Help! I'm a Fish!

Help! I'm a Fish
Original Title	Help! I'm a Fish (English title) Hjælp! Jeg er en fisk (Danish title)
Original Language	English
Dubbing Studio	Redwood Studios Screenmusic Studios The Sound Company Ltd. Dick & Roger's Sound Studio Ministi Film
Voice Director 1	Michael Hegner
Voice Director 2	Michael Donovan
Recorded	late 90s - early 2000s
Dub Country 1	United Kingdom
Dub Country 2	United States
Dub Country 3	Canada
Dub Country 4	Denmark
Original Country	Denmark Germany Ireland
Year	2000

Help! I'm a Fish (Hjælp! Jeg er en fisk; also known as A Fish Tale in the US) 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.

Synopsis Siblings; Fly & Stella together with their child genius cousin Chuck, encounter reclusive marine biologist/chemist Professor H. O. MacKrill while out on the docks fishing only to become cut off by the tide coming in separating them from the shoreline. Seeking refuge, they stumble across his secluded island hideaway laboratory, to discover MacKrill has found away to change humans into sea-life and back again. Stella, mistaking this fish potion for lemonade, drinks some and is turned into a starfish, her older brother none the wiser chucks her out into the ocean, only to learn from the video cameras the awful truth. Out searching for her in a boat guilty Fry knowing how futile this action is drinks the potion and dives in after her (changing into a Californian flying fish in the process) leaving the Professor and Chuck on-board as an storm brews overhead. Unable to stand the batter waves, their craft sinks along with the antidote and Chuck has to drink the liquid to prevent himself from drowning (ending up as a jellyfish), with MacKrill warning that unless they drink the antidote in within 48 hours they'll be stuck as fish forever. Now these three find themselves stranded in the ocean in a desperate search to find that antidote. However on the seabed their antidote has fallen into the fins of the ruthless pilot-fish Joe...whose exposure to it has increased his intellect, making him power-mad with no intention of letting this stroke of fortune desert him.

Cast

Character	Danish Dub Actor*	English Voice Actor
Fly (Svip)	Sebastian Jessen	Jeff Pace Morgan Fane (various loops)
Stella	Pil Neja	Michelle Westerson Alexandra Jacobson (various loops)
Chuck (Plum)	Morten Kerrn Nielsen	Aaron Paul Alessandro Juliani (various loops)
Joe	Nis Bank-Mikkelsen	Alan Rickman
Professor H.O. MacKrill	Søren Sætter-Lassen	Terry Jones
Sasha	Louise Fribo
Shark	Dick Kaysø	David Bateson
Crab	Ulf Pilgaard
Father	Peter Gantzler	John Payne
Mother	Paprika Steen	Teryl Rothery
Aunt Anna	Ghita Nørby	Pauline Newstone

*Recorded alongside the English track

Additional Voices

• Garry Chalk - 3rd Fish Waiting for Bus
• Ian James Corlett - 1st Fish Waiting for Bus
• Michael Dobson - Usher
• Tabitha St. Germain - 2nd Fish Waiting for Bus
• Scott McNeil - Sea Bass
• Richard Newman - Bus Driver

Notes

• The English and Danish versions were produced simultaneously during the film's production, in which the English version ended up having more involvement than the Danish dub. For instance, this film was initially recorded, written, and animated in English first (translated into Danish by Gunhild Wernblad), with the lip-sync being based from the placeholder English audio, and most of the dialogue was re-recorded by the cast during post-production.
  • Due to this, the laughing vocal effects from Michelle Westerson, which was recorded at Screenmusic Studios in the United States, were reused in this version.
  • Some of the production crew were also involved in the Danish dub, notably the director Michael Hegner and the songwriters.
• The American DVD release has achieved some infamy not just due to it being a bare bones release, but also because of it's completely different cover art designed most likely in an attempt to trick people into thinking it was a cash in on the DreamWorks movie Shark Tale, despite technically coming out 6 years prior in Denmark.

Video Releases

Distributor	Year	Format	Region	Country
Metrodome Distribution	2002		PAL	United Kingdom
			2 PAL
Universal Pictures	2003		PAL	Australia
			4 PAL
Genius Entertainment	2006		1 NTSC	United States
Boulevard Entertainment	2008		2 PAL	United Kingdom

External Links

• Help! I'm a Fish on the Internet Movie Database