Dolphin Tale (Alcon)
Rated PG for some mild thematic elements.
Starring Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd, Nathan Gamble, Kris Kristofferson, Cozi Zuehlsdorff, Morgan Freeman, Austin Stowell, Frances Sternhagen.
Written by Karen Janszen and Noam Dromi.
Directed by Charles Martin Smith.
GRADE: C+
REVIEW: I like inspiring stories, and I like them even more when they are true. Something that has always bothered me is the way Hollywood producers and writers can take a pretty good true story and turn it into 90 minutes of B.S., when it seems they really don't need to. Such is the case of
Dolphin Tale, a movie "inspired" (which is a BS-step below "based on") by a real-life dolphin named Winter.
Nathan Gamble stars as Sawyer, a sullen, young boy whose cousin Kyle (Austin Stowell) is about to ship off to Iraq for his first tour in the Army. Sawyer lives with his single mom (Ashley Judd) and is failing summer school when he and a fisherman discover a young dolphin tangled in a crab trap, dying on the shore off Clearwater, Florida. A marine rescue team is called and the dolphin (later named Winter) is taken to a marine animal hospital where it loses its tail due to injuries. Sawyer grows attached to Winter, along with Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorff), the daughter of the hospital's leader, Dr. Haskett (Harry Connick Jr.) and Dr. Haskett's dad (Kris Kristofferson).
As Winter tried to recover and learns to swim without a tail, Dr. Haskett discovers that the dolphin is at risk for paralysis due to her unnatural way of swimming, by thrashing her tail section side to side, instead of up and down.
Meanwhile, Sawyer's cousin Kyle returns from Iraq, injured from an explosion and bitter because he can't be the champion swimmer he wanted to be. On a visit it Kyle in the veteran's hospital, Sawyer meets a prosthetics specialist named Dr. McCarthy (Morgan Freeman), and enlists his expertise to fashion a new tail for Winter. McCarthy agrees, but nothing seems to go right, as Winter rejects his prototypes and the marine hospital faces closure. The kids devise a plan to save Winter through a series of fundraisers.
Will they save Winter?
Remember the "inspired by" status of reality for Dolphin Tale? "Inspired" ought to be used with caution as well. Let's start with what's true about Winter's story. First, there is a dolphin that lives in an aquarium in Florida named Winter, who was saved after she was found tangled in a crab tap. That's it. Nothing else about Dolphin Tale is true, right down to the uber-sweet story of a boy and the dolphin he helped save. In reality, Winter lives because of a group of dedicated advocates who used their passion and talents to save the poor mammal. Another "true" part of Winter's legacy is the fact that she inspires amputees and other people, including adults and children. Why the producers and and people surrounding the very real Winter would sign off on a such a fictional tale is beyond me, except for the obvious cheap means to make tons of money from unsuspecting audiences who are happy to live in blissful ignorance. I would have preferred a documentary on Winter's true story, but I'm a grumpy, jaded, old film critic, and obviously not a member of the target audience for a movie like Dolphin Tale.
One thing that is not B.S. is the real star of the movie: Winter herself, who appears throughout the film and interacts with the human actors very well.
Reality aside, as a family film, Dolphin Tale truly delivers for anyone under the age of 8. Children will ask mom and dad to log onto
Winter's web cam, buy little stuffed dolphins, and make a pilgrimage to Clearwater to see the amazing dolphin with the prosthetic tail. Kids will be inspired to help all God's creatures and families will enjoy the sticky-sweet story of a boy, his injured war veteran cousin and the way they all beat the odds to save one little dolphin...
...even if the entire story is B.S.
