random item

Troperville

Tools

Find recent edits by troper:

back to: Film / HelpImAFish

edit article | go to discussion page

5th Jan '13 1:39:00 PM StFan

Send StFan a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Changed line(s) 1,68 (click to see context) from:

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/m_a_Fish.jpg

''What if you were turned into a fish?''

This is the plight of Fly, his sister Stella, and their cousin Chuck, after stumbling across [[AbsentMindedProfessor Professor MacKrill]]'s laboratory, where Stella mistakes a bottle of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Fish Potion]] for a drink, and (unknown to the others) is [[{{Animorphism}} transformed into a starfish]]. In the ensuing confusion, she accidentally gets thrown out of a window into the sea by Fly, and only upon consulting a video tape do the other three find out what happened to her. Whilst searching the sea for Stella though, a storm brews up, and in a moment of hotheadedness Fly drinks the potion, turning into a fish himself. A few moments later the boat capsizes, and to save himself from drowning Chuck drinks the potion himself, whilst [=MacKrill=] [[DisneyDeath seemingly drowns]]. Although things seem hopeless, the professor ''did'' make an antidote, but as luck would have it, it was tossed into the ocean when the boat capsized, and is now in the hands of Joe--a megalomaniac pilot fish, who has plans to rule the fish.

Oh, and did we mention that if Fly, Chuck, and Stella don't get the antidote in 48 hours, they'll be [[BalefulPolymorph stuck as fish forever]]?

Although a Danish production made by the studios 'A. Film A/S', it was originally released produced and recorded in English in an attempt to increase revenue, it was later released in Danish under the title "''Hjælp, jeg er en fisk''". Despite the English original cast it wasn't until 2006 that it came to U.S. shores, under the title ''AFishTale''. Not to mention it had ''[[CoversAlwaysLie really sucky]]'' cover art.

----
!!Provides Examples Of:

