SeeFood
SeeFood (also known as Sea Level in the United States[1]) is a Malaysian computer-animated adventure film produced by Silver Ant and released in Malaysian cinemas on 8 March 2012.
| SeeFood | |
|---|---|
 Official poster | |
| Directed by | Goh Aun Hoe (吴侒何) |
| Produced by | Gene Lim Bee Thin |
| Written by | Jeffrey Chiang |
| Starring |
|
| Music by | Tan Yan Wei Imaginex Studios |
Production company | Silver Ant |
Release date |
|
Running time | 93 minutes |
| Country | Malaysia China |
| Language | English |
| Budget | RM 12 million (US$ 4 million) |
| Box office | RM 2.36 million ($729,634) |
SeeFood was first launched in Poland on 7 October 2011. It received financial support from Malaysian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and from the Multimedia Development Corporation.
The movie is also available in original and dubbed-in-Malay versions on Astro First
Plot
Julius and his friend Pup play around the ocean bed, when two human divers steal several shark eggs from the reef, despite Pup's efforts to prevent it. Julius takes Pup to a sunken ship for dinner, but Pup is too upset to eat anything. Pup meets his friend Octo, who takes Pup to show off his invention; an underwater car, and take it out for a test drive.
Meanwhile a factory, which is polluting the ocean prompts a hostile Moray Eel named Murray to invade the ocean bed with his army of deep sea crabs. The stingray Spin finds a discarded restaurant menu and takes it to Julius's three pilot fish servants. The menu shows a variety of chicken meals, which are only found on land.
Spin and Myrtle lead Julius to a beach, where he is almost stranded, while trying to eat a hen named Heather, but makes it back into the sea. On his next hunt for fish, Julius is caught by a large fish hook and is reeled up on to a boat. His almost finned alive by a group of men, but escapes when a large wave hits the boat.
Pup sights the stolen shark eggs on a wharf being moved into a fishmonger's shed, but Myrtle and Octo refuse to assist him in the dangerous task of liberating them. Pup overhears them talking about his ability to breathe on land, then goes back to the wharf. Myrtle and Julius find out that from interrogating Spin that Pup is endangering himself, then they persuade Octo to help rescue Pup. Meanwhile, Pup has found the shark eggs in a fish shed, but has to hide from the fishmonger.
Octo constructs a robotic suit to allows Julius and his pilot fish take maneuver on land and uses a rocket to launch the suit on to the shore. However, Octo is not concerned that the suit may fall apart as an opportunity to be rid of Julius. The suit crashes into a chicken farm, but while they are soon caught by the chickens and taken to the fish shed, where the fishmonger keeps them captive.
The shark eggs begin to hatch and Pup is able to get them out of the shed before the divers who caught them in the first place had smuggle them away. Myrtle helps Pup the rest of the way. Hearing from his friends that Julius is in trouble, Pup sets off to rescue him, helped by a coconut crab and the chickens, who relented.
As Myrtle and Octo get the shark eggs and two newly hatched sharks to safety, the deep sea dwellers march on. Octo and Myrtle fight off the invaders, helped by Spin (who had collaborated with them previously). Realising that the factory pollution is the source of the problems, Octo procures some old sea mines from a submarine. His friends help him carry the mines to block up the factory pipes depositing the pollution.
Pup, the chickens and the coconut crab, release Julius and his pilot fish. After a brief fight against the fishmonger and his two divers, the shed catches fire. The three humans pursue the escaping animals by dune buggy and motorcycles. As the chase ensues, the chickens get the two divers out of the way.
At the beach, the fishmonger momentarily catches Pup, but Julius rescues him and the fishmonger drives off the edge of a pier, his buggy crashing right into the sea mines and blowing up the factory. The fishmonger and his divers are arrested by the police for the damages caused.
Julius gets out of the suit, returns to the reef and drives away the invading deep sea dwellers. Totally out of danger, Pup and his friends raise the newly hatched sharks, while the chickens play around with Octo's suit until it breaks and sinks into the ocean.
