter, Daily Express
A Belgian production that can boast some accomplished Finding Nemo-style underwater visuals.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
Turtly disappointing, turtly sanctimonious in its eco message, and turtly derived from Finding Nemo.
Nigel Andrews, Financial Times
The kid-flick charm of early reels, narrated with a folksy rasp by John Hurt, gives way to a ponderous eco-fable.
Sue Robinson, Radio Times
If you're a 3D sceptic, this is a film you must see. The underwater world of little Sammy the turtle and his friends jumps out of the screen in a riot of colour and excitement.
Roz Laws, Birmingham Post
[An] amiable-enough animated tale.
Elliott Noble, Sky Movies
A colourful distraction for kids and a pleasant dip in the ocean for those with a few more knobbles on their shell.
Tom Huddleston, Time Out
The characters are thin, the dialogue is bland and the animation is plasticky, though the 3D effects are sometimes interesting in a lurid, sub-Pixar fashion.
David Hughes, Empire Magazine
Five star entertainment for the under-tens, deduct two stars for everyone else.
Neil Smith, Total Film
With endless shots of underwater landscapes propping up an episodic narrative, this is less Finding Nemo than one long screensaver.
Sam Bathe, Fan The Fire
The story doesn't do anything near enough to keep you involved for the 88-minute runtime, aimlessly meandering forward without even a whiff of narrative structure.