The Incredible Mr. Limpet

Director - Arthur Lubin (Footsteps in the Fog)
Starring - Don Knotts (The Ghost and Mr. Chicken), Carole Cook (Sixteen Candles), and Jack Weston (The Counterfeit Killer)
Release Date - 1964
Genre - Comedy/Children's
Tagline - "The fantastic exploits of the most daring of our secret fishes agents!" "GLUB! The Face That Launched A Thousand Torpedoes!" and "Now he takes his place with America's greatest naval heroes! The incredible story of Henry Limpet, America's deadliest secret weapon! Now you will know all!"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

      When I was little my mom was always leaving my Dad forcing me and my little sister to stay with my grandmother a lot of the time while my dad was off working.  My dad owned a used car lot and was often traveling to different car auctions.  About 3 or 4 times a week we would stay with her till late at night.  We would watch different movies with her when Lexx was not on the Sy-Fy channel.  One of the movies I remember watching with her was The Incredible Mr. Limpet starring Don Knotts.  We watched a lot of movies over the years but this film stuck out to me the most.  I am a fan of Knotts and over time I have started collecting his films on DVD.  One day while at Big Lots I found this one for $3 and grabbed it.  After watching a few shitty horror flicks I decided it was time to switch it up and give it a another viewing.

     The film follows Henry Limpet (Knotts), a bookkeeper that dreams of doing something more with his life.  He wants to join the navy but can not pass the eye exam.  His family friend, George (Weston), joined the navy and Henry does not want to look bad in front of him.  Henry also has an obsession with water and all the creatures that live in it.  One day while walking on the pier with George and his wife, he wishes he was a fish and falls in.  Miraculously he turns in to a talking fish.  After some underwater exploring, Henry meets another fish and the two fall in love.  Henry is conflicted because he is still married but loves the attention the new female fish gives him.   Henry also decides to use his new gifts to help the Navy defeat Nazi u-boats during WWII.  The Navy creates a new division with Henry using him as their secret weapon.  Henry and George are very successful at destroying German u-boats and the Nazi army gets wind of their success.  The Nazi army creates a missile that will lock on to Henry and kill him.  However, he uses that against them and turns the missiles on their own ships destroying them all and riding the Atlantic of all u-boats.

     This movie brings back so many memories of my youth.  This film is, by no means, the best in Don Knott's filmography.  There is a multitude of films starring him I would rather watch than this one.  The acting is top notch and I love the use of live action and animation.  When I saw this for the first time I had never seen a combination of the two and it blew my mind.  The story is very original and fun.  The special effects, mostly the live action and animation combination, worked well for the time period but is very dated.  Overall, this film does have a charm about it.  Though it is not the best Knotts film, I highly recommend it.