* AbsentMindedProfessor: Mac Krill. Also counts as a MadScientist.
* AdultFear: Imagine waking up, finding a darkened house with the kids you were looking after ''gone''...
* AnimalTalk: Averted. Even though Fly, Chuck, and Stella have been turned into fish, they can't speak with other fish except ones that have been exposed to the antidote.
* {{Animorphism}}
* AtlantisIsBoring: Averted. Much like Disney's ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'' and later ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', the movie portrays the ocean in a much more diverse and entertaining way, though it nonetheless looks nothing like the seas around Denmark should be...
* BigNo: Chuck does one of these near the end of the movie.
* ChekhovsGun: The Professor's [[spoiler:water-pump system]]. And possibly Fly's fishing lure.
* ConspicuousCGI: The CGI is cel-shaded, so it isn't always as conspicuous. The [[spoiler: giant octopus]] is fairly sticky-outy, though.
* CoversAlwaysLie: The U.S. cover art not only renames the film to ''A Fish Tale'', but has a [[http://www.theneitherworld.com/hiaf/images/aftcover.jpg really crappy 3-D rendering]] ('''WARNING! Click the link at your own risk!''') of the shark and the main characters. For extra stupidity, the top says "Creator/AlanRickman", but Rickman's character isn't even show on the box art. This solitary name also makes it sound like Rickman is the lead role. Or the shark.
* DerangedAnimation: Stella's 'turning-into-a-starfish' sequence.
* [[spoiler: DisneyDeath]]: [[spoiler: [=MacKrill=] nearly drowns during the storm, but the main characters still think he ''did''.]]
* DoNotTouchTheFunnelCloud: An ''underwater'' version, but nonetheless seems to work under the same principles.
* [[spoiler: FamilyUnfriendlyDeath]]: [[spoiler:Joe, who also gets a slight DeathByIrony.]]
* FamilyUnfriendlyViolence: [[spoiler:Fly getting injured at the hands...uh....claws of a crab.]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}: When Chuck is washed into Mac Krill's lab, he has a jellyfish stuck on his head, which is what he will turn into later. Similarly, while in the lab, Fly comes across a stuffed fish labeled "California ''Fly''fish", which looks exactly like the one he will turn into.
* GreenAesop: The professor's whole reason for creating the fish potion - due to a danger presented by melting icecaps. It's not actually as big of a motivator as you might think, though.
* GuileHero: Fly.
* HappilyMarried: Fly and Stella are a serious oddity in the world of children's animation--not only does they still have both their parents, but they genuinely love each other! Who'da thunk?
* HeroesGoneFishing: Literal variation; the whole plot springs up from a fishing trip.
* HeyItsThatVoice: Alan "[[Literature/HarryPotter Severus-Snape]]" Rickman voices Joe. And the Professor is Terry Jones.
** The Father is [[MaisonIkkoku Shun Mitaka]], The Mother is [[ProjectAKo A-Ko]], and the Aunt is [[DragonBallZ Freiza]].
** In the Japanese version, Chuck is [[NeonGenesisEvangelion Rei Ayanami.]] And [[TheSlayers Lina Inverse.]] And pretty much every major female anime character you can think of, up to and including the [[RanmaOneHalf other one half of Ranma.]]
* HilarityEnsues: Averted.
* HollywoodHealing: Averted. [[spoiler:After Fly turns back into a human he still has the injury he got earlier.]]
* [[spoiler:ImColdSoCold]]: [[spoiler:Fly. Played straight however, due to him having (seemingly) lost quite a bit of blood.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: [[spoiler: Chuck's mother. While she seems like your typical "nasty, negligent aunt" in the opening, she proves herself to be fairly formidable in searching for her son, and softens up in the end.]]
* LegoGenetics: Random bits of ocean-stuff is enough to turn humans into fish, fish into humans, and, eventually, [[spoiler: seahorses to actual horses]].
* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: The crabs.
* MorphicResonance: Each transformed character keeps at least one physical characteristic of their human form.
* MusicalisInterruptus: Fly does this to Joe while the latter is singing "Intelligence". [[spoiler: He was actually trying to continue the song, but it hilariously failed.]]
* {{Nerd}}: Paging Chuck to the white courtesy phone.
* NeverSayDie: Averted: Characters use the word "die" (and all other variations of the word) freely throughout the movie. The troper even thinks he might have caught a pun on the trope.
-->'''Chuck:''' The professor went underwater and I... I think he ''sank'' too.\\
'''Fly:''' What?! You mean, ''drowned''?!"
* NewEraSpeech: Joe makes a short one before his VillainSong.
* NoCartoonFish: Partially averted. Simply put - Cartoon = Human/Fish that has been exposed to one of the potions. Not Cartoon = Not exposed to the potion.
* OhCrap: Joe gets a minor one [[spoiler:right before he kicks the bucket.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Fly''': "Can a human breathe underwater?"]]
* PersonalitySwap: Throughout the movie Fly is carefree and optimistic while Chuck is constantly worrying and willing to give up easily. [[spoiler:After Fly is wounded they completely switch personalties.]]
* PoorMansSubstitute: Here, Alan Rickman is kind of like TimCurry if TimCurry was unavailable. However, that doesn't make him any less awesome as Joe.
* SceneryPorn: The underwater landscape.
* ScrewLearningIHavePhlebotinum
* ShoutOut: the main villain, Joe the pilot fish, seems disturbingly similar to the Joker from Batman's earlier animated series.
** “You’re forgetting something! [[StarWars The Force is with us]]!”
* TeamPet: Sasha
* TertiarySexualCharacteristics: Skirt-wearing starfish? Alrighty then.
** Seeing how Fly keeps his hat and Chuck keeps his glasses, I think we should be more concerned that she has pigtails.
* TitleDrop: Averted. No one actually says "Help! I'm a fish!" like you may expect from the title. They do say "Help!" a lot, though.
* UnnamedParent: In the credits, Fly and Stella’s parents are listed as ‘The Mother’ and ‘The Father’.
* VillainSong: "Intelligence"
** Also counts as a CrowdSong.
* WeCanRuleTogether: Implied by Joe, when he’s trying to weasel the anti-fish formula out of Fry, Chuck, and Stella. [[spoiler:It’s only an act however, as he plans to feed them all to Shark.]]
* WeirdnessCensor: When Fly finds Starfish!Stella on the floor he doesn't notice this starfish has pigtails and a skirt.
* WideEyesAndShrunkenIrises: Used numerous times.
----

to:

27th Dec '12 8:59:38 PM Sheora

Send Sheora a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

namespace

Changed line(s) 22 (click to see context) from:

to:

20th Oct '12 3:35:58 PM StevenT

Send StevenT a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Added line(s) 51 (click to see context) :

3rd Oct '12 7:39:38 PM immblueversion

Send immblueversion a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Changed line(s) 5,7 (click to see context) from:

This is the plight of Fly, his sister Stella, and their cousin Chuck, after stumbling across [[AbsentMindedProfessor Professor MacKrill]]'s laboratory, where Stella mistakes a bottle of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Fish Potion]] for a drink, and (unknown to the others) is [[{{Animorphism}} transformed into a starfish]]. In the ensuing confusion, she accidentally gets thrown out of a window into the sea by Fly, and only upon consulting a video tape do the other three find out what happened to her. Whilst searching the sea for Stella though, a storm brews up, and in a moment of hot-headedness Fly drinks the potion, turning into a fish himself. A few moments later the boat capsizes, and to save himself from drowning Chuck drinks the potion himself, whilst the [=MacKrill=] [[DisneyDeath seemingly drowns]].
Although things seem hopeless, the professor ''did'' make an antidote, but as luck would have it, it was tossed into the ocean when the boat capsized, and is now in the hands of Joe - a megalomaniac pilot fish, who has plans to rule the fish.

to:

29th Aug '12 2:52:28 PM TooBadForU

Send TooBadForU a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Changed line(s) 32 (click to see context) from:

to:

29th Aug '12 2:49:43 PM TooBadForU

Send TooBadForU a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Changed line(s) 17 (click to see context) from:

to:

15th Jul '12 1:11:04 PM FELH2

Send FELH2 a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Namespace stuff Change, yo! - also, sorted a bit