Have the positive reviewers even seen this movie? Everything about this movie just reeks of being churned out because the makers figure kids have no taste. The animation looks cheap, and unlike the far superior Pixar movies, the film makers don't know how to stay out of uncanny valley or have a decent story.
Most of the actors can't muster much more than dull surprise in representing their one dimensional characters. The annoying comic relief characters appears to have graduated from the same school as Jar-Jar Binks, but less well animated. The nadir of comedy is when a minor dolphin character has a whole scene about him farting. This doesn't advance the plot at all.
The script lacks structure with Daniel moving from scene to scene with little motivation, needing narrators and a literal voice from the sky to explain why he is doing the things he does. The apparent theme of the movie, of following one's dream could not be any more trite and vapid. Daniel runs away from home and his ultimate triumph is to go SURFING in the lamest sort of anti-climax imaginable. The resolution to the conflict to the monster fish, if you think about it critically, makes you wonder how Daniel could even be considered a hero.
This is a terrible film. It is uninspired trash, a low budget pixar/dreamworks wannabe. Don't buy this. There are much better films out there for children.