Wonderful metaphor, wonderful film
Added 12/8/2006
As one reviewer pointed out, the plight of the sea turtles -- fully grown and just swimming in circles in a much-too-small tank -- is a metaphor for the condition of the two main protagonists, who are middle-aged and trapped in the unfulfilling lives they have become used to. They hatch a plot to release the turtles back into the open sea, and in the process begin their own journey. If you hate this film, you are either extremely young, extremely fortunate, or have never felt the frustration of being in a rut. This is an utterly delightful film in my opinion, because it omits explosions and special effects and fast cars and focuses on lives people actually live -- and with a happy ending, too. Excellent on all accounts, and it definitely needs to be put on DVD.
4 out of 4 people found this helpful.
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Wonderful heart warmer!
Added 4/14/2005
I agree with David, the first reviewer: this is a wonderful movie. It's about everyday, "average" people whose lives have become predictable routine and who seem to have little to look forward to. Two people, total strangers to one another, share a connection with the large sea turtles at their local zoo: the feeling of being trapped, feeling caged by life, and the hopelessness of it all. - This movie studies what can happen when two people rise to their potentials. It celebrates the joy that one derives when daring to embrace life. I won't tell you the story of this movie, nor how it ends, because I don't want to rob you of the deep joy I felt after I watched this movie. It's been years since I've seen it, but it has carved out a special place in my heart that no other movie has managed to push aside. This is not a movie for action lovers. It's not schmaltz, it's not a tear jerker, it's a feel-good movie that ranks among the finest out there. I wish they'd put it on DVD! I have the laserdisc version, which thankfully preserved the movie's original aspect ratio.
8 out of 8 people found this helpful.
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My Favorite Movie to Recommend
Added 12/18/2003
Possibly the most miserable waste of time to come by the screen. I hated Turtle Diary and recommend it as often as possible to friends (non of whom have ever heard of it) in hopes that I may be the cause of their misery in watching it. Really it's pointless and tasteless, except that the producer seems so having something for flares of red in an otherwise bland set--this having no connection to the story, but seems as though it should in some twisted way. This movie is always near my top 10 picks in hopes that someone will chance to watch it on my account--a delight of which I have not yet enjoyed--but when said event occurs, I will cackle with glee. Seeing as I anticipate this future merth I easily rate Turtle Diary at 5 stars. I might buy this movie someday when feeling wealthy and unsatisfied with people in general.
2 out of 36 people found this helpful.
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Beautiful wry, touching romance--extraordinary acting.
Added 3/2/2002
Turtle Diary is one of those little gems of a film that sometimes come out of Britain to great critical acclaim and little American distribution. Starring Glenda Jackson and Ben Kingsley, it tells the tale of two older, very lonely London residents who are fascinated with the great sea turtles in the aquarium at the London Zoo. Jackson is a successful writer of children's book suffering though a major writers block. Kingsley is a dron at a local book store.The meet by chance at the zoo and concoct a plan to liberate the sea turtles and return them to the sea. The bulk of the movie deals with the planning and execution of this plan. This is an exercise in character study. There isn't a lot of action, but there is a lot of dialog. However, both Jackson and Kingsley are at the very top of their form in the film and the rest of the cast-a collection of well known and accomplished English character actors-provide awesome background and support for the story. There is a surprise ending of sorts, which I didn't anticipate when I first saw the film. This is a quirky little movie that would be perfect for a romantic afternoon with your significant other. An absolute gem of a film.
32 out of 33 people found this helpful.
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Wonderfully Crafted Character Studies In Poignant Low Key Drama
Added 10/3/2005
"Turtle Diary", starring the unexpectedly well matched Glenda Jackson and Ben Kingsley is a real personal favourite of mine and it's off beat, low key charm always fascinates me. In today's cinema where everything has to be instantaneous to keep the attention of jaded movie goers most films would never attempt to spend the time developing characters and situations as slowly and intricately as we find here. In this story that type of methodical approach works beautifully and allows the two lead actors to really flesh out their characters. Glenda Jackson and Ben Kingsley are totally believable as two very different individuals who are fired by a common cause which in this instance is to remove and then release the huge salt water turtles that are kept at the London Zoo into the ocean. The simple story, low key acting and interesting vignettes involving the supporting cast along the way all add up to a most touching story of self realisation and of the joy an individual can feel by moving outside of their comfort zone to achieve unexpected things.
