An unnamed castaway (Emmanuel Garijo) is shipwrecked on a desert island. He tries to build a raft to escape but it is destroyed by an enormous red sea turtle. Every time he tries to leave the island, the turtle is there to ensure that he doesn't.
Anything else would be kind of spoiler-y but I will say that it is extremely French. It's a co-production with Studio Ghibli, and by extension Disney, who reached out to writer Michael Dudok de Wit after seeing a short film he did.
The animation is very minimalist, in keeping with the nearly wordless narrative. There's no dialogue, per se, just emotional interjections. This is not a cartoon; it's animation. It reminded me of an adult version of Ponyo with a little Island of the Blue Dolphins thrown in. If this sounds like faint praise, let me assure you that it is an incredibly beautiful movie of clean lines and meditative expanses. I just don't know what it's trying to say. It's currently streaming on Starz, which I get through Amazon.
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