Help! I'm a Fish facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Help! I'm a Fish
United Kingdom cover art
Directed by	Stefan Fjeldmark Michael Hegner Greg Manwaring (uncredited)
Produced by	Anders Mastrup Phil Nibbelink
Written by	Stefan Fjeldmark Karsten Kiilerich John Stefan Olsen Tracy J. Brown
Starring	Jeff Pace Michelle Westerson Aaron Paul Terry Jones Alan Rickman David Bateson
Music by	Søren Hyldgaard
Editing by	Per Risager
Studio	A-Film APS TV2 Denmark Munich Animation Terraglyph Interactive Studios EIV Entertainment
Distributed by	Nordisk Film (Denmark) Kinowelt (Germany) 01 Distribution (Italy) HanWay Films (UK) Genius Products (US; PAL) Warner Bros. (US; NTSC)
Release date(s)	6 October 2000 (2000-10-06) (Denmark) 12 April 2001 (2001-04-12) (Germany) 24 August 2001 (2001-08-24) (Ireland)
Running time	82 minutes
Country	Denmark Germany Ireland
Language	Danish English
Budget	101 million DKK ($18 million USD)
Money made	$5.6 million

Help! I'm a Fish (Danish: Hjælp, jeg er en fisk; also known as A Fish Tale) is a 2000 Danish-German-Irish traditionally animated science fantasy musical film directed by Stefan Fjeldmark, Greg Manwaring and Michael Hegner, and written by Stefan Fjeldmark, Karsten Kiilerich, John Stefan Olsen and Tracy J. Brown. It stars the voices of Alan Rickman, Terry Jones and a then-unknown Aaron Paul.

It was released on 6 October 2000 in Denmark, 10 August 2001 in United Kingdom, and 5 September 2006 in the United States. Danish teen-pop girl-group Little Trees performed the title track, "Help! I'm a Fish (Little Yellow Fish)", which was released as a single in the UK. Fellow Danish girl group Creamy also recorded a version of the song. The Belgian girl group K3 also recorded a Dutch version of the song for the movie. Animation production was split between A. Film A/S in Denmark, Munich Animation in Germany and Terraglyph Interactive Studios in Dublin, Ireland.

Plot

Fly is an impulsive teenager, living with his younger sister Stella, and parents Lisa and Bill. With their parents going out for the night, Fly and Stella are babysat by their Aunt Anna and her son Chuck, a cautious, overweight genetics prodigy. When Anna falls asleep, the children sneak out to go fishing. Caught in a high tide, they stumble across the boathouse of Professor MacKrill, an eccentric but kindly marine biologist. Reasoning that climate change will melt the polar icecaps within the next century, MacKrill reveals he has developed a potion to transform humans into fish, along with an antidote to reverse the process.

Mistaking it for lemonade, Stella drinks the potion and turns into a starfish, which Fly unknowingly throws out the window into the sea. Chuck discovers the mistake after Stella's transformation was caught on camera. The trio set out to find Stella, but their boat sinks in a storm. Fly and Chuck drink the potion, becoming a California flyingfish and a jellyfish. Bill and Lisa return home to find Anna frantic with worry. Noticing that Fly's fishing equipment is gone, Bill, Lisa and Anna head to the beach to search for them, but find only Fly's rollerblades instead. The adults fear the worst until Professor MacKrill, having survived the storm, arrives and shows them the video of Stella's transformation.

Underwater, the leaking antidote attracts a great white shark and a pilot fish. They consume it, gaining intelligence and anthropomorphic appearances. Joe, the pilot fish, quickly uses the antidote to found a civilization of intelligent fish, intending to launch a revolution. The Shark becomes his dim-witted subordinate.

Fly, Chuck, and Stella reunite, accompanied by Sasha, a seahorse who Stella adopts. If they do not find the antidote within forty-eight hours, their transformations will be irreversible. The trio swim to Joe’s domain, a sunken oil tanker, where Fly tries to steal the antidote. They are caught and interrogated by Joe about their intent and origins. He demands they manufacture more of the antidote, or the Shark will eat them. The children are imprisoned, guarded by an aggressive, militaristic crab. Sasha frees the children, who manage to escape.

The children decide their best hope is to duplicate the antidote’s formula themselves, gathering ingredients from around the ocean. Just as they complete the potion, Joe and his army appear. In a stand-off, Joe drinks the last of the original antidote, transforming his fins into hands. The children try to flee, but Fly is wounded by the Crab, who drinks the new antidote, declaring himself the King Crab. At the same time, MacKrill and Bill pass over in a makeshift boat powered by a water pump. The pump causes an underwater typhoon, sucking up all of the army. The Shark eats the King Crab, but is incapacitated when he is sucked head-first into the pump.

Chuck remembers that MacKrill has another antidote in his laboratory. Formulating a plan, Chuck plans to carry Fly and Stella through dangerous seawater intake pipes back to the lab. Stella has to leave Sasha behind. The children flood MacKrill’s laboratory to reach the potion, but Joe follows, stealing it. Fly pursues Joe into the pipe, tricking him into repeatedly drinking from the potion by challenging his intellect. Joe evolves into a deformed humanoid and drowns.

Fly drags the antidote back into the lab, Chuck uncorking it just as Lisa and Anna open the door to the flooded lab. Chuck and Stella become human once more, reuniting with their parents and MacKrill. After a few tense moments in which a stuffed fish is mistaken for the limp body of Fly, the human Fly emerges from one of the lab's pipes with a broken leg.

Some time afterward, the family and MacKrill play on the beach. Sasha appears, so Chuck and MacKrill transform her into an actual horse, who Stella rides around with joy.

Cast

Soundtrack

1. Help! I'm a Fish (Little Yellow Fish) - Little Trees
2. Do You Believe in Magic - Loona
3. Wooble Dee Bubble - Cartoons
4. People Lovin Me – Lou Bega
5. Funky Sharks - Shaka feat. Sko
6. Mother Nature - Little Trees
7. Interlude (Professor) - Terry Jones
8. Fishtastic - Terry Jones
9. Ocean Love - Eddi Reader
10. Close Your Eyes - Patricia Kaas
11. Interlude (Jelly Fish) - Jeff Pace & Alessandro Juliani
12. Suddenly - Solveig
13. Ocean Of Emotion - Meja
14. Intelligence - Alan Rickman
15. Interlude (Goodbye) - Michelle Westerson
16. Barracuda - Zindy featuring Pablo

Legacy

The film's stars Aaron Paul and Alan Rickman would later co-star again in the 2015 film Eye in the Sky, released shortly after Rickman's death. Paul expressed his regret that despite working with Rickman on Help! I'm a Fish and Eye in the Sky, they never got the chance to meet.

See also

In Spanish: Hjælp! Jeg er en fisk para niños