Voice cast
- Gavin Yap as Julius, a whitetip shark[2]
- Diong Chae Lian as Pup, a brownbanded bamboo shark[2]
- Christina Orow as Myrtle, a sea turtle
- Kennie Dowle as Octo, an octopus
- Jason Daud Cottom as Larry, a pilot fish who is one of Julius's servants
- Andrew Susay as Moe, a pilot fish who is another of Julius's servants
- Brian Zimmerman as Curly, a pilot fish, also another of Julius's servants
- Colin Chong as Lee, a rooster
- Adila Shahir (Dilly) as Heather, a hen
- Tikriti Shabudin as Spoch, a rooster
- Rob Middleton as Herc, a rooster
- Chi-Ren Choong as Fatman
- Steven Tan as Lanky
- Maxwell Andrew as Pudgy
- Mike Swift as Murray, a moray eel
- Jay Sheldon as Spin, a stingray
- Ramona Rahman as Mrs Chong
- Amelia Henderson as Ruby
Production
SeeFood was jointly produced by Silver Ant Sdn Bhd and the Al Jazeera Children's Channel (or JCC for short), with a grant from the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry and also support from the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC).
Silver Ant has worked with MDeC previously, having been hired in 2005 to produce the trailer for Saladin: The Animated Series. The JCC producers, seeing the trailer for the series, loved it, and decided to take an interest into co-producing SeeFood.
Like the Pixar team behind Finding Nemo, SeeFood's animation team of 40 people put in much effort into studying the behaviour of the creatures that form the cast of Seefood to be sure that they are portrayed in a realistic manner besides projecting a human expression that would bring them to life. The animation process took the team about two years.[3]
Reception
The film received a mixed reception. Renee Schonfeld of Common Sense Media gave it a 1 star out of 5, citing it as a "Weak, poorly-plotted animated tale with scares, few laughs" and its environmental message "as random and murky as the story itself".[4]
Film score and soundtrack
The film score was composed by Tan Yan Wei of Imaginex Studios. The movie did not release any soundtrack, as Tan died while in the making of the soundtracks of this film and Bunohan. The film scoring task was later taken over by Imaginex Studios.
Box office
| Country | Gross (US$) | Release date |
|---|---|---|
 |
1,237,232 | 7 October 2011 |
 |
2,219,684 | 20 October 2011 |
 |
116,787 | 17 November 2011 |
 |
25,909 | 30 December 2011 |
 |
751,650[5] | 8 March 2012 |
 |
26,840 | 15 March 2012 |
 |
TBA | 18 June 2015 |
Awards
Kre8tif! Award
| Year | Category | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Animation/VFX Category | Best Animation Director | Won |
| Animation/VFX Category | Best Production | Won | |
| Animation/VFX Category | Best Editor | Won | |
| Animation/VFX Category | Best Audio Production | Won | |
| Animation/VFX Category | Best Commissioned Work | Won |
Anugerah Karyawan Animasi (Malaysia)
| Year | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Animator 3D Terbaik Best 3D animation |
Won |
| Kompositor/VFX Animasi Terbaik Best animation composite/visual effects |
Won | |
| Montaj Animasi Terbaik Best animation montage |
Won | |
| Animasi Terbaik Best animation |
Won |
References
- "Release Dates". IMDb.com. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
- ""Seefood" swims home! - Yahoo". My.entertainment.yahoo.com. 29 February 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
- The Star Online Archived 19 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine, A Malaysian shark tale, Foo Yen Ping, 13 February 2012
- "Sea Level Movie Review". Common Sense Media.
- "Industri - Tayangan Filem Cereka". Finas.gov.my. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
- "SeeFood Gross Statistics". IMDb.com. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
- "Silver Ant". Silver Ant. 13 February 2011. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
- "Arkib Berita". Finas.gov.my. 28 June 2011. Retrieved 25 October 2013.