Muskegon Film Festival 2009

The Riddle in a Bottle is a half hour film for children that explores how life on Earth is connected through moving water. Filmed over the course of two years by wildlife filmmakers Laura and Robert Sams, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans (and rivers and ponds in between), the film uses vivid wildlife footage, original music, mystery and humor to intrigue young viewers.Laura and Robert Sams, a.k.a. 'The Riddle Solvers,' are two siblings who run a riddle-solving stand, where they solve riddles for 5 cents a piece. The movie follows their journey to solve a mysterious riddle from the ocean that reaches them on an inland lake . . . in a message in a magic bottle.Dear Riddle Solvers,Always moving, here to thereNever stopping anywhereWith no string or rope or tetherThis connects us all together.Seek and you shall understandThe riddle held within your hand. Signed, The OceanAs Laura and Robert investigate the riddle, they receive help (via the magic bottle) from underwater creatures who each offer a different solution to the riddle . . . currents, tides or weather. The first story sweeps us into a vivid blue ocean where baby loggerhead sea turtles drift along the ocean currents under floating mats of sargassum algae. The second story takes us to a busy tide pool, where the animals sing a lively song about the tides. The third story plunges us into a freshwater vernal pond, where the frogs perform an 'opera' by singing throughout the spring nights.Then The Riddle Solvers meet a one-legged pirate, who is sobbing on the shore of a small lake. The pirate has lost his family heirloom peg leg in the lake, and to find it, he must follow the moving water from the lakes to the rivers to the sea. The pirate (and his merry band of pirate musicians) sing a song about their journey to find the treasured peg leg, which recaps the themes of currents, tides and weather.After his song, the one-legged pirate gives The Riddle Solvers their final message in a bottle. The message is from students in an elementary school classroom from Michigan, who have been learning how they are connected to the ocean. The children give their own answer to the riddle: moving water.The Riddle in a Bottle is an entertaining mixture of vivid animal footage, original music, children in real world contexts and short animated segments illustrating how water moves around the world. It is the perfect way for young children to understand how they are connected with life far away.