"Turtle Diary", with its low key charm and everyday characters would never be a hit with the majority of modern day audiences so used to startling special effects and non stop action however for those that appreciate well thought out character studies of very indenitifable people then "Turtle Diary", makes highly recommended viewing. In one of her most understated performances Glenda Jackson, who has always been a great favourite on mine, truly shows the great acting range she is capable of in a performance which is light years away from her usual power house characterisations in much better known films. The highly satisfying chemistry that she enjoys on screen with Ben Kingsley in an equally low key performance is what makes "Turtle Diary", work so well and ensures that it be an essential part of any collection or retrospective of this great former actresses work. Try to catch this wonderfully quirky story of two very mismatched individuals united on a single mission as "Turtlenappers", who not only achieve their aim but also learn something about themselves in the process in the beautifully crafted British film "Turtle Diary" soon. You wont regret it.
6 out of 6 people found this helpful.
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A Wonderful Film that Has Been Forgotten
Added 10/13/2009
Turtle Diary is a wonderful human story about isolated people coming together in a situation set in motion by the protagonist (Kingsley) and who discover depths in themselves they hadn't know or had forgotten. There is emotion here, but it is never sentimental and the characters are wonderfully realized by a cast of remarkable actors. It is incomprehensible to me that this film has not been released on DVD. Kingsley gives a very moving performance, as do Glenda Jackson, Michael Gambon and the rest of the cast, in roles their current fans would be surprised to see. I highly recommend this film and also fervently recommend its release on DVD.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Don't waste your time
Added 7/5/2009
We saw this movie over 20 years ago, and it STILL tops our top WORST MOVIES list. Do not waste your time on this one. Take our word for it...we know why it hasn't been released on DVD.
0 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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And the song of the turtle is heard in the land
Added 4/26/2009
In LA when I was school teaching in South Central 20 years ago after a very bad week, my then boyfriend and I would hop over to see films where Westwood blended with Beverly Hills. It was a very extreme time in my living... This film was one I so enjoyed. It is a quirky love of life story about a woman (Glenda Jackson who is a marvelous actress) with a terrible haircut, her joyous affection for turtles and a friendship formed with a used bookshop owner, a fellow lover of turtles and literature, and centers on a plot they develop to save some turtles. It is small and intimate and I believe a film my brother in law calls "a nothing really happened" piece. Recently thought of it clearly again sitting at a long horrible funeral for a friend who was a gentle lady, with a bad haircut, and a deep abiding love and kinship with turtles and a special bond with my husband. I realized this film had foreshadowed a bit of my ordinary "nothing happened" existence to me 20 years ago. In life we form friendships and find compassion and connection with people in seemingly random and precious moments. My turtle friend, who worked for my husband for a time, as a secretary in his school-then my school, took care of him , my kids, myself and was very private-revealed something of herself in this love of the turtles she had around her from time to time one of the few things you really knew about her. Real turtles and those collectible. She treated them like cats actually(in the film you are seeing giant sea turtles), these pet turtles responded back as bonded as you can imagine. It was a very unique thing to see a person so vibrantly connected to turtles. I felt that in the film , in the love these individuals had for the species...it seemed to relate to the privacy, shyness, fragility of feeling and yet strength of character, the primitive dignity of my friend, she easily could have been placed into the movies' internal spaces. For me now there she lives freed of earthly connection. So I watched it again this evening after 20 years and grieved deeply losing someone who was very shy and private and who suffered a terrible end of life to cancer spread through her system. To me I see the touching beauty of the friendship between the characters in the movie as so valuable and so meaningful on a personal level-I'm aging with such an awareness of how gentle simpatico with another , how the shared love of turtle, of literature , of something understood really about life , brings a kind of lightening of heart. For my friend her shared relating to my husband was so meaningful/personal to her in ways I could not entirely understand.. and her to him.This was movie core message. It was a lesson to me. I recommend this film to those who value friendship. You know I was also thinking of a film with Anne Bancroft(in New York) and her friend in London in the bookshop-anyway a very similar piece. Maybe it is a phenomenological relationship (whatever that is, no?)....but for me a tender film and now I'll always think of Terri T. and my love for her, turtles and dear warm moments I hold in my heart with friends of the spirit.
3